Michael Shanahan

Mrs. Scharf

ERWC

25 January 2019

The Cyclops

The story of Odysseus and the cyclops Polyphemus from Homer’s “Iliad” has spawned

many paintings as well as a movie based off of the story. However, there are many varying

portrayals of cyclopes throughout Greek mythology and history. For example, in Jacob Jordaens

painting, Polyphemus is shown as more human-like than other interpretations, giving you a

different perspective than the usual almost alien-like way he was more commonly depicted at the

time. For example, the fact that Polyphemus is more humanized in the painting may evoke more

thought about how Odysseus and his crew are intruding and causing the giant trouble, as they

took the liberty to do whatever they pleased to the giants possessions, including eating all of the

cheese that Polyphemus had stored. On the other hand, the movie of the same story depicts the

cyclops in a more malevolent light, showing Polyphemus becoming violent and aggressive

immediately, eating several crew members without question. However, these are just two

examples of how Polyphemus is represented, and there is a wide spectrum of other

interpretations that can be found.

In Jordaens’ painting, Polyphemus is depicted on the left, hands outreached petting his

sheep, searching for Odysseus and his crew. Meanwhile, he and his crew are escaping under

Polyphemus’ sheep because he is only petting the tops of the sheep to let them pass. Still, some

of Odysseus’ crew are cowering further back in the painting. The main defining factor about this
painting is the fact of how human looking Polyphemus is. This could be meant to make the

viewer think deeper about maybe the fact that Odysseus and his men came disturbing

Polyphemus, and not vice versa. Acknowledging this concept, you realize the possible validity of

this, based on the fact that Polyphemus was living peacefully with his sheep making cheese and

wasn’t bothering anybody until Odysseus showed up. This style is very unique to other

depictions of the same scene, which tend to show him as more evil and cruel, however none of

this is explicitly stated in the original story.

Contrary to Jordaens’ portrayal of Polyphemus and the story in general, the Hollywood

movie version shows the whole story differently. It displays him as a huge beast ugly and

terrorizing the poor Odysseus and his crew. One thing the movie shows that pictures do not is the

fact that you can get more of a visual sense of what is going on, rather than having a still image.

However, movies/films leave less up to the watcher’s imagination as opposed to a painting or

book. The movie also lacks the ability to describe things that can be told in a book, such as

Odysseus and his crews emotions and thoughts. This detracts from the overall experience,

however having a video showing what is going in the surroundings is more descriptive and

informative than a painting.

When you compare the movie and painting, you will slowly begin to notice several subtle

similarities and differences between them. For example, in almost all renditions of the story,

Odysseus and his crew are scared of Polyphemus. On the other hand, the way the giant looks as

far as his facial features, size, and height, among many other things, vary significantly between

the two. They show Polyphemus as ugly, large, and unwelcoming in the movie, however in

Jordaens painting, he is painted in a more humanlike way, with similar facial features and body
build to a human. These along with various other features and details display just how differently

this story can be interpreted.

All in all, the story of the Cyclops has sparked many renditions of paintings, as well as a

movie based on the story. Because of the mass amounts of paintings, and the vagueness of the

original story, there have been limitless interpretations of Polyphemus and his struggle with

Odysseus and his crew. These can vary massively in the different versions and portrayals of the

story. For example, Jordaens’ painting depicts Polyphemus with more humanoid features ,

whereas the movie shows him as much larger and beastly. Overall, the story of Polyphemus and

Odysseus from Homer’s Iliad is one of history’s most prevalent stories, and as such over the

years has spurred the creation of many paintings and movies to be made portraying it.

Scholarship Reflective Paragraph

 This was definitely one of my stronger pieces of writing from my freshman year, but

there were still many minor diction errors and sentences that lacked proper structure or adequate

vocabulary. I added more pieces of evidence and improved my commentary on that evidence,

changing almost every sentence and adding one or two where it was needed. Some of the words I

used in the essay were repeated 10-12 times, such as “humanlike”, which I replaced with

stronger and more effective synonyms that described Polyphemus better and articulated my

thoughts better. There were also minor syntax mistakes that I cleaned up and made sentences

flow better as a whole.