After staying for Circe for an entire year, Odysseus finally makes up his mind to return home. Unfortunately, fate doesn't make things easy for him. To return to Ithaca, he must pass through a channel, each side with a monster. On one side was the horrible sea monster Scylla, a being that had 6 long necks, each topped with a head. Each head had sharp, jagged teeth, forever wanting to rip open the flesh of a sailor which came too close for comfort. Its counterpart, Charybdis, is depicted as a whirlpool, capable of swallowing entire galleons into its gaping jaws. To pass this trial, Circe gives him advice: Odysseus should sail closer to Scylla, the reasoning being that losing 6 men creates a much more favorable situation than losing the entire ship. Odysseus follows the advice, and loses 6 men while passing through the channel.
However, it is important to note that the two beings did no exist as monsters their entire lives. According to Ovid, Scylla was once a beautiful sea nymph, and the sea-god Glaucus fell in love with her. Glaucus then immediately visited Circe, in order to ask her to procure a love potion for him. However, Circe fell in love with Glaucus, and another deadly love triangle formed. As Circe attempted to woo Glaucus, he would not succumb to her, and she became furious. She poured an awful poison into the bath where Scylla would come to bathe. When Scylla stepped in, she transformed at once into an abomination with dog heads sprouting around her waist. In her despair, she ruined as many sailors as she could that passed through the channel.
Charybdis, on the other hand, was an ocean naiad, a daughter of Poseidon and Gaia. She proved extremely loyal to her father and his feud with Zeus, and claimed much territory for Poseidon by submerging entire villages under water. She stole so much land from Zeus that Zeus transformed her into a monster, whose entire face was a mouth, and whose hands and feet were flippers. Three times a day Charybdis swallowed up huge amounts of water, only to spit the water out again, creating a maelstrom that would lay waste to any kind of ship.
After learning the history of these creatures, do you think it is right for them to seek revenge against the world that transformed them so? Do you think it is a right for Odysseus to quickly accept the loss of 6 men than to find a way for his entire crew to survive? Do you think that Circe had an ulterior motive for sending Odysseus to a creature of her creation? If so, why?
Asking the question of whether or not they have the right to do this to world that caused them to be like this is like asking whether Medusa has the right to turn people into stone because of what Athena turned her into. She met Poseidon at her temple and Athena turns her into a monster. it seems that some of the worst monsters are a result of a god's or goddess' anger. Poseidon made a white bull for king Minos to sacrifice and when Minos wouldn't Poseidon made his wife fall in love with the bull and she gave birth to the Minotaur. Is it fair that the Minotaur was born a monster? I think that the answer to whether or not it's fair to take revenge is that the should be allowed to. Odysseus also saved more lives by going to Scylla and losing 6 men. If he had gone to find a way around Charybdis, either she or Poseidon would have killed his crew. Then it would not have been fair to Penelope and Telemachus to lose him as well as the rest of his crew. Circe sent him to Scylla because she knew that Scylla would only be able to take 6 of his men, and going to Charybdis would have killed all of his men with him.
ReplyDeleteThis question could be looked at both ways. It is possible that these creatures are taking out their anger on anybody that passes through that channel. This is shown because of the way that the Circe treated Scylla. We see how mad that Circe got when she found out that Glaucus was in love with Scylla. So basically what happened was to make up for being turned into a terrifying monster, she abuses other people so they can feel her wrath. She almost uses her curse to her advantage (which is all she's able to do with that curse)
ReplyDeleteI think its right for them to seek revenge against the world that transformed them because these two monsters did not deserve the fate that happened to them. It is just to their misfortune that these things happened to them. I also think that it was correct for odysseus to accept the loss of 6 men over even having chances that the hole ship would get destroyed. I believe that she sent him to these horrid monsters so that they would scare him back to her island or that he would lose his shipmates and come alone back to her island.
ReplyDeleteI can not imagine their anger and fury. Maybe since Scylla was transformed by Circe, more than likely unknowingly, Scylla assumes that her tragedy is the whole worlds' fault. Therefore, she wants to make sure she can punish any person she can. Considering this, it makes sense why Scylla would want to take revenge on everyone that passes. However, it is still wrong of her. However for Charybdis, the other monster referred to as a "whirlpool", there is no reason for her to seek revenge on everyone. After all, she ended up destroying many things and wounding many people. She deserved this punishment even more than she deserved dying. Since Zeus was the one who "created" this monster, it makes no sense that the monster would come after every single person, innocent or not. Although Odysseus' decision may seem selfish, it was the most logical decision. This is because, when you compare this option to the other, you realize that it is better to have the least amount of the crew lost as possible. If this means six men getting killed, then maybe it was the only way. There was no other way for Odysseus to get through that passage, and this choice seemed the most logical. However, Circe could have known another way, because she wanted them to face the monster she created. She may have tricked Odysseus into thinking that was the easy way out. She is obviously a very cunning and clever person, what her motives are pretty much impossible to figure out.
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