Reading Notes: Odyssey Part A

This set of readings was a lot more interesting for me this week, especially since I’ve read some of them in the past. It was nice to re-read some of them and get filled in on the areas I didn’t remember as well. Overall, the adventure story that involved life/death along with creatures/gods is something that I love to get caught up in. One thing that I noticed from the stories was that deaths happened a bunch, and Odysseus was somewhat accustomed to it – or he was just really brave. When trapped in the cyclopes cave, men were brutally smashed against the walls/floor and then eaten in front of their friends. For such subject matter, it’s told with such little detail other than “they were dashed against the ground” so the deaths have less impact overall on the reader.

The second part of the reading included Odysseus and his men experiencing what Circe could do on her island that they landed on after escaping the island of cyclopes. The imagery of turning men into animals is very strong – I’m reminded of the Pinocchio story were the disobedient boys are turned into donkeys. Except, in this case, the men are simply trapped by Circe and subjected to her curse.

Another important thing I noticed with these stories was that Odysseus exemplifies the qualities of a protagonist that people love – he’s brave, as shown by wanting to stab the cyclops in the eye and going to Circe’s palace after knowing what waits for him there. He’s also intelligent as seen through his smart idea of hiding under the ram’s bellies in order to escape certain doom within the cave. However, with these qualities, there are some issues with him (as all good stories have). Namely, is that he is somewhat reckless with his men, sending them into the cyclopes island, shouting at the blind cyclops, and again sending a group of men to Circe. The flaws within his character make him that much more believable. 

Illustration done by Flaxman

Homer's Odyssey translated into English by Tony Kline