Poseidon and Odysseus are the most noticeable representatives of the theme of vengeance. In order to escape from the cave of the Cyclops (Polyphemus), Odysseus blinds the one-eyed giant (Book 9). Unfortunately, the Cyclops is the sea god Poseidon's son; Odysseus has engaged a formidable enemy. Poseidon can't kill Odysseus because the Fates have determined that he will make it home. However, the sea god can help to fulfill his son's wish that Odysseus should arrive in Ithaca late, broken, and alone, his shipmates lost, and his household in trash.
He wants to return home to his family and once again rule over his kingdom at Ithaca, but the gods and goddesses play a large role. Odysseus angers Poseidon, the god of the sea, when he tortures the Cyclops Polyphemus, who is Poseidon’s son. Odysseus’s fatal flaw is hubris or excessive pride. It is this excessive pride that causes Odysseus to belittle the Cyclops after he has blinded him. Odysseus had no need to yell at the blinded Cyclops; he had already escaped from the Cyclops’s harm.
First, in various stories Odysseus is very contradicting to himself because he is only hero-like some of the time. When he and his men were raiding the Cyclops’ cave they could have left before the Cyclops got there and they could have avoided a lot of trouble. But Odysseus wanted to be a hero and wanted to stay and fight the Cyclops. This was a very selfish move of him and ended up being the wrong decision because it cost him a few of his best men. Later when he redeems himself he tells the Cyclops his name is nobody and gets him drunk.
Odysseus shouting this is what keeps Odysseus from being able to sail home. Polyphemus’ father was Poseidon and he was angered at the fact that Odysseus had blinded and harmed his son. Poseidon’s goal then became to stop Odysseus from returning to Ithaca (Hubris in the Odyssey). Another example of hubris show in the Odyssey is, “Odysseus receives a bag of wind from Aeolus as a gift to help him return home. The men aboard the ship thought the bag had gold and silver and other gifts.
As he is saying this, his hubris is beginning to creep up on him because he thinks he is the best person ever after tricking Polyphemus. His crew is seeing this and begins to warn him of what is happening (Homer 769) yet he disregards their warnings. His hubris then takes full control as he says, “Cyclops, / if ever mortal man inquire / how you were put to shame and blinded, tell him / Odysseus, raider of cities, took your eye: / Laertes’ son, whose home
This is because Ralston had an acute passion for searching for self-understanding. While Ralston was always pushing his limits in the extremes of nature he was trying to answer a question he had about himself and his own abilities to fight for survival. In Zeitoun, Abdulrahman Zeitoun is torn between different aspects of his passion that were often opposing. As a contractor, Zeitoun has become intimately aware of much of his adoptive city and he is ever grateful for the opportunity of a prosperous life that New Orleans has provided. This has allowed Zeitoun to pursue his passion of living up to the name of his successful family, through his contracting business, but he is torn when he is forced to choose between the need to provide for his family physically, through his work, and his family’s personal need for him as a father and husband.
Odysseus deceives the Cyclops twice. First, Odysseus lies to The Cyclops how he and his man come to the cave, he “Shot back in [the] crafty way”(9.318)and told the Cyclops they just escaped death. Second, Odysseus gives the Cyclops a fake name, he says: “ Nobody—that’s my name./Nobody so my mother and father call me, all my friends”(9.410) we can infer that the Greeks neglects the importance of honesty since the great Odysseus who is seen by a hero has demonstrated dishonesty when dealing with the Cyclops; Odysseus’ dishonesty is referred as “crafty” which is not a strongly negative word. The ancient Greeks values were slightly different from those of the modern society. The portrayal of Odysseus and the contrast between him and the villain Cyclops in this adventure emphasize hospitality and religious faith that we often would consider secondary.
First off he raised the bar for rage. Since Agamemnon is the king of all kings of Greece he technically has a right to plunder Brisies away from Achilles. But that does not give him the right to openly mock Achilles and then be sympathetic and say that his honor never was up there with Achilles, which is just saying that honor doesn’t matter. Achilles, boiling like a pot, is just shaking with anger at Agamemnon when he says “Agamemnon may rue his blindness in offering insult to the foremost of the Achaeans” (Homer page). Wow I feel for Achilles I was mad at my brother and it takes me forever to forget about it, just like Achilles.
However, he insults Poseidon because he didn’t say thanks to him. Poseidon curses him and tells him he will never see his home again. Odysseus faces many dangers and hardships throughout, The Odyssey, An epic poem by Homer. Odysseus is only a hero because he has both human weaknesses and super human strengths. Odysseus is a hero because he has human weakness to overcome which makes his heroism impressive.
They are referred to as a fierce, lawless people. Instead of being hospitable toward Odysseus, the Cyclops wants to eat him and his men. The Cyclops and the suitors did not act like the traditional Greek creatures or people that they were supposed to be. In the Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus and Telemachus overcome obstacles and they meet people that show them hospitality and hostility. The nymph Calypso was very hospitable and loving to Odysseus.