Henry Fuseli, The Blinded Polyphemus (1803)

A take on Professor Giannopoulou’s lecture

Upon the first reading of the Odyssey, Polyphemus is seen as the hostile host and Odysseus as the doomed guest. In the eyes of the main character, Odysseus had every valid reason to blind Polyphemus as he did not honor xenia. However, before we dig into the rules of xenia and how everything came to be, we must analyze how Polyphemus had a tainted fate from the start.

When Odsseus first arrived in the land of the Cyclops, he already made his own assumptions of the Cyclops'. As main characters often do as well as writers, the Cyclops were placed into a category as “lawless brutes” (218) who were dismissive of the Gods and “not a care in the world for any neighbor” (127-128). From this point on, the Cyclops were subjected to being viewed as lonesome monsters. Yet, if you were to take a closer look into Polyphemus' life and as Professor Giannopoulou did, the Cyclops' were not monsters; they were just a hybrid of human and nature. They had human attributes like caring for animals as Polyphemus did as he wished his rams could talk so they could have a conversation and also had friendships with the other Cyclops as "they lumbered up from every side...and asked what ailed him" when he was crying for help (448-450). As mentioned before, "other" characters are often misunderstood because viewers aren't given a perspective from their point of view. They are stuck in a life of black and white, and whatever the writers write is right. In retrospect, Polyphemus was the actual doomed guest as Odysseus was the hostile host in the home of Odysseus' "tragic" stories. 

When it comes to the rules of xenia: 

1. Invite the guest in

2. Offer them a meal

3. Ask for their name

4. Exchange gifts with them

5. Offer them a safe escort home

Odysseus violates almost all of the five steps as a host which is more to be said than Polyphemus as for a majority of the steps such as steps 1 and 2, Polyphemus never got the chance to take part in them. Odysseus trespassed Polyphemus' home and raided his food. When Polyphemus did get the chance, Odysseus was perverted and did not answer truthfully what his name was. In either case, whether Odysseus is a guest or a host, he had no right to blind Polyphemus on the accounts of xenia as he violated the steps of his own accord. 

Reflection

​​As I close up my first activity, I intend to use this place to further my understanding as a worldbuilder myself. As we grow as people, we're given many types of media and have to use all that information to make a sense of the world. For some people, they base their world on prior ideologies and connections. For others, they use that information and throw it out the window, never to be seen again. For me, as a growing collector of materials and assembler of ideas, I hope to do both. This year I will take all the material given to me and use it on my own accord using the art of rhetoric. Rhetoric will allow me to criticize works, learn about opposing perspectives, and build a deeper meaning of the world. Though there is no definite image of a perfect world, I'll use this space to create an almost perfect world for myself (that'll be ever changing) and hopefully allow viewers to formulate their own, even if my work is thrown out the window. I don't believe a worldbuilder is ever done building as everyones introduced to new works and views daily, but a builder can create multiple worlds depending on where they stand in life and what world helps them most.