Odysseus Fear Of The Cyclops In The Odyssey, By Homer

In the epic, The Odyssey, by Homer, Odysseus develops from being fearful of the Cyclopes to hardly being afraid of them at all as he spends time trying to survive when they are trapped by Polyphemus the Cyclops who is eating his men. First, at the beginning when the Cyclops had devoured two men from Odysseus’ crew, the crew then “Cried aloud, lifting… [their] hands to Zeus, powerless, looking on at this, appalled” (9). It is clear that Odysseus is terrified of the Cyclops. He is unable to do anything but pray to Zeus, powerless and afraid. As the story progresses Odysseus develops to be more courageous. At the middle of the story, Odysseus is brave enough to confront the Cyclops right after the Cyclops had helped himself to two members of …show more content…
He is clearly different from the last time the Cyclops ate some of his men. Odysseus has become more brave from this experience with the Cyclops and shows it at the end, after the crew had escaped the Cyclops, “‘Zeus and the gods have paid you!’ The blind thing in his doubled fury broke a hilltop in his hands and heaved it after us. Ahead of our prow it struck and sank whelmed in a spuming geyser, a giant black wave that washed the ship stern foremost back to shore” (13). The Cyclops made a very good effort to destroy Odysseus’ crew and probably scared most of them. Odysseus’ crew might not have been so lucky if the Cyclops threw another rock, but Odysseus yells back at him later, “‘If I could take your life I would take your time away, and hurl you down to hell! The good of earthquake would not heal you there!’” (14). Even after the Cyclops hurled a massive hilltop, Odysseus wasn’t even anxious and yelled back at the Cyclops, crushed, and had given up that Odysseus would gladly kill the Cyclops. Odysseus developed from the beginning of the story to the end by becoming more brave against the