Introduction
The start of book 9 recounts what happened immediately after the Trojan War’s end. He and his men decide to pillage more cities but are eventually run off to sea after a counterattack. One at sea, a wild wind drifts them off course to the land of the lotus eaters. Consuming the lotus flowers made his men lazy and complacent. Once Odysseus is able to drag his men off the island they land on an island occupied by Cyclops, where they meet Polyphemus. Odysseus wants to see if the Cyclops will give them gifts since they are his guests. However, Polyphemus doesn’t live under their current social norms so he traps them inside the cave blocking them in with a boulder where he begins to consume the crew. Realizing they must do something to survive, the men create a giant spear out of a walking stick. Odysseus, being the clever man he is, introduces himself as “nobody” to Polyphemus. After offering lots of wine to Polyphemus, the Cyclops falls asleep, allowing the men to poke his eye out. When other Cyclops come to check on Polyphemus and ask who is killing him, he replies that nobody is killing him. To which the other figure he has gone mad and leaves him to suffer. After this, the men hide under Polyphemus’ sheep where they ride out of the cave the following day undetected. While the men are rowing away from the island, Odysseus cannot resist the urge to inform Polyphemus of his name. In doing this Polyphemus, son of Poseidon, prays to his father to not let Odysseus make it home; or at least to let so much time pass that nobody will know him when he arrives home. This action almost gets them smashed by boulders thrown by Polyphemus as well as gets on Poseidon’s bad graces. This passage shows how consumed Odysseus is by Hubris and temptation, allowing him and his men to consistently fall into danger and the bad graces of the gods.
Analysis
Odysseus uses his intelligence and swindling capabilities to acquire the things he desires. However, his ego and greed consistently get him and his men into danger. In the text, when they arrive on the island with the Cyclops, the crew suggests they grab some food and leave before being noticed “But I refused. I hoped to see him, and find out if he would give us gifts.” (Wilson, 247) This shows that grabbing just enough food for his crew was not enough for Odysseus. He wanted to receive gifts as well. In turn, half of the men he brought were eaten, and the rest very narrowly escaped. This also shows how secluded from regular social norms the Cyclops were. Although it seemed they had their own community on the island, they did not share the same values as the Greeks did. After escaping the Cyclops, the crew was rowing away from the island. After a while, “When I had gone as far as shouts can carry, I jeered back, ‘Hey you, Cyclops! Idiot! The crew trapped in your cave did not belong to some poor weakling. Well, you had it coming!’” (Wilson, 255) Odysseus couldn’t help but boast about his trickery and had to taunt the Cyclops, which gave away their position and allowed the Cyclops to throw a boulder at him almost beaching them with the waves it created. After rowing back out twice as far “I called to him again. My crew begged me to stop, and pleaded with me… But my tough heart was not convinced; I was still furious, and I shouted back again” (Wilson, 256) With no regard for the safety of his crew he acted on emotion so his heart could be content. This resulted in another rock almost crushing them as well as Polyphemus cursing them with the help of his father Poseidon. This is an important part of the story because it is the beginning of their long 10-year journey home. This means the curse from Polyphemus and Poseidon is most likely the reason the voyage took so long.
Conclusion
Due to the arrogance of Odysseus, he led many of his crew to death and despair. His hubris and greed constantly got him and his crew into trouble or in bad graces with the Gods. This book isn’t meant to show the heroism of Odysseus, but the flaws of humans who want more than they deserve.