“You’re dumb, stranger, or from far away,
If you ask me to fear the gods. Cyclopes
Don’t’ care about Zeus or his aegis
Or the blessed gods, since we are much stronger.
I wouldn’t spare you or your men
Out of fear of Zeus. I would spare them only
If I myself wanted to…” (Book 9, Page 351, Lines 265-271)
A host and guest relationship is a binary that is seen throughout The Odyssey, especially during Odysseus’ long journey. There are certain responsibilities hosts and guests are counted upon to uphold. Typically, hosts are expected to allow strangers into their home, shower them with luxuries, and even give them a bath. Only during the feast would the host begin to question the stranger on their identity and purpose. A guest was likely to accept the gifts, to not abuse their privileges, and to convey to the gods of their superb stay, for the happiness of their host.
However, the hospitality between a host and a guest is not solely out of the goodness of their hearts, but rather for the gods. Since hosts have no way of knowing whether their guest was a mortal, or a god, by treating every guest like a god, they wouldn’t accidently treat a god differently, or wrongly. By not upholding the responsibilities in a guest and host relationship, ultimately one or both parties would earn a punishment and seal their fate in the process. The host and guest relationship in ancient Greek is kept on a fine line, out of the fear of the gods.
The binary breaks down, when either the host or the guest, is not afraid of the gods, nor their punishments. This can be seen in the excerpt of Polyphemus declaring he’s stronger than all the gods and fears no one. When Odysseus entered the cave of Polyphemus, he was relying on the expectation of hospitality. Thus, he and his comrades began to help themselves to food and shelter. However, when Polyphemus returns, he refuses to follow the rules of Greek hospitality because he feels no need to. Odysseus asks for Polyphemus’ hospitality, even invoking the name of Zeus, but the Cyclops believes that his race is stronger than all the gods. Polyphemus then eats two of Odysseus’ men, directly defying Zeus, and destroying the host-guest binary.
Unlike a good host, Polyphemus does not think of his guests, but only of his own pleasures and gluttony. Eventually, Polyphemus ends up paying for his lack of hospitality as he is left blinded by Odysseus.
Through this excerpt, we can sense that if one refuses to be a good host, or guest, one will suffer the repercussions, even if one believes they are above all. Therefore, we can foreshadow a terrible fate for the suitors who have overstayed their welcome.
You made a good analysis of the relationship between the guest-host binary. In the case of this passage, you said that Polyphemus’ ultimate downfall was because he broke the guest-host binary. However, as you also mentioned, since Odysseus and men were expecting hospitality from Polyphemus, they helped themselves some food and shelter. Do you think that helping themselves without the host being present is also traits of being bad guests? Because if so, that may also be the reason why Odysseus and his men had to suffer through the consequences. So, Polyphemus may not be the only one responsible for breaking the guest-host binary.
Great moment to choose, and wonderful analysis of how fear of the gods influences virtuous behavior. Polyphemos is the ULTIMATE bad host (he eats his guests, instead of offering them food–pretty clear-cut violation of the rules!). Fean’s point is interesting–doesn’t Odysseus in fact decide to linger (instead of just stealing delicious cheese) because he thinks he might get a gift out of it?