Section 4, The Cyclops' Cave Summary

The fact that the Hellenes unknowingly land on the worst possible choice of places to land shows the continuation of Ulysses' bad luck. An allusion to Zeus, the king of the Greek gods, is made in reference to the exile of the Cyclops. The mention of the Cyclops enjoying human flesh explicitly informs readers that these creatures are cannibals. Ulysses offering wine to Polyphemus in the middle of the crisis of seeing his men being eaten shows his intelligence and cunning even in the face of peril. The fact that drunkenness causes Polyphemus to be vulnerable for the Hellenes to blind shows a condemnation of gluttony. By answering "nobody" to Polyphemus' request for Ulysses' name, Ulysses saves the Hellenes from the other Cyclops later when the other Cyclops ask who blinded Polyphemus; unfortunately, Ulysses falters when he...