Which odysseus trying to do in the odyssey

Certainly piracy and marauding were legitimate professions for Ithacans. At question is not the raid but Odysseus' men's foolish disregard for his advice. Having gained victory and considerable plunder, Odysseus wants to be on his way. His men, on the other hand, drink and feast as the Cicones gather reinforcements, skilled warriors who eventually rout the Greeks. Odysseus loses six men from each of his ships and is lucky to get away by sea.

Odysseus escapes, but storms and a strong north wind drive his ships off course. As he rounds Cape Malea near Cythera, north and slightly west of Crete , he needs only to swing north by northwest miles or so to be home. The winds drive him away. Nine days later, he reaches the land of the Lotus-eaters. Homeric geography is suspect, but some scholars place this at or near Libya. Students familiar with some of the legends of The Odyssey but new to the epic itself might be surprised to see that the section on the Lotus-eaters is only about twenty-five lines long 9.

Homer has touched on a universal theme, the lure of oblivion through drugs. The Lotus-eaters have no interest in killing the Greeks; the danger is the lotus and the forgetfulness it causes.

This time, Odysseus' judgment prevails, and he manages to get his men back to sea before too many are seduced by the honey-sweet fruit that wipes out ambition and memory. The Cyclops, whom the wanderers visit next, contrast most vividly with the Phaeacians. The Phaeacians once lived near the Cyclops but moved to Scheria to avoid the lawless brutes.

While the Phaeacians are civilized and peace loving, the Cyclops have no laws, no councils, and no interest in civility or hospitality. It is during this episode that Odysseus' judgment comes into question. Having feasted on goat meat on an offshore island, Odysseus and his men could move on. However, Odysseus is curious about who lives on the mainland.

Taking a dozen of his best men, as well as a skin of extremely strong wine that he received from a priest of Apollo, Odysseus sets out to investigate a cavern near the mainland shore. It is the lair of Polyphemus, a Cyclops. Discovering abundant food in the cave, the men want to raid it and sail off, but Odysseus insists on staying to try the hospitality of the owner, who proves to be no charming host.

Polyphemus, a son of Poseidon and nearly as powerful as the gods himself, scoffs at the concept of hospitality and welcomes his guests by devouring two for supper and trapping the rest inside his cave for later meals. When the Cyclops leaves, Odysseus devises a plan. Athena, disguised as a sailor, tells Telemachus that his father is still alive, and he should set out on a journey to find out what happened him to after the Trojan Wars.

Doubtful that Athena is telling the truth, Telemachus nevertheless sets sail, after warning the suitors to leave his mother in peace. As Telemachus was just a baby when his father left, this is the first time he learns anything about his father.

Odysseus washes up in Phaeacia, where he tells his hosts the story of his long and arduous journey after leaving Troy.

They go to the castle with Odysseus disguised as a beggar, echoing his actions during the Trojan Wars and enabling them to test the loyalty and values of their countrymen. The suitors abuse Odysseus rather than extending hospitality, essentially sealing their doom and reinforcing the importance of the host-guest relationship in the poem.

Ace your assignments with our guide to The Odyssey! SparkTeach Teacher's Handbook. Why does Telemachus go to Pylos and Sparta? Only by dragging his men back to the ship and locking them up can Odysseus get them off the island. Odysseus and his men then sail through the murky night to the land of the Cyclops, a rough and uncivilized race of one-eyed giants.

After making a meal of wild goats captured on an island offshore, they cross to the mainland. There they immediately come upon a cave full of sheep and crates of milk and cheese. Polyphemus makes a show of hospitality at first, but he soon turns hostile. Odysseus wants to take his sword to Polyphemus right then, but he knows that only Polyphemus is strong enough to move the rock that he has placed across the door of his cave. Odysseus thus devises and executes a plan. The next day, while Polyphemus is outside pasturing his sheep, Odysseus finds a wooden staff in the cave and hardens it in the fire.

When Polyphemus returns, Odysseus gets him drunk on wine that he brought along from the ship. Feeling jovial, Polyphemus asks Odysseus his name. As soon as Polyphemus collapses with intoxication, Odysseus and a select group of his men drive the red-hot staff into his eye. With his former prisoners now out of reach, the blind giant lifts up a prayer to his father, Poseidon, calling for vengeance on Odysseus.

Books 9 through 12 are told as flashbacks, as Odysseus sits in the palace of the Phaeacians telling the story of his wanderings. The foreboding that Odysseus feels as he heads toward the cave, which seems to prompt him to take the wine along, foreshadows his upcoming encounter with Polyphemus and the need for trickery to prevail.

This act of hubris, or excessive pride, ensures almost automatically that Odysseus will suffer grave consequences. This manner of introduction was very formalized and formulaic in Homeric Greece and should seem familiar to readers of The Iliad. Odysseus is here going through the motions of confirming his kleos the glory or renown that one earns in the eyes of others by performing great deeds.