The Cyclops In Homer's Odyssey By Homer

While Odysseus and his men brave the unforgiving winds of the open sea trying to return home they are curious about where the Cyclops live. This land is quite lush with very little activity. The Cyclops are very much loners who keep to themselves and lack any real etiquette. Well, Odysseus and his men go upon the island into a cave and upon finding more than enough food are faced with an option to leave with their new loot or to stay. Against his men’s request to leave while the getting is good Odysseus wants to stick it out. He honestly believes that mercy will be shown to him and that it will be okay! Boy was he wrong! The Cyclops, a massive and very disgusting creature, shows his “guests” the exact opposite of what a normal host does for their company. He literally eats them alive and holds them captive! We, the reader, really begin to the Odysseus’ plan to escape unfold when he devises a plan to offer Polyphemus, the Cyclops,

some wine (his intentions here are to sedate Polyphemus and be able to work on his exit strategy!). While the Cyclops starts to feel the effect of this sweet, sweet wine Odysseus tell him his name is Noman. (This is where it starts getting good!)
“Noman is my name.

They call me Noman – My mother, my father, and all of my friends, too” (lines 364-365).

“Noman is killing me by some kind of trick! (line 407)!

This was the beginning for me in learning just how cunning Odysseus truthfully is. In the midst of adversity Odysseus has the ability to lay the ground work for a truly epic escape and triumph over the Cyclops Polyphemus. After a couple of paragraphs we get to see Odysseus’ thought process unravel as he strikes Polyphemus’ one eye with a spear himself and his men made. While in complete anguish the Cyclops begins to scream loud enough for the others to hear him. Once they arrive and hear him saying that is was “Noman” who hurt him they shrug it off and continue on their way. This is only the beginning of his plan for escape, the next morning they successfully fool the Cyclops and make their way back to their ship. It is not over yet though because with great cunning usually comes stubbornness and ego. Odysseus pushes his luck, yet again, once his ship sets sail back towards

home.
“You had the gall to eat the guest in your own home, and Zeus made you pay for it” (lines 478-479).
“And the backwash pushed us to the mainland again” (line 485)
Here is when Odysseus could not leave well enough alone. In a momentary lapse of judgement after fleeing the nightmare that was Polyphemus’ cave, Odysseus called out to the Cyclops with mockery and almost cast himself and his men back onto the shore of where they had just left. Although Odysseus is a quick thinker he definitely has arrogance about him that he cannot control.