Final+Product-Cyclops


 * Summary**

After the episode with the Trojan horse the war was over, Odysseus started to make his long journey home back to Ithaca. Odysseus and his men journeyed back towards their home but got blown off course by the strong winds. Eventually they saw land and decided to stop. They needed food and water before they could carry on with their journey back home. As they landed on a shore with trees, Odysseus looked around. The men started to explore when suddenly they found a cave. They settled down into it and decided to eat what was there. After a while a Cyclops came. The Cyclops was a feared nation of giants each with a huge eye in the middle of their forehead**.** He looked around at the sailors. Odysseus told him that they were shipwrecked and asked for shelter and food. He ate two of the men then asked Odysseus who he was. Odysseus answered that his name was nobody. The Cyclops locked them in his cave by rolling a huge stone across the door. Odysseus tried to gain his freedom by offering Cyclops wine. The Cyclops drank the wine then fell into a deep sleep. While he was asleep Odysseus and his men tried to work out how to escape. They knew that they would all be eaten for supper. They sharpened a piece a wood into a point and blinded the Cyclops while he slept. The Cyclops shouted and screamed. "Nobody hurt me. Nobody tricked me and blinded me!" The Cyclops was so angry he would not escape and he would eat them all. In his rage, the Cyclops went over to the cave entrance and stood there blocking they way of the men. Cyclops gave them no opportunity. They tied the sheep skin on their backs and tried to escape. The Cyclops ran is hand over their backs but missed the men underneath and so they escaped. They got back to their boat. When they were out at sea Odysseus shouted back that it was he who had blinded the Cyclops. Cyclops prayed to his god, Poseidon, god of the sea, to take revenge for him.


 * Symbolic Significance**

In this episode the symbolic significance of Odysseus was his encounter with the Cyclops. Here Odysseus' calling himself "Nobody" it means to signify that Odysseus has to become "nobody", to be broken down, defeated and reborn throughout the course of his adventures. Odysseus' good sense in taunting the Cyclops, against the advice of his men, and saying this name showed his ignorance. His own pride in wanting the Cyclops to not know his name has him led to the Cyclops cursing him, and Poseidon being mad. After so many years of battle and so much grief and trauma, Odysseus and his men spent needing to escape into a dreamlike world in which they may begin their healing. The Cyclops experience appears to be terrifying of the adventures that follows.


 * Belly of the Whale**

The stage of our episode is the **Belly of the Whale**. **The Belly of the Whale** represents the final separation from the hero's known world and self. It is sometimes described as the person's lowest point, but it is actually the point when the person is between or transitioning between worlds and selves. The separation has been made, or is being made, or being fully recognized between the old world and old self and the potential for a new world/self. The experiences that will shape the new world and self will begin shortly, or may be beginning with this experience which is often symbolized by something dark, unknown and frightening. By entering this stage, the person shows their willingness to undergo a metamorphosis, to die to him or herself. The test is pride and his courage. The point where Odysseus finally separated himself from his world was when he defeated the Cyclops with his pride told the Cyclops that he was king Odysseus and he felt that he blinded Poseidon’s son he was greater than the Gods. His test all along was to get back to Ithaca where his son and wife were. But he couldn’t get back home because of Poseidon god of the sea, who was the Cyclops’ father has trapped them in the roaring waves of the sea.


 * [[image:cyclops.JPG]]**