The Cyclops Sparknotes

Analysis of “The Cyclops” Ancient Grecians lived by a philosophy that many still follow today, “Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.” They were advocates of hedonism and sought out pleasure in all regards of life. In the play “The Cyclops” by Euripides, we see a person named Odysseus use the pleasures of man to trick the one-eyed giant Cyclops, Polyphemus, escape death, and find his way out of a tough situation. “The Cyclops”, written around 408 BC, is the only known complete satyr play. A satyr play is an Ancient Greek form of a tragicomedy. We see this idea of “satyr” play out several times throughout the story as we will see tragedy in the form of Odysseus’s crew getting eaten by Polyphemus, and we will also see humor in the ways …show more content…
Aetna in Sicily, before the mouth of a large cave. Odysseus has become lost on his voyage home from the Trojan War and stops at Mt. Aetna. His first encounter is with Silenus and a chorus of satyrs who have become enslaved by Polyphemus. Odysseus asks Silenus for food for his crew in exchange for wine. Silenus, having being enslaved on Mt. Aetna for so long, craved the wine that Odysseus had to offer. He graciously accepts the exchange, even though the food was not his own to be giving, but belonged to none other than the dreaded Cyclops. Shortly after, Polyphemus arrives and notices that his lambs are tied up and his cheese has been strewn about. Silenus begins to say that Odysseus was beating him, and claims, “…but they persisted in plundering thy goods, and in spite of my efforts, they actually began to eat the cheese and carry off the lamb” (Euripides 13). We know this to be an obvious lie because of our previous insight. Odysseus pleaded his case and innocence along with the efforts of a younger satyr. They tried to convince Polyphemus of the truth, but Polyphemus believed Silenus’s lie and decided that he was going to cook and eat Odysseus and his crew despite Odysseus and the satyr’s …show more content…
Odysseus uses this opportunity to execute his plan. The satyrs offer to help and as they are following through on their offer, they back out using various, humorous excuses. Euripides uses lots humor in this scene. The satyrs say things as, “…for somehow or other I sprained my ankle, standing still” (Euripides 31) and “Yes, my eyes are full of dust or ashes from somewhere or other” (Euripides 31). Because of the satyr’s lame excuses, Odysseus says, “These are sorry fellows, useless as allies” (Euripides 31), and decides to gather the remainder of his crew that was still alive to help him. Between him and his crew, they were able to bring Odysseus’s plan to completion and burn out the Cyclops’s eye. Odysseus uses his brain and finds things around him to get out of a rough situation. He is resourceful and