Eumaios exemplifies the qualities an excellent host should retain. When Odysseus, convincingly disguised as a poor, rugged beggar by Athena, comes to the humble abode of the swineherd, Eumaios tells his men to “bring in [their] best pig for a stranger’s dinner. A feast …show more content…
Rather than helping his guests, he “clutche[s] at [Odysseus’s] companions and [catches] two in his hands like squirming puppies to beat their brains out, spattering the floor” (XI.313-315). If Odysseus had failed to formulate a genius escape plan, the entirety of his men would be digested. Given the fact that the idea of feeding Odysseus and his men just a morsel does not even come close to Polyphemos’s dull brain, and that he does not even think twice about gorily devouring a couple of Odysseus’s helpless men, it is obvious that the idea of Polyphemos owning qualities such as hospitality or helpfulness would not come near the mind of a sane man, much the same as the idea of feeding Odysseus and his poor men never ventures within proximity of Polyphemos’s lack of a brain. This Cyclops openly displays the untamed, savage-like behavior he is meant to own, so his lack of qualities expected from hosts could be predicted from anybody. To recapitulate, Polyphemos the Cyclops lacks the abilities to be a great host similar to Eumaios so much that his decisions when honorable guests enter his stony abode are to gore and eat them in front of their traumatized