Question

The Odyssey: Central Ideas and Character Motivation, Part 2

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TIME REMAINING

44:54

What motivates Odysseus to tell a lie to the Cyclops?

Read the excerpt from The Odyssey.

'My ship?

tremble,

Poseidon Lord, who sets the earth a-tremble,

broke it up on the rocks at your land's end.

A wind from seaward served him, drove us there.

We are survivors, these good men and I.

Odysseus knows that Poseidon is the Cyclops' father.

Odysseus is afraid the Cyclops will steal their ship.

Odysseus does not want to reveal their only means of

escape.

Odysseus does not know what has happened to his ship.

Odysseus does

Answer 1

Odysseus lies to the Cyclops to protect his crew and hide their escape means, hoping to gain sympathy and avoid the Cyclops' wrath by invoking familial ties with Poseidon.

Step-by-step explanation:

Odysseus is motivated to tell a lie to the Cyclops for several reasons linked to survival. Primarily, Odysseus lies to the Cyclops to protect himself and his men from further danger and to preserve their only means of escape. By claiming that Poseidon destroyed his ship, he aims to elicit sympathy from the Cyclops, who is Poseidon's son, and to prevent the giant from searching for and potentially damaging the ship. This lie is cleverly crafted to capitalize on the Cyclops' potential sense of familial duty while simultaneously safeguarding the vessel that holds their hope of returning home.

Answer 2

The correct answer is Odysseus does not want to reveal their only means of escape.

Step-by-step explanation:

During this excerpt, Odysseus tells the Cyclops his ship was destroyed "Poseidon Lord, who sets the earth a-tremble, broke it up on the rocks at your land's end" and this is a lie because Odysseus and his men simply sailed to the island. Moreover, this lie is motivated by Odysseus' fear that the Cyclops destroy the ship because this is the only way the men have to scape the island. Indeed, this lie saves Odysseus and his men because the Cyclops then turns hostile and they need to escape from this island.