The Odyssey - Book 09 - Odysseus recounts his odyssey: The Cyclops

Odysseus blinds the Cyclops	Odysseus blinds the Cyclops
Odysseus blinds the Cyclops	Odysseus escapes under a ram

• Reading time: about 37 minutes
• Structure of the next four books:

• In books 9, 10, 11, and 12, Odysseus recounts adventures on his voyage home from Troy in a form of flashback. Books 9, 10, and 12 each consists of two short adventures followed by a long adventure. Book 11 focuses solely on Odysseus journey to the Underworld and his interviews with the dead. Remember that he is recounting his story in the court of King Alcinous in order to win favor with Queen Arete. It is Book 11 that wins the queen's favor.
• Just as the action of the Iliad focuses on about 5 days in detail and 50 in total out of the 10-year war, so the Odyssey uses the technique of first-person narrative by Odysseus to recount the years between the departure from Troy to the point just before the return to Ithaca.

• Sacker of Cities.

• After Odysseus reveals his identity, he begins to recount his voyage home from Troy. The first thing he says he did was to go to Ismarus and sack the city, kill the men, and plunder the city for wealth and women. Humm. Just like that. Odysseus' breezy tone should be filed away in your mind. The morality of attacking other tribes is not at issue here in his mind. For him, morality involves establishing his name.

• The Lotus-Eaters.

• Is the point of the Lotus Eaters that they are so mellowed out from whatever's in their lotus, that they have lost all consciousness? Or are they vegetarians who have lost the desire to fight for meat like us carnivores? As one critic put it: " They have ceased to be normal, predatory humans who kill a large part of what they eat." (Dimock, 111) Or is there some other point to them?

• The Cyclops.

• Powerpoint on the Cyclops & Circe.
• If the Lotus Eaters are totally passive, then the Cyclops are aggressive beyond all civilized norms. The Cyclops reject the established standards of society. Odysseus asks Polyphemus to respect customs: "But since we've chanced on you, we're at your knees/ in hopes of a warm welcome, even a guest-gift,/ the sort that hosts give strangers. That's the custom." (300-302) Odysseus even asks the Cyclops to treat him well out of respect for the gods: "Respect the gods, my friend. We're suppliants—at your mercy!/ Zeus of the Strangers guards all guests and suppliants:/ strangers are sacred—Zeus will avenge their rights!" (303-305)
• One of Odysseus's most common appellations is "resourceful," and his resourcefulness is outstanding in this episode. While his sacking of the Ciccones was questionable, surely the revenge he takes out on Polyphemus is justified. His trick and the cruelty he inflicts on Polyphemus elevates his name before all who hear his story. Here is an example of his greatness, hearers would say.
• Examine the story of the Cyclops carefully to determine what the poet seems to be proposing as admirable and what is despicable. [Discuss Ody Bk09 Q01]