The Guest Host Relationship in Homer's Odyssey
Polyphemus is the perfect
example of an absolutely terrible host in The Odyssey. The cyclops would not
concede to the laws of Xenia, because
he considers himself as being above the gods and therefore above the laws of Xenia: “To come so far, and importune me
with a god’s fear, or observed love! We Cyclops care not for your goat-fed
Jove, nor other bless’d ones; we are better far. To Jove I bid open war.” Hom.od 9.381-386. Not only does
Polyphemus not give Odysseus and his men what he should according to the rules
of Xenia, he also goes even further
down the road of being a terrible host by trapping Odysseus and his men in his
cave and eating six them. Homer goes to extreme lengths to depict Polyphemus as
being brutal and uncivilized: “He answered nothing, but rush’d in, and took two
of my fellows up from earth, and strook their brains against it. Like two
whelps they flew about his shoulders, and did all embrue the blushed earth. No
mountain lion tore two lambs so sternly, lapp’d up all their gore gush’d from
there torn-up bodies, limby limb (trembling with life yet) ravish’d into him
both flesh and marrow-stuffed bones he eat, and even th’ uncleans’d entrails
made his meat.” Hom.od 9.398-407. “Polyphemus
eats his victims raw, not cooked on a spit. In almost all other versions of the
folk-tale, the giant shepherd cooks his victims over a fire on a metal spit” (Schein, 1970:74).
The fact that Polyphemus does not cook his victims makes him seem more
primitive and brutish. Although he does have firewood at his disposal he does
not use it took it to cook his meal he merely uses it for warmth. This shows
the audience the Cyclops’s lack of intuition and resourcefulness and makes him
seem even more primitive. This causes the audience to lose their sympathy with Polyphemus.
Odysseus’s men suggested that they should ransack Polyphemus’s cave when they
found it, but Odysseus proposed that they rather should wait for the cave's owner to arrive and rely on him to give them some of his belongings as Xenia demands he should. Odysseus
resembles the perfect guest and Polyphemus therefore has no right to treat
Odysseus and his followers in the way he does. Odysseus is forced to concoct a
plan which involves blinding the Cyclops to escape from the cave. If Polyphemus
had merely conceded to the laws of Xenia
he would never have lost his eye.
Calypso might not have
been as terrible a host as Polyphemus, but she is an example of someone who follows
the Xenia code but for her own
benefit. Although Calypso gives Odysseus everything Xenia demands her to give to him she still does not give Odysseus
what he wants and truly needs: She does not allow him to leave here island and
return home to his home island Ithaca. She had ulterior motives, to being a
good host. She desired Odysseus and kept him on her island as her lover. This
might not be the only reason why she obeyed the laws of Xenia. Another reason might have been because she was afraid of the
vengeance Zeus might inflict on her if she did not obey these laws. We can see
this at the start of book 5 when Hermes tells her that Zeus commands her to let
Odysseus go: “To strive with Jove’s will, or make it vain – no not if all the
gods should strain their pow’rs against it – let he will be law.” Hom.od 5.185-187. More of Calypso's
characteristics as a host is revealed through the distrust Odysseus shows distrust
towards her when Calypso tells him that she would allow him to leave his
island: “O goddess, thy intents prefer some other project than my parting
hence, coming things of too high consequence from my performance, that myself
should build a ship of power, my home-assays to shield against the great sea of
such of such dread to pass; which not the best-built ships that ever was will
pass exulting, when such winds as Jove can thunder up their r=trims and
tackling prove. But could I build one, I would ne’er abroad, thy will oppos’d –
nor, won, without thy word giv’v in the great oath of the gods to me, not to
beguile me in the las degree.“ Hom.od 5.225-237. In ancient Greece, Xenia was used as a way of creating
bonds between family. The fact that Odysseus shows distrust towards Calypso
proves that she has not succeeded as a host even though she had followed all the
rules of Xenia. She found a loophole
in the laws of Xenia: The laws state
that she should keep her guest for a minimum of one night, but no law says that says how long the guest should stay. Calypso used this to
her advantage and prevented Odysseus from leaving her island.
Naursicaa is an example of
the perfect host in the Odyssey. She provides Odysseus with everything she can
at the time of their meeting. She gives him clothes, food something to
drink, and a bath. She has given him everything Xenia demands her to give to him save from a place to sleep and a
gift, but both these things are not within her power in this given time. She
then goes a step further by offering Odysseus advice on how to supplicate her
parents. Odysseus takes this advice without question and follows it to the
letter. He is not at all suspicious of her having ulterior motives like he is
with Calypso. “No person - absolutely no person at all – in the entire Odyssey
finds the hero at such a low ebb in his fortunes and in such a state of
leisurelessness.” (Riddehough,1955:53): Even though Odysseus appears to
Nausicaa in such a terrible state she still doesn’t shy away from him, but
instead offers him all the help she can. Any other person might have taken
advantage of his vulnerability or have stayed away from him because of it. When
Odysseus appears from the pile of leaves all Nausicaa’s maids flee from him.
Only Nausicaa remains steady and fast in his presence. This is a clear indication
of her bravery above others. Nausicaa stands firm and is determent to help the
stranger in any way she can. She also encourages her maids to come back so they
can aid Odysseus and treat him Odysseus in the proper manner. Unlike
Polyphemus and Calypso Nausicaa was not thinking of what she might gain out of
this situation. She helped Odysseus although he appeared to
her completely naked and without any worldly goods. She had absolutely nothing
to gain through helping him. She helped him entirely out of goodwill.
Upon looking back at this
essay one would notice bad things tend to happen to those hosts who treat
their guests badly and good things tend to come to those who treat their
guests in a good manner. To the ancient Greeks there therefore would have been a
lesson in Homer's Odyssey. Homer uses the Odyssey to emphasize the importance of
Xenia to the ancient Greeks. Homer's
Odyssey was and is something a lot more than a mere story about a man and his
return home. It is an intricate work of art which surpasses many of our
modern texts. The Odyssey is a true relic that reminds us that the ancients
were nowhere near as simple as modern people preserve them to have been.
Reference List
Schein,
S.L. 1970. Odysseus and Polyphemus in the
Odyssey. :73-83
Brown,
C.S. 1966. Odysseus and Polyphemus_ The
Name and the Curse. 18(3): 193-202
Riddehough, G.B. 1955
The Nausicaa episode in the Odyssey.
32(6): 53-55
Chapmen, G. 1616. The Odyssey Homer. Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions Limited.
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