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Polyphemus is a Cyclops (a race of one-eyed giants, the sons of Poseidon) whose island Odysseus lands on soon after leaving Troy. Polyphemus initially feigns hospitality but quickly eats two of Odysseus’s crew and imprisons the rest of them to eat later. Odysseus initially wishes to run Polyphemus through with his sword but he soon realizes that Polyphemus is the only one strong enough to set Odysseus and the surviving men free. Instead, he enacts a clever plan in which he blinds Polyphemus with a wooden staff and manages to escape the cave with his men.
The episode with Polyphemus is essential to the epic as a whole for two key reasons. To begin with, Polyphemus’s imprisonment of Odysseus and his men allows the readers to get a sense of Odysseus’s superior intellect as he waits and comes up with a meticulous and deliberate plan instead of acting rashly out of anger or fear. Odysseus is said to be one of the best minds in ancient Greece, and his triumph over Polyphemus allows the text to explore its overarching thematic emphasis on cunning versus strength. Perhaps most importantly, however, Odysseus’s account of his time on the island provides much-needed context for Poseidon’s rage, and illustrates the consequences of committing hubris as Odysseus does by unnecessarily taunting the blind Polyphemus, whom he has already bested. Polyphemus may be a brutish and uncivilized monster, but he comes across as surprisingly sympathetic by the end of Book 9. His gentle affection for his beloved sheep and his desperate plea to Poseidon for aid invoke a sense of pity.
