Cruelty: In literary works such as; novels, plays, and epic poems; it is a crucial motivation or a major social or political factor. Today you will learn how cruelty functions in The Odyssey as a whole and what cruelty reveals about the perpetrator(s) and the victim.
There are many times when in Homer’s ‘The Odyssey’ when Odysseus is shown no mercy, only cruelty, but the tables turn when Telemachus and Odysseus return to Ithaca and give the suitors a taste of what their family had felt for eleven years. In Book XXII or Book Twenty-Two after reuniting, Telemachus and himself went toe-to-toe with the blood thirsty suitors; resulting in a gruesome bloodbath at the hands of Odysseus; whom of which shows no fear in the face of many predators and …show more content…
From Troy, the winds guided him and his men to Ismarus, city of the Cicones, or Cyclops’. The men plunder the land and, carried away by their greed, stay until the reinforced ranks of the Cicones turn on them and attack. Odysseus and his crew finally escape, having lost six men per ship. But soon wash ashore on the land of the Cyclopes; rough, uncivilized land. Odysseus and his men search for food, and soon come across a cave filled with sheep, milk, and cheese, the men advice Odysseus that they snatch the food and make a break for it; but, soon the cave’s inhabitant returns and devours some of his men on sight and imprisons them in the cave. He later sees Polyphemus pasturing his sheep. When Polyphemus returns Odysseus conjures a plan, he places a staff from the cave into the fire. He gets the Cyclops drunk with the wine from his ship, as soon as Polyphemus collapses from intoxication Odysseus and his men drive the staff straight into his eye, blinding the giant. I’d take this as an example of cruelty, justified, yet still cruel.
Let us believe that these are suitable examples of cruelty in Homer’s ‘The Odyssey’. Though, one thing that has been noted it that cruelty plays a fine but quiet role, it isn’t often that action ensues after a plan is created, but it is looming above the character's head, just as
There are many times when in Homer’s ‘The Odyssey’ when Odysseus is shown no mercy, only cruelty, but the tables turn when Telemachus and Odysseus return to Ithaca and give the suitors a taste of what their family had felt for eleven years. In Book XXII or Book Twenty-Two after reuniting, Telemachus and himself went toe-to-toe with the blood thirsty suitors; resulting in a gruesome bloodbath at the hands of Odysseus; whom of which shows no fear in the face of many predators and …show more content…
From Troy, the winds guided him and his men to Ismarus, city of the Cicones, or Cyclops’. The men plunder the land and, carried away by their greed, stay until the reinforced ranks of the Cicones turn on them and attack. Odysseus and his crew finally escape, having lost six men per ship. But soon wash ashore on the land of the Cyclopes; rough, uncivilized land. Odysseus and his men search for food, and soon come across a cave filled with sheep, milk, and cheese, the men advice Odysseus that they snatch the food and make a break for it; but, soon the cave’s inhabitant returns and devours some of his men on sight and imprisons them in the cave. He later sees Polyphemus pasturing his sheep. When Polyphemus returns Odysseus conjures a plan, he places a staff from the cave into the fire. He gets the Cyclops drunk with the wine from his ship, as soon as Polyphemus collapses from intoxication Odysseus and his men drive the staff straight into his eye, blinding the giant. I’d take this as an example of cruelty, justified, yet still cruel.
Let us believe that these are suitable examples of cruelty in Homer’s ‘The Odyssey’. Though, one thing that has been noted it that cruelty plays a fine but quiet role, it isn’t often that action ensues after a plan is created, but it is looming above the character's head, just as