“‘Stay here, my brave fellows,’ said I, ‘all the rest of you, while I go with my ship and exploit these people myself: I want to see if they are uncivilized savages, or a …show more content…
One of the first stops the crew makes just after leaving Troy is Sicily, home to the Cyclopes, where they encounter Polyphemus. While venturing for food and riches on the island, Polyphemus, a towering Cyclops locks the men in his cave, and he even eats some of them for a meal. As the situation gets direr Odysseus uses his wits and strength to conjure a plan to blind Polyphemus, which would result in the Cyclops moving the boulder blocking the exit and allow the men to escape. Odysseus single-handedly creates this plan, and he is even the closest one to Polyphemus when they blind him, showing that he is the most courageous out of the crew. In addition, Odysseus chooses to listen to the Sirens, a group of singing immortal women with voices like honey, who, when heard, will make any man want to stay with them forever. “‘…First she [Circe] said we were to keep clear of the Sirens, who sit and sing most beautifully in a field of flowers; but she said I might hear them myself so long as no one else did. Therefore, take me and bind me to the crosspiece half way up the mast; bind me as I stand upright, with a bond so fast that I cannot possibly break away…’” Odysseus, from the Fagle’s translation of The Odyssey orders his crew to tie him to the ship, since he takes a risk by choosing to listen to the Sirens sing. Also, Odysseus exemplifies