On their way home from the Trojan war, Odysseus and his crew find themselves approaching the land of the Cyclops, a land known to be inhabited by “Lawless Savages,” living in caves high up in the mountains. No humans occupy the island at all, just the lawless beasts and wild goats on unfarmed lands. As Odysseus and his crew make their way onto the island, they get themselves into some serious trouble by inviting themselves into the cave of Polyphemus, one of the Cyclops on the island. Odysseus gets several members of his crew killed, and also gets himself in some serious trouble with Poseidon. The episode of the Cyclops demonstrates exactly how mortals bring trouble upon themselves, even though they constantly blame the gods for all that goes wrong. Moments like when Odysseus enters the cave of the cyclops, reveals his identity to the cyclops, and antagonizing the cyclops as they leave are all ways in which Odysseus puts himself, and his crew, in trouble.

Odysseus arrives on the island of the Cyclops and immediately brings trouble upon himself and his crew by entering the cave of the Cyclops. After they had slept there overnight and the sun rose in the morning, Odysseus says to his crew “The rest of you stay here while I go with my ship and crew on reconnaissance. I want to find out what those men are like” (pp. 429). This moment clearly portrays how mortals bring upon their own troubles. There is no reason for Odysseus and his crew to even be on the island of the cyclops, let alone enter the cave of one of the cyclops, just out of pure curiousity. The only reason that could justify Odysseus’ decision to go into the cave is in hopes of the Cyclops presenting Odysseus with a gift of hospitality. Even so, in search of a gift would only be an act of greed, as Odysseus and his crew have plenty of food and wine from when they ransacked the Cicones’ city earlier in the text. When they enter the cave, it is empty, as the Cyclops is outside tending his flocks. Odysseus then says “My men thought we should make off with some cheese and then come back for the lambs and kids, load them on board, and sail away on the sea” (pp 430). Although Odysseus’ crew knows sticking around the cave is a bad idea, Odysseus will not listen. Odysseus insists on sticking around, which ultimately leads to himself and his crew getting themselves into a serious situation, stuck inside the cave of the cyclops. But before they got trapped inside, Odysseus and crew help themselves to the Cyclops’ cheese while they waited for the cyclops to come back. This moment is quite ironic, because Odysseus does not seem to have an issue with his crew and himself eating everything inside the cyclops’ home, while he gets extremely angry about the suitors back home helping themselves to everything there is to eat inside of his own home. This naturally causes the Cyclops to get angry, completely because of Odysseus just wanting to see what the Cyclops looks like. As a result of sticking around, he is responsible for getting members of his crew killed.

Moving forward in the story, we see yet another example of Odysseus putting himself in a situation of trouble, this time by revealing his identity to Polyphemus. “Noman is my name, they call me Noman” (pp 434) says Odysseus to the cyclops when asked his name, brilliantly concealing his identity and setting up an escape plan. As time passes, Odysseus and his crew stab Polyphemus in his eye, ultimately leading to their escape. When the Cyclops shouts “Noman is killing me by some kind of trick!” (pp 435), Odysseus is able to escape without the other beasts on the island being aware of their presence. Instead of just walking away from the situation relatively unharmed, Odysseus’ ego takes over, and he shouts “Cyclops, if anyone, any mortal man, asks how you got your eye put out, tell him that Odysseus the marauder did it” (pp 437). Instead of keeping his mouth shut, Odysseus reveals his true name to Polyphemus. Although Odysseus does not realize it, this action will bear significant consequence, as Polyphemus is the son of Poseidon. This will go on to haunt Odysseus and his crew, as it is made clear in the story that Poseidon hates Odysseus and makes his journey back home all the more difficult. After Odysseus has revealed himself to the Cyclops, the Cyclops goes on to say “Hear me, Poseidon, blue-maned Earth-Holder, if you are the father you claim to be. Grant that Odysseus, son of Laertes, may never reach his home of Ithaca. But if he is fated to see his family again, And return to his home and own native land, may he come late, having lost all companions, in another’s ship, and find trouble at home” (pp 437). The revelation of his identity allows for Polyphemus to call upon Poseidon to curse Odysseus in a way, and make his journey home dreadful and deadly. As we know from the text, Odysseus’ arrival to Ithaca is prolonged twenty years, all of his crew members are eventually killed, and hundreds of men are at home trying to court his wife. Although this hardship is directly a result of Poseidon, it is not truly the Gods that are responsible for this. It is Odysseus who has brought upon this hardship to himself and his crew, all because he allowed his ego to get in the way and reveal his true identity to the Cyclops.

As Odysseus reveals his identity to Polyphemus, he also cannot hold back from taunting the Cyclops, which again puts himself and his crew in serious trouble. As Odysseus sails away with his crew out of harm’s way, he finds the need to shout “So, Cyclops, it turns out it wasn’t a coward whose men you murdered and ate in your cave, you savage! But you got yours in the end, didn’t you?” (pp 436). Again, we see here Odysseus being unable to control his ego as he shouts back at the Cyclops, poking fun and taunting him. Instead of getting away with no issues, Odysseus finds himself not quite gone safe yet. This taunting does nothing but anger the Cyclops more than he already is, so he responds by breaking off a huge piece of rock and hurling it out at his ship, nearly hitting the front of the ship. This pushes the ship back towards the mainland, so his crew has to work to get back away from the island. If he had not shouted out at Polyphemus, this would clearly not be an issue. Odysseus’ crew knows that they’ve just escaped potential death, so when it appears Odysseus wants to have another word with Polyphemus, they say to Odysseus “Don’t do it, man! The rock hit that hit the water pushed us in and we thought we were done for. If he hears any sound from us, he’ll heave half a cliff at us and crush the ship and our skulls with one throw. You know he has the range” (pp 436). Clearly, his crew members are aware of the trouble Odysseus is bringing upon them, and they’re begging for him to control himself. As we read on, we know Odysseus could not care less about what his crew has to say, and he goes on to shout at him again, resulting in the Cyclops to hurl an even bigger piece of cliff at the ship, just barely missing again. This clearly upsets Odysseus’ crew, as they almost lost their lives at the hands of him. As a result of these events, it is very possible that the crew starts to resent Odysseus. Further into the reading, we see the crew members resent Odysseus for getting gifts, such as the bag of winds, and open the bag without his permission, pushing them back to the island in which they left, and towards the end of the journey when the crew kills all of Helios’ animals despite Odysseus ordering them not to. Odysseus’ actions bring about not only danger, but causes turmoil amongst he and the crew. It is clear that the gods have not much to do with their misfortunes, but their poor decision making is what is causing them to have such an incredible journey.

Although the episode of the Cyclops is only told over the span of a few pages, much has transpired that affects the rest of their journey. The invasion of the Cyclops’ cave, Odysseus revealing his identity to Polyphemus, and Odysseus’ ego taking over and taunting the cylops are critical moments in the story that really portray that the gods really do not put mortals in troublesome situations, but the mortals do it to themselves. This epic poem would not have occurred if only Odysseus had not stopped to take the time to wait for the cyclops. Pure curiosity put them in a life-threatening situation, which could have been completely avoided. Additionally, the revelation of his identity is what really set back Odysseus’ arrival back home to Ithaca, for he would not have been able to have been identified by Poseidon. Odysseus’ tendency to bring his crew into his troubles created clear dismay amongst the crew, which unfortunately led to their own demise towards the end of the journey. If Odysseus had not gotten himself into so much trouble during the episode of the Cyclops, is it unreasonable to believe that we would have nothing to discuss and debate about in the future?