Week 2 Essay: Monsters in Mythology

Odysseus and his men passing between Scylla and Charybdis. Source: Wikipedia.

Homer's Odyssey is a fantastic tale of a warrior named Odysseus and his journey home to Ithaca after the Trojan War (the account of which can be found in Homer's Iliad, the companion epic). Highly influenced by Greek mythology and the lore of Homer's time, the ballad incorporates narratives of gods and goddesses and supernatural beings. The excerpt that I read this week, taken from Tony Kline's translation into English, focuses on Odysseus's wanderings and describes all of the monsters that he encounters before he is able to return home. Through Homer's poem, the reader can tell that there are two types of beasts in mythology: those that are the typical savage who rely solely on violence to obtain their victims and a more cunning, wily kind who manipulate and tempt their targets. With both of these categories of monsters, Odysseus uses a combination of force and wits (and lots of help from the gods) to combat them and finally make his way home.

The Cyclops, Polyphemus, that Odysseus first encounters proves to be a true brute. Immediately, he and his men (and the reader) see that he is definitely not a gentle giant. Polyphemus wastes no time in dashing the brains out of two of Odysseus's crew, all the while showing no remorse whatsoever. Cunningly, Odysseus devises a plan to avenge his men and escape the island. By blinding the Cyclops and tying his men to the undersides of Polyphemus's sheep, they successfully evade their captor. 

In a way, the Cyclops is similar to the twin threats of Scylla and Charybdis. These two monsters guard both sides of a mountain and attack unwary travelers, Scylla snatching crew members from ships that draw too close to her shores and Charybdis sucking in the waters surrounding the island and spewing them out in a fiery blaze. Here, Odysseus abandons most of his hubris and follows the directions that Circe gave him before he set out on this journey around the island. Some of the gods hear his cry for help and guide his ship around Charybdis's whirlpool safely (not before, unfortunately, he loses several of his men). 

On the other hand, there are those monsters in mythology with wit that could easily counter that of Odysseus. One of these is Circe, the witch, who turns a large portion of Odysseus's men into pigs and manipulates them into forgetting about their homes. The wily temptress then tries to do the same to Odysseus, but because of his fortunate previous divine intervention, he is forewarned and prepared and does not fall into her trap. He does succumb to her seduction, but all the while is reminded of his longing for home, and after a year, finally seeks to leave.

In the same vein, the Sirens are temptresses, but in a more indirect way. Their beguiling song lures travelers in and compels them to inexplicably crash their ships on the shores where the Sirens reside. Odysseus, in his courage and (some would argue) foolishness, wishes to hear their singing, but obviously does not want to perish. Thankfully, his men are faithful and tie him up tightly, even when he protests, and stuff their ears with wax so that they would not be subjected to the allure.

Throughout the Odyssey, the reader sees countless descriptions of many dangers, and they manifest themselves in many different ways--sometimes sneaky and sometimes outright violent. It is Odysseus's good fortune and favor with the gods that gets him back to Ithaca and his family safely.

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Bibliography

The Odyssey, translated into English by Tony Kline (2004). 

Source: Poetry in Translation.

Excerpts read from the Homer's Odyssey in the Un-Textbook.

Week 2 Storytelling: The Spirit of Anticleia

Teiresias prophesying Odysseus's journey home. 

Artist: Johann Heinrich Fussli. Source: Wikipedia.

Odysseus, once daunted by the idea of going into the underworld, felt a little more at ease once he had spoken to Teiresias and heard the prophecy of safety in his journey back to Ithaca. He stayed at the entrance to Hades until the ghost of his mother met him.

She drank of the blood that Odysseus offered in order to communicate with the spirits, and immediately recognized him. Weeping, she asked him how he managed to get to the underworld alive. "Have you not seen your wife and son yet?" she asked dolefully.

Odysseus responded with his tale of his adventures since the Trojan War. "The witch Circe told me to seek Teiresias's prophecy," he explained. "After this, I can finally stop roaming and settle back in at home."

Then, a painful sadness overtook him. "Why are you here, mother? What took your life? And what about the family that I left when I went to war?"

Anticleia assuaged her son's fears, saying, "Your wife still lives in your palace, but it has been overrun by suitors asking for her hand in marriage. Despite this, she has remained faithful to you throughout the years you have been gone. Your son, Telemachus, has become a man and presides over the land. They are facing hardship and temptation each day, but they get by. However, your father is lonely in the countryside, weak with age. For years he has been grieving and awaiting your return. Please visit him on your journey back so that he does not meet the same fate as I. It was not disease or weapons that took my life, but a broken heart, waiting all those years for your sweet spirit.

At this, Odysseus was overcome by heartache. He wished he could hold her and bring her comfort. Three times he tried to hug his mother, but with each attempt, her spirit escaped his embrace. This saddened him even further, and he asked, "Why can I not hold you? Are you just a trick of the light or an apparition sent by Hades to torment me more?"

The wise woman answered, "This is just the way of the world of the dead. Spirits are not substantial any longer; we don't have the forms we once did. But do not worry about that, child: take the information and advice that I have given you and bring it back to the world. Say hello to your father, and when you reach Ithaca, bring the good news of your return to your wife and son."

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Author's note: As I was reading the Odyssey, this passage was both difficult and fascinating to read. Of course, it was heartbreaking to see the grief of Odysseus and his mother, but there was something sweet among the sadness of this excerpt. Inexplicably, this was my favorite part of the reading unit.

In this storytelling exercise, I stuck very closely to the original translation by Tony Kline, as I wanted to keep the reverence and loving tone in the interaction between Odysseus and Anticleia. I loved this section of the text because it was a change of pace from the violence that Odysseus faced with Polyphemus the Cyclops and the temptation that he received at the hands of Circe the witch. It is an interesting juxtaposition of emotional affection, inserted between accounts of battles with monsters that incorporate only brute force.

Bibliography:

Homer's Odyssey, as found in the Un-Textbook.

(Original: The Odyssey, translated into English by Tony Kline, 2004)

Week 2 Reading Diary: Homer's Odyssey

Excerpts from Homer's Odyssey

This week, I read selections from Homer's Odyssey, translated by Tony Kline. The sections in the assigned reading included Odysseus's adventures with Polyphemus the Cyclops, Circe the witch, the Sirens, Scylla and Charybdis, and various other monsters that he encounters on his journey home. The following are my thoughts as I read through each of the excerpts.

Trapped: All I could think while reading this was, "well...this escalated quickly." Odysseus and his men find Polyphemus's cave and want to investigate his nature--if he is a gentle giant or a hostile being (spoiler alert--he is the latter). When Polyphemus discovers them in his lair, Odysseus tries to bargain so that he and his crew can escape with their lives, begging the Cyclops to respect the gods. Polyphemus displays intense hubris here, saying that he does not care for Zeus and that "[Cyclopes] are greater than they [the gods]." He then kills two of Odysseus's men (the gory details of which I will leave out of this blog post), and Odysseus devises an equally violent plan to kill the Cyclops and escape. 

The Cyclops Defeated: Odysseus is definitely no fool. It is extremely clever of him to tell Polyphemus that his name is Nobody, so that when the Cyclops cries out to his peers and says that "Nobody is trying to kill him," they think they cannot do anything about his plight. Throughout the Odyssey, Odysseus can be very conceited (like when he tells Polyphemus his real name in the next section and almost loses his ship because of it), but he certainly has the wit to back up his claims for the most part.

Circe's Magic: It is both heartbreaking and extremely frustrating to watch Odysseus lose his men one by one. I was very glad that at least one man, Eurylochus, sensed the trap and did not succumb to Circe's spell. It must be a terrible thing for the men to be changed into pigs but still have all the memories of the human beings that they were before. I am grateful that throughout the story, Odysseus receives the help of various gods like Hermes in this situation.

The rest of this half of the reading seemed very ominous. When Odysseus requests to leave Circe's palace, she does not keep him against his will, but instead gives him the task of going to the underworld, a place where no mortal has ever gone and survived.

(Reading B - Notes from the second half)

Ghosts of Elpenor and Teiresias: In this story, Odysseus visits the underworld and is confronted by the blind but insightful seer Teiresias. The theme here of sight is an important one: although Teiresias cannot physically see the world around him, he can see into other parts of the cosmos and transcend space and time. In this section, he warns Odysseus that he will lose all of his men, but he will survive if he does not succumb to his pride. It is interesting because the reader sees the entire rest of the story foreshadowed in this excerpt.

The Spirit of Anticleia: This section was heartbreaking to read. Odysseus encounters his mother in the underworld, and since he had left so many years ago to fight in the Trojan War, he had not seen her. He receives details of his wife, son, and father in their respective places. Odysseus finds out that Laertes, his father, was in a dark place in his life, grieving at the absence of his son--and this is the affliction that took his mother's life. To read that his mother died of a broken heart waiting for her son was heart-wrenching enough, but when Odysseus tries to embrace her and cannot physically touch the spirit, this was the saddest part for me.

The next three chapters describe Odysseus's conversations with various ghosts in his past. The ghosts of famous women are portrayed, and Odysseus recounts the stories of their lives, how their families came to be, and how they died. Next, Odysseus sees the ghost of Agamemnon, a dear friend from the war, and listens as he tells his friend how he was killed. The spirit of Achilles wants to hear how his family is doing in the world, and the ghost of Ajax walks away from Odysseus in stony silence as he angrily remembers how Odysseus defeated him to win Achilles's weapons. Here, I was impressed by Odysseus's humility, something that the reader does not get to see very often. As he describes how he won the weapons, he shows remorse that he achieved this and concedes that Ajax did not deserve to die because of his victory.

The Sirens, Scylla, and Charybdis: It was in this section that I appreciated the loyalty of Odysseus's men. As they row past the Sirens, Odysseus's ears remain unplugged and he begs his men to loosen the ropes that bound him to the mast and to draw nearer to the shore, but they refuse. It was because of this that it was a pity that Scylla "devoured" six of his crew members when they reach the shores of the twin dangers, Scylla and Charybdis. This was an abrupt and gory ending to these excerpts, and I will most likely read the rest of the account later this week.

Bibliography:
Homer's Odyssey, translated by Tony Kline.
Books IX-XII.
Source: Poetry in Translation.