Stella Connaughton

English 10

ODYSSEUS EXPOSED! BIG HERO OR

BIG EGO
By Eurylochus

FIELDS OF ASPHODEL, THE

known to all of Greece as a

UNDERWORLD Odysseus. Hes

great, strong, godlike man,

the strong, charismatic,

but I can assure you he

godlike hero who is known

considered himself above the

all though out Greece for his

gods.

perilous journey.

cunning leader, who used his

Unfortunately, I was cursed

sharp wits to escape many

with being part of the crew

situations; however, his pride

under Odysseus when he made

caused us all anger and

his journey. As you know,

headaches.

everyone except Odysseus

perished miserably during the
journey. However, my death was
not the worst of it.

I was

the second-in-command, and the

many perils that we faced
during our plight were
miniscule in comparison to
being under the command of
Odysseus. Odysseus may be

Odysseus was a clever,

When we got stranded on

the island of Polyphemus, he
had a brilliant idea to get us
out of there. First, he told
the Cyclops his name was
Nobody. He then got him
drunk off the wine he brought
with him. After that, he
stabbed his eye, and all

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Polyphemus could yell was that

tells Poseidon to curse

Nobody was stabbing him. Now

Odysseus forever. Cursing

that Polyphemus was blind,

Odysseus forever isnt

Odysseus told us all to hold

something I would be totally

on to the sheep fur when

upset with, but when youre

Polyphemus let them outside,

stuck on the same ship with

allowing us to escape. It was

him for a year, and the god

a genius plan, and we were on

who wants to kill him is the

the ship all safe and happy,

god of the sea, that affects

until Odysseus really wants

me as well.

everyone to know what a wise

and clever guy he is. He
taunts blind Polyphemus, and
REVEALS HIS NAME. He tells
Polyphemus how he is the great
Odysseus, son of Laertus, from
Ithaca, and practically told
his whole life story. I was in
the ship almost about to pray
to the gods to silence
Odysseus. However, it gets
better! It turns out,
Polyphemus is the son of
POSEIDON and now Polyphemus

Then, after we barely

make it out alive, we end up
on Circes island. The other
men in the crew wish to go to
her residence, but I did not
find that wise. Everything had
been a trap at this point.
While the men went to her
beautiful palace, I remained
outside. My hunch was proven
correct; the other men were
turned into hogs by the
goddess. Afterwards, I run to

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the ship, and gave news of the

the men by forcing Circe to

mens fate to Odysseus.

turn them back into humans. We

Odysseus decided to save them,

then reside at Circes palace

however I warned him that

for a year. I find this

there would be no way to

ironic, because right before

escape Circe. Instead, we

landing in the island, he

should leave the island, and

attempts to boost our morale

save ourselves. Now, this is a

by telling us how we will

perfectly reasonable idea, and

return home soon.

Odysseus should have followed

Additionally, he sleeps with

my words. I most likely would

Circe multiple times. You may

not be writing for a newspaper

recall Penelope, when she had

in the Underworld, if he

108 suitors she still remained

listened to me. In my opinion,

faithful to her husband. She

Odysseus was able to save the

did that all while Odysseus is

men by sheer luck. He

sleeping with multiple

incidentally bumped into

goddesses. When he finally

Hermes on the way to Circes

realizes that we have a home

place, who gave Odysseus the

to get to, Circe advises him

instructions to outwit Circe.

on how to get home. However,

Odysseus then is able to

there are only two paths: the

resist Circe by consuming a

Rovers and the path that goes

magical plant and pulling a

through Charybdis and Scylla.

sword on the goddess. He saves

He ultimately decides to take

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the path of the two monsters.

nearby. The island was beaming

Specifically, he chooses to be

with a golden sunlight all

closer to Scylla. Unknowingly

along the shores and on the

to us, six men would be eaten

light blue current. The island

by Scylla when we passed.

teemed with sheep and cattle,

Odysseus chose to withhold

feeding on the lush grasses.

this information and it was a

Our hearts desired to rest

great surprise when the heads

there, and feast on the

of Scylla came down and

plentiful animals. However,

devoured six of our strongest

Odysseus is desperate to cause

men. Shockingly, we make it

us misery. He is firmly

out alive. There was no trust

against the idea, mentioning

between Odysseus and his crew,

some prophecy that he heard,

because he would use us for

and preventing us from landing

his personal gain.

on the island of Helios.

Additionally, he does not

Apparently, he heard from the

relay to us important

prophet Tiresias that we must

information, such as the fact

avoid eating the cattle and

that a monster is going to eat

sheep at all costs. The crew

six of us.

and I was desperate to rest on

Afterwards, we

were fatigued from steering

the island and we begged

the ship and begged Odysseus

Odysseus to let us stay there.

to let us rest. Conveniently,

Finally, he agreed. When we

there was a beautiful island

landed on the island, we swore

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on an oath that we would not

this is not my fault in any

eat any of the cattle and

way! If we did not eat the

sheep. I would have been

sheep, we would have starved

perfectly fine with that, if

to death on the island. I told

it was not for the fact we

the men that I would rather

were starving. We were slowly

die by the hands of Zeus than

beginning to run out of food

die slowly and painfully on

that we had on the ship, and

the island. Unsurprisingly,

began to resort to eating

they agreed with me. Odysseus

anything we could findexcept

slept in the ship while the

the sheep and cattle. Yet,

crew killed the sheep and

every day when I woke up in

roasted it over the fire. Even

the morning, I would see the

though I am no longer on the

fat sheep and cattle, and I

Earth, I can still remember

knew I could not continue to

the savory goodness of that

live in this state anymore.

sheep. In the end, Zeus took

So, I got the crew together

his vengeance on our ship, and

when Odysseus was sleeping. I

the crew perished. Of course,

suggest that we slaughter a

only Odysseus survived.

sheep and roast it over the

fire. Now, this is perhaps the
reason why Zeus decided to
strike our ship, and the
reason we all perished. But

When I arrived in the

Fields, many condemned my
decisions to eat the sheep and
argue with Odysseus. However,

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Odysseus thought of himself to

everything. I was the only one

be the most intelligent,

on the crew courageous enough

wittiest, slyest man the world

to challenge him. While this

has ever seen. He would only

may have caused everyone in

ever consider himself, treated

the crew to die, I am

us like his servants, and his

confident that I was a true

pride made us all nauseous. I

leader who listened to the

despise the fact that I am

crew and took action when

painted as the villain, when I

needed. At times, I question

was simply just representing

the fact that Odysseus was the

the crew that served under

captain, and not me. Let this

Odysseus. Every time someone

serve as a reminder that no,

praises the nobility of

Odysseus was not a hero.

Odysseus, I laugh in their

Odysseus was a fool who

face. Odysseus used his crew

thought that he could do

for his own gain, and thought

anything and not consider the

he could boss us around about

consequences.