Aeolus; The Laestrygones; Circe
Major concepts:
- King Aeolus's gift to Odysseus
- Odysseus letting his "guard down"
- Aeolus's belief that Odysseus is not favored by the gods
- Aeolus's attitude toward second chances
- Odysseus's caution when he reaches the land of the Laestrygonians
- Odysseus's caution when he reaches Aeaea
- Circe's initial reception of Odysseus's men and her witchcraft
- the role of Hermes
- Odysseus as seducer and seduced
- the importance of Circe's promise
- the luxury of the palace
- Circe's ultimate support and hospitality
- the need to visit Hades and hear from Teiresias
Study Guide Questions:
- What favor does Aeolus do for Odysseus and his men?
- What stupid mistake do some of the men make on the ship? Was it preventable? Explain.
- How does Odysseus lose 11 of his 12 ships and a very large portion of his men?
- What sort of character is Circe? Why (aside from her magic) is she able to turn Odysseus's men into pigs? What have they done to offend her or what weakness do they show?
- What does Hermes give to Odysseus? What is it supposed to do?
- What makes Odysseus succumb for a time to Circe's enticements? What is his mistake here?
- How does Odysseus get Circe to release his men?
- How long does Odysseus stay with Circe in her palace?
- Why does Odysseus need to visit the Land of the Dead and consult with Teiresias?
- How is Circe like Calypso? How is she different?
- the formatting of book 10 mimics that of book 9: two shorter incidents followed by a longer, more complex one
- themes started in book 9 will continue to develop in book 10: tension between Odysseus and his men; Odysseus's vulnerability to accusations of cowardice and obstinancy (Odyssey seems more set to stay with Circe than his men)
Page 103.
Vocabulary: savor, flayed
- Aeolian island: stop # 5
- Aeolus --> name means "changeful" -- appropriate (1) ruler of the winds; (2) lives on a floating island; and (3) treats Odysseus different two times
- Hippotas --> name means "horseman" -- connections to Poseidon (god of horses)
- "...so he made the sons marry the daughters..." --> a practice of the gods, not humans
- "All day long the atmosphere of the house is loaded with the savor of roasting meats till it groans again, yard and all." --> personification
- "Aeolus entertained me for a whole month" --> verbal cue
- "...he flayed me a prime ox-hide to hold the ways of the roaring winds, which he shut up in the hide as in a sack..." --> Aelous bags up all the winds except for the West wind "which was fair for us did he alone let blow as it chose"
- "...for we were lost through our own folly..." --> foreshadowing / will pride play a role in this?
- "Nine days and nine nights did we sail..." --> they can see Ithaca by the tenth day
Page 104.
Vocabulary: prevailed, lamented
- "...for I had never let the rudder out of my own hands..." --> because he didn't trust them?
- "...the men fell to talking among themselves..." --> what do the men decide to do here? what is their motivation? how does this reflect on Odysseus as a leader?
- distrust is mutual between Odysseus and his men
- "They loosed the sack...raised a storm that carried us weeping out to sea and away from our own country." --> what happens when they open the sack?
- "...knew not whether to throw myself into the sea or to live on..." --> Odysseus contemplates suicide
- "We took pains to further you on your way home to Ithaca, or wherever it was that you wanted to go...." --> INFER: how will Aeolus react when Odysseus asks him for help again?
- "My men have undone me; they, and cruel sleep, have ruined me." --> Odysseus blames his men mostly for what happened. Who do you believe is at fault?
- "Vilest of mankind, get you gone....Be off, for you come here as one abhorred of heaven." --> Odysseus has not said or done anything to indicate the gods hate him (he fell asleep -- not by any god or goddess's commands; his men unleashed the winds, again, of their own free will) so why would Aeolus assume he is hated by the gods?
- "Six days, night and day did we toil, and on the seventh day, we reached the rocky stronghold of Lamus -- Telepylus, the city of the Laestrygonians...." --> stop # 6
Page 105.
Vocabulary: reconnoitre, forthwith
- "...we found it land-locked under steep cliffs, with a narrow entrance between two headlands..." --> does this place sound dangerous? why/why not?
- "I kept my own ship outside..." --> important that Odysseus's ship is isolated from the others
- the Laestrygonians have "a level road" for firewood transport (industrialized) and a "place of assembly" (law and order) --> so are they "civilized"?
- "...so she directed them to her father's house...they found his wife to be a giantess as huge as a mountain...." --> the guide leads them straight to danger -- are the laws of hospitality broken here?
- "He snatched up one of them, and began to make his dinner off him then and there..." --> cannibals, like the Cyclops
- "...they threw vast rocks at us from the cliffs as through they had been mere stones..." --> the ships in the harbor are destroyed before they have the opportunity to leave
- "While they were thus killing my men within the harbor I drew my sword, cut the cable of my own ship, and told my men to row with all their might..." --> is Odysseus acting like a coward here? how does this reflect on his leadership? is he doing the right thing?
- "As for the others there was not one of them left...." --> Odysseus loses 11 of his 12 ships at the land of the Laestrygonians
- "...glad to have escaped death, though we had lost our comrades..." --> repetition, page 101
- "...came to the Aeaean island, where Circe lives..." --> stop # 7
Page 106.
Vocabulary: fathom
- "...send some of them instead of going myself..." --> Odysseus sends his men to investigate instead of himself; how does this reflect on his leadership?
- "...sent a fine stag..." --> Odysseus kills a large deer and tries to rally his crew
- "...they uncovered their heads..." --> they had been mourning the loss of the other crewmembers
- "...the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn..." --> epithet
- "...so I divided them into two companies...I gave one company to Eurylochus, while I took command of the other myself...." --> 22 men + 1 leader X 2 groups = 46 men; they lost 6 with the Cicones and 6 at the Cyclops's home = around 60 men total per ship
Page 107.
Vocabulary: fawned
- "...mountain wolves and lions..." --> compare and contrast this image with other descriptions of Nature so far (Calypso's island; Cyclops's island)
- similarities with Calypso: (1) both live alone; (2) both are unmarried goddesses; (3) both live on islands; (4) both have strange powers; (5) both are untrustworthy; (6) both sing and weave; (7) both compel Odysseus to stay with them for a time [Calypso = 7 years; Circe = 1 year]
- "As hounds crowd round their master..." --> Homeric simile
- "...all except Eurylochus, who suspected mischief and stayed outside..." --> INFER: does he have something to fear?
- "...she drugged it with wicked poisons to make them forget their homes...she turned them into pigs by a stroke of her wand..." --> Circe turns them into pigs
- Eurylochus returns to tell Odysseus what happened with the other men
Page 108.
Vocabulary: lairs
- "...let us rather see if we cannot escape at any rate with the few that are left..." --> Eurylochus doesn't want Odysseus to go back -- does he perhaps remember what happened in the past when Odysseus couldn't control his adventurous spirit?
- "...for I am most urgently bound to do so...." --> what is Odysseus's motivation here? does he feel guilty about abandoning the other men or will this rescue bring further glory to him?
- "Hermes with his golden wand, disguised as a young man..." --> PROBLEM: if Odysseus is the one telling the story and Hermes never reveals that he is, in fact, Hermes, then how does Odysseus know this?
- "I will protect you and get you out of your difficulty..." and "...the gods call it Moly, and mortal men cannot uproot it..." --> Hermes offers Odysseus a root to protect him against Circe's powers
- Note the detail of Hermes's instructions to Odysseus about how to defeat / overcome Circe in the fourth paragraph: (1) Circe will mix a potion for him to drink; (2) she will strike him with the wand in an attempt to change him, like the others; (3) Odysseus should draw his sword and act as if he's going to kill her; (4) she will ask him to bed; (5) he must not refuse her but first make her promise not to hurt him
Page 109.
Vocabulary: lair, arrayed, dumb
- "Who and whence are you...?" --> Circe is frightened; Odysseus is able to overcome Circe's powers by way of the Moly from Hermes
- Odysseus makes Circe promise not to hurt him and then goes to bed with her
- Note the hospitality in the fifth paragraph
- Circe notices Odysseus sad in the last paragraph on this page
Page 110.
Vocabulary: halloa-ballooing
- "If you want me to eat and drink, you must free my men and bring them to me that I may see them with my own eyes..." --> Odysseus makes Circe release his men
- "...hide all your ship's gear and property in some cave, and come back here with your men...." --> Circe tells Odysseus to return to the others and bring them back to her palace; he agrees
- "Eurylochus tried to hold them back and said, 'Alas, poor wretches that we are, what will become of us...It was all through his sheer folly that those men lost their lives.' " --> finally someone stands up to Odysseus and makes clear his poor leadership in the past; what does Odysseus consider doing in the next paragraph?
Page 111.
Vocabulary: flit
- "Eurylochus was not left behind after all..." --> Eurylochus had considered staying behind but feared Odysseus if he would not go
- "...so stay here, and eat and drink till you are once more as strong and hearty as you were when you left Ithaca..." --> RECALL: what is Odysseus's main goal?
- "We stayed with Circe for a whole twelvemonth feasting upon an untold quantity of both meat and wine...." --> stayed for 1 year with Circe
- "Sir, it is time you began to think about going home..." --> it is his men who remind him of his goal (interesting change since in the past, it was Odysseus who had to remind his men of this)
- "You must go to the house of Hades and of dread Persephone to consult the ghost of the blind Theban prophet Teiresias..." --> Circe tells Odysseus that he must go to the Land of the Dead
Page 112.
Vocabulary: gossamer
- "...poplars and willows..." --> trees associated with death
- Note Circe's detailed instructions of how to get Teiresias to speak to him starting at the end of paragraph 2: (1) go to where the two rivers run together; (2) dig a trench a cubit deep and a cubit wide; (3) pour a drink offering of honey mixed with milk, then wine, then water; (4) sprinkle barley meal over the whole thing; (5) offer prayers to the dead; (6) promise the dead to sacrifice his very best barren heifer and put many 'good things' on the pyre; (7) promise Teiresias to sacrifice the finest black sheep in all the flocks; (8) offer the dead a ram and a black ewe; (9) have the men skin the two sacrificed sheep; (10) offer them as a burnt sacrifice with prayers to Hades and Persephone; (11) prevent any other dead from coming near the spilt blood until Teiresias has answered the questions
- "...certain youth named Elpenor..." --> Elpenor slept on the roof of Circe's house and heard the noise downstairs
Page 113.
Vocabulary: none.
- "...coming down by the main staircase..." --> after hearing the noise, Elpenor forgot where he was and stumbled off of the roof; he broke his neck and died; interesting that Odysseus and his men leave him without giving him a proper burial first; Odysseus will see Elpenor in the Land of the Dead