Odysseus and the Cyclops Essay Example

Odysseus uses his wits to defeat the cyclops Polyphemus when he acts logically with his men rather than on impulse. In The Cyclops, book nine of Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey, protagonist Odysseus and his crew discover an island that is inhabited by a hostile cyclops and they use their wit to fabricate a plan to escape. In general, an epic poem allows an author to channel their imagination and apply observations of the world around them in order to create a 

The author of this slightly morbid epic poem, Homer, lived in between the 12th and 8th centuries BC in Greece. He applied Greek mythology to his writings, thus fabricating the masterpiece The Odyssey, which is treasured by historians and common folk alike in the modern world. A popular book is in The Odyssey is The Cyclops.

Odysseus cleverly evades Polyphemus by refraining from Polyphemus’ murder, explaining that their ship crashed even though it is still intact, and grasping the rams to escape the cave without being caught.  For example, after being trapped in a cave with the Cyclops Polyphemus, Odysseus realizes that “if I killed him / we perished there as well, for we could never / move his ponderous doorway slab aside” (Homer 9.765). Since the Cyclops was left alive, the crew preserves the force they need to move the boulder keeping them trapped, which saves them. Additionally, Odysseus quickly told Polyphemus that “Poseidon Lord who sets the Earth a-tremble, / broke [my ship] up on the rocks at your land’s end” (9.230). This allows them to avoid having Polyphemus destroy the ship and secures their escape vehicle. “I took / the wooliest ram,  the choicest of the flock, / and hung myself under his kinky belly, / pulled up tight, with fingers twisted deep / in sheepskin ringlets for an iron grip” (9.385). This allows the crew to flee from Polyphemus’ cave by gifting an undetectable facilitated exit.

Odysseus and his crew defeat the Cyclops by the use of many wily plans. These resourceful ideas include keeping Polyphemus alive in order to escape the cave, lying and stating that their ship is obliterated, and hanging underneath the rams to rescue themselves in a way that is imperceptable by the Cyclops.  If these plans were not carried out with, Polyphemus would most likely have eaten all of the men, and the rest of The Odyssey would cease to exist.