Book 9 Lines 412-418
For my passage, I would like to talk about Odysseus’s overweening attitude regarding his deception of Polyphemus neighbors, and the irony of his actions. Starting on line 410 of book IV, Odysseus states, “They left then, and I laughed in my heart. At how my phony name had fooled them so well”, Odysseus is praising himself for trickery of Polyphemus neighbors in respect to changing his name to “Noman”, this allows an easy escape for Odysseus from the cave. While this can be seen as a great tactical move by Odysseus, I believe that this is the beginning of the end for Odysseus in respect to his future problems with the God Poseidon.
By being so boastful when it comes to his escape from the cave, Odysseus becomes vulnerable and thinks he can get away with anything. This leads to Odysseus later on in the book calling back to the land and revealing his true identity to the gods and the other neighbors.
I found it ironic how stupid Odysseus could be when it came to escaping from the cave and the eventual admission to being Noman. Why would he ever admit to being this Noman character, when he clearly got out of the cave alive and it looked like he would have safe passage? It is clear to me that Odysseus wanted to receive the credit for his escape, instead of a more tactical approach to it.
Later on, in the passage, Odysseus states, “Groping around, he removed the doorstone and sat in the entrance with his hands spread out to catch anyone who went out with the sheep—as if I could be so stupid.” I think the part that I have put in bold says it all. Odysseus at this point in his escape is extremely confident and loses all common sense. He says about himself “as if I could be so stupid” (to get caught), when in the end, after successfully escaping the cave, he essentially turns himself in by admitting being Noman and in turn pissing off Poseidon. If Odysseus truly was a perfect tactician, as he so strongly emphasizes, how could he possibly make the dire mistake of taking credit for his amazing mistake. Maybe he wants to be known as the mortal, who was smart enough to trick the gods? Or maybe he just wanted to get on Poseidon’s bad side for whatever reason. Regardless, like I said before hand by admitting being Noman, he gives Poseidon an obvious reason for vengeance, and this in turn will alter Odysseus journey throughout the remainder of the books.
I think Odysseus’ biggest issue is his cockiness. Of course we all know that he is cunning, brave, and handsome, but it is his pride that gets him into trouble. He wanted to make sure that Polyphemus knew who was responsible for everything that happened. Even after his crew told him to just get out of there, he still could not resist rubbing in his intelligence to Polyphemus. And, in turn, he gave himself up and put he and his crew in danger. Excessive pride or hubris is known to be the reason for a hero’s downfall in many Greek tragedies. Being humble would certainly decrease the amount of issues Odysseus faces.
I agree with your sentiments. This passage in the text really epitomizes how hubris completely obliterated his otherwise very cunning and strategic nature. It is almost as if his pride from all his glory is an ironic weakness. I also thought that his decision to reveal his identity solidified the inevitable messes in his journey home. This passage was such an unfortunate, yet key memory in The Odyssey.
Hi Jon,
This response does a nice job of analyzing Odysseus’ strengths and weaknesses as a tactician. I do want to push back, though, on the suggestion that pride itself is a fundamental problem. Time and again in the text, pride seems to be part of what it is to have a proper sense of self. It’s moments when pride goes too far that are dangerous–and you rightly pick out one of those moments! If this is a topic that interests you, it might be worthwhile to think about moments when expressions of pride work in Odysseus’ favor.
In terms of close-reading, work on digging deeply into the details of the passage–which means not only detailing its importance to the plot, but also thinking about how specific words and phrases signify. We’ll be working on this more in class, as a group, in the sessions to come.
Best,
Prof Kolb