In Book X of Homer's The Odyssey translated by Robert Fizgerald, Odysseus and his men arrive to the island of the goddess Kirke. Once they had arrived to a cove, Odysseus notices smoke coming from Kirke's hall. He becomes curious, but decides against exploring until after he had given his men breakfast. After Odysseus had given his men venison and a short speech, he divided his men into two platoons, with him as the head of one platoon, and his companion Eurylokhos as the head of the other one. After he and Odysseus had "shook lots in a soldier’s dogskin cap and his came bounding out" (218-219), Eurylokhos took his twenty two men to explore the island.
Once he and his men had arrived at Kirke's hall and witnessed Kirke singing and weaving, …show more content…
So, like a good hostess, she makes sure her guests are well-nourished, and gives them cheese and barley, which I assume is a filling meal. To wash the food down, she provides the men with Pramnian wine mixed amber honey, which sounds like it would be a pleasant, sweet drink. Up to now, she has been an excellent hostess, and has demonstrated phenomenal Xenia; however, things change after this point. Before serving the wine, she adds something to it, which is described as "vile", which causes the men to not want to return home. Whatever put into the wine, I'm sure that because the wine was sweet, the men did not notice it, but here is where she is showing bad Xenia. By putting something unknown into the wine without the consent of her guests, she is deceiving her guests, and harming them by altering their desires. She later becomes a terrible hostess "when she flew after them with her long stick and shut them in a pigsty (253-254)." Here, she has not only poisoned her guests, but has also kidnapped and imprisoned them. As a insult, "Kirkê tossed them acorns, mast, and cornel berries—fodder for hogs who rut and slumber on the earth (257-259)", which is the direct opposite of and extremely offensive compared to what she did earlier. At first, she was exalting them by placing them on thrones, then stripping them of their humanity by placing them in a pigpen and throwing - not serving- animal food at
Once he and his men had arrived at Kirke's hall and witnessed Kirke singing and weaving, …show more content…
So, like a good hostess, she makes sure her guests are well-nourished, and gives them cheese and barley, which I assume is a filling meal. To wash the food down, she provides the men with Pramnian wine mixed amber honey, which sounds like it would be a pleasant, sweet drink. Up to now, she has been an excellent hostess, and has demonstrated phenomenal Xenia; however, things change after this point. Before serving the wine, she adds something to it, which is described as "vile", which causes the men to not want to return home. Whatever put into the wine, I'm sure that because the wine was sweet, the men did not notice it, but here is where she is showing bad Xenia. By putting something unknown into the wine without the consent of her guests, she is deceiving her guests, and harming them by altering their desires. She later becomes a terrible hostess "when she flew after them with her long stick and shut them in a pigsty (253-254)." Here, she has not only poisoned her guests, but has also kidnapped and imprisoned them. As a insult, "Kirkê tossed them acorns, mast, and cornel berries—fodder for hogs who rut and slumber on the earth (257-259)", which is the direct opposite of and extremely offensive compared to what she did earlier. At first, she was exalting them by placing them on thrones, then stripping them of their humanity by placing them in a pigpen and throwing - not serving- animal food at