Odyssey--Homer Blog 3

Question--Was Odysseus heroic when dealing with the Cyclops?

I think that Odysseus was both heroic and cowardly in different ways.  It was heroic to have to courage to save the friends he had left with him.  At the same time, he purposefully got the Cyclops drunk and waited until it was asleep to attack him.  That is not a very fair fight but that is also Odysseus just being wily.  Would a hero in other stories face the Cyclops head on? Not hide under the sheep to escape? Maybe.  But Odysseus did show a lot of bravery and courage, as well as giving his crew hope.  His actions could be interpreted either as heroic or cowardly, personally I think it is a mix of both.

Odyssey--Homer Blog 2

The first way that the Odysseus' story links to the stages of a heros journey is through all the tests, trials, allies, and enemies he has met so far in the book.  Even though it is the sixth step of the heros journey, the Iliad takes place before the Odyssey so I am sure that steps 1-5 were in the Iliad.  The main test and trial he has met thus far was when Poseidon creates the storm that almost kills him as he was trying to travel back home from the nymphs island.

Secondly, through this trial he met his one obvious enemy: Poseidon, as well as some allies like the river goddess, Athena, the princess, and the nymph that kept him on the island (she is an ally to some extent).  With out the danger that he was put through, he would never have met these people or created alliances with them.  Step six is basically the only step in the heros journey that we have come across in the Odyssey so far.

Odyssey--Homer Blog 1

Epithets -
Sunlit Sea: Page 160.
Radiant goddess: Page 160.
Wine-dark Sea: Page 159.

Epic Similes -
1. "That wand in his grip, the powerful giant-killer, swooping down from Pieria, down the high clear air, plunged to the sea and skimmed the waves like a tern that down the deadly gulfs of the barren salt swells glides and dives for fish, dipping its beating wings in bursts of spray- so Hermes skimmed the crests on the endless crests." Page 154.
-This works because he is skimming like a tern across the sea to go somewhere else.  Like a bird- a tern - he can fly very fast and get places quickly, even over the water.

2. "She pitied Odysseus, tossed, tormented so- she broke from the waves like a shearwater on the wing, lit on the wreck and asked him kindly, "Ah poor man, why is the god of earthquakes so dead set against you?" Page 162-163.
-This works because Homer is comparing the girl coming out of the water with "a shearwater on the wing".  This is a good simile because it describes how the girl rises out of the water to help Odysseus.