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Throughout the story Odysseus does not take actions when his men are being killed or eaten so that he can live, like he did in the giant’s cave, when Scylla attacked and when Zeus struck them with a lightning bolt and the evidence that proves Odysseus takes these actions to protect himself reads, “why not/ take these cheeses, get them stowed, come back, / throw open all pens, and make a run for it? / We’ll drive the kids and lambs aboard. We say/ put out again on the good salt water! / Ah, / how sounds that was/ Yet I refused. I wished to see the cave man, what he had to offer/…but in one stride he clutched at my companions/ and caught two in his hands like squirming puppies/ to beat their brains out, spattering the floor. / Then he dismembered them and made his meal/…if I killed him/ we perished there as well, for we could never/ move his ponderous doorway slab aside/…he caught/ another brace of men to make his breakfast/…Then Scylla made her strike, / whisking six of my men from the ship and oarsmen/ and caught sight of their arms and legs, dangling/ high overhead. Voices came down to me/ in anguish calling my name for the last time./…She ate them as they shrieked there, in her den/ in the dire grapple, reaching still for me-/ at that sight-far the worst I ever suffered” (Homer 988-990, 1010). Odysseus
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Odysseus’s ruthless actions and tendency to do whatever he needs to do in order to succeed causes him to be unworthy of his heroic title. In order to show how ruthless and willing Odysseus is, Homer writes how the supposed hero either kills his enemy, or he blinds them and that undeniable truth about his ruthlessness in Homer’s words reads, “rammed it/ deep in his crater eye, and leaned on it/ turning it as a shipwright turns a drill/ in planking, having men below the swing/ the two-handled strap that spins it in the groove. / So with our brand we bored that great eye socket/ while blood ran out around the red-hot bar. / Eyelid and lash were seared; the pierced ball/ hissed broiling, and the roots pooped/…While he had arrows/ he aimed and shot, and every show brought down/one of his huddling enemies.” (Homer 992, 1042) Odysseus often decides to take actions such as dealing serious damage or death. In many situations, like with the suitors, he kills all of them, just so he can once again be the king. Odysseus was the true villain between Polyphemus and Odysseus because he blinded Polyphemus for his own selfish cause. He also took many other ruthless actions, like ordering his men to sail towards Scylla instead of just deciding that going home was less important than staying alive. If he had decided to stay in safety, his men would have lived and would have been
Odysseus’s ruthless actions and tendency to do whatever he needs to do in order to succeed causes him to be unworthy of his heroic title. In order to show how ruthless and willing Odysseus is, Homer writes how the supposed hero either kills his enemy, or he blinds them and that undeniable truth about his ruthlessness in Homer’s words reads, “rammed it/ deep in his crater eye, and leaned on it/ turning it as a shipwright turns a drill/ in planking, having men below the swing/ the two-handled strap that spins it in the groove. / So with our brand we bored that great eye socket/ while blood ran out around the red-hot bar. / Eyelid and lash were seared; the pierced ball/ hissed broiling, and the roots pooped/…While he had arrows/ he aimed and shot, and every show brought down/one of his huddling enemies.” (Homer 992, 1042) Odysseus often decides to take actions such as dealing serious damage or death. In many situations, like with the suitors, he kills all of them, just so he can once again be the king. Odysseus was the true villain between Polyphemus and Odysseus because he blinded Polyphemus for his own selfish cause. He also took many other ruthless actions, like ordering his men to sail towards Scylla instead of just deciding that going home was less important than staying alive. If he had decided to stay in safety, his men would have lived and would have been