Why does odysseus offer the cyclops wine

But this demonstrated a lot of forethought and cleverness. Learn More: Homer—Odyssey. He yells once, taunting him, and the Cyclops hurls a huge chunk of a mountain out at the ship.

He misses, throwing it beyond the ship and driving it back to the shore. No more. But Odysseus has given the Cyclops enough information to call down upon him and his men a curse; that is exactly what he does. He asks his father Poseidon to destroy Odysseus and his ships, or at least make sure that Odysseus, if he makes it home, gets there all alone and finds trouble awaiting him there.

Thus, in this final taunting of the Cyclops, we see that Odysseus is unable to distance himself completely from the values dear to the Iliadic heroes; he feels the need to identify himself to the Cyclops, so others will know of his skill and cunning. Learn more about how memories of the Mycenaean era were preserved in oral stories of gods and heroes. Therefore he blinds it , rendering it disabled but capable of letting them out.

Odysseus tells the Cyclops his name is Nobody as he knows that when he attacks, the Cyclops will cry out and be asked by other Cyclopes if it needs help. By telling the Cyclops his real name, Odysseus opened himself up to the curse Polyphemus places upon him as Poseidon is his father and they are at sea. By David J. What lessons can we take away from his journeys? Skip to Main Content. District Home.

Sign In. Search Our Site. Home Schools ". Manville School District Cyclops Questions. Kita, Stacey. Roberts Mr. What gift does Odysseus take with him when he goes to see the Cyclops? How dows this gift end up saving the lives of Odysseus and his men? Odysseus uses the wine to get the Cyclops drunk.

Odysseus blinds the Cyclops while he is drunk and is able to escape his cave. What technique does the Cylcops use to control the passage of sheep in and out of his cave?

Why does this technique prvent Odysseus and his men from safely killing the Cyclops? The Cyclops closes the mouth to his cave with a huge boulder, that only the giant monster can move. If Odysseus kills the Cylcops in the cave, he and his men will be trapped inside the cave and die anyway. Two dozen four-wheeled wagons, with heaving wagon teams, could not have stirred the tonnage of that rock from where he wedged it over the doorstill" What god does Odysseus invoke as he asks the Cyclops for a gift?

Why is this god appropriate? Odysseus invokes the name of Zeus when he asks the Cyclops for hospitality. The Greeks believed that Zeus would punish anyone who does not offer hospitality. We would entreat you, great Sir, have a care for the gods' courtesy; Zeus will avenvge the unoffending guest" Lines Why does Odysseus lie and say that his ship was smashed when the Cyclops asks its location? Odysseus lies because he is afraid the Cyclops will destroy his ship, kill his men and eliminate their only means of escape from the island.

Odysseus is being cunning. He thought he'd find out, but I saw through this. My ship? Poseidon Lord, who sets the earth a-tremble, broke it upon the rocks at your land's end. A wind from seaward served him, drove us there. We are survivors, these good men and I" Lines 5. What does the Cyclops do to 2 of Odysseus' men? Why is this action particularly ironic given the Greek customs of the "laws of hospitality"? Cyclops captures and eats 2 of the men for dinner.

This is ironic because in the Greek culture hospitality is greatly admired. The Cyclops should be giving Odysseus and his men dinner not making them his dinner.

Then he dismemberered them and made his meal, gaping and crunching like a mountain lion-- everything innards, flesh and marrow bones" Lines Where do Odysseus and his men hide their wooden stake in the cave? Odysseus gets angry. He explains that he built their bedroom around an ancient olive tree, and used the top of the tree to make their bedpost. He is angry because he believes Penelope must have replaced this bed with a movable one. His anger, and the fact that he knows the story of the bed, proves his identity.

Only Odysseus, Penelope, and one loyal servant have ever seen the bed. In this way, she is very like Odysseus. Their marriage bed, literally rooted in the soil of Ithaca, is a powerful symbol of the permanence of home in a world where nothing else seems dependable. The Odyssey begins with the invocation of the muse, which is a distinct literary characteristic typical of epic poetry. Athena helps Odysseus for several reasons.

Lastly and perhaps most importantly, Athena has genuine respect and affection for Odysseus. By inviting Telemachus to the feast without knowing who he is, Nestor demonstrates the ancient Greek custom of hospitality known as xenia. Calypso allows Odysseus to leave her island because she understands that, despite Odysseus sleeping with her, his heart longs for his wife and home. Odysseus refuses unless she meets his conditions: Circe must turn his men whom she earlier transformed into pigs back into humans, and she must promise never to use her magic to harm him.

Once they strike a bargain, Odysseus sleeps with Circe. Odysseus and his men stay on her island for a year, and Odysseus only asks to leave when his men demand it. When Odysseus approaches Circe to ask for help returning home, she tells him that he must first travel to Hades to speak with the ghost of the blind prophet Tiresias. Suitors fill his palace, and though Penelope seems to care only for her husband, Odysseus has experienced enough treachery along his journey to know that she could be covering up deceit.

In Book 19, Penelope declares her intention to remarry. This fact hints that Penelope, despite her words, may know that shooting the bow cleanly is a near impossible task, a detail that would allow her to avoid choosing a new husband after all.