THE CYCLOPS Essay Example For Students

THE CYCLOPS Essay A monologue from the play by Euripides NOTE: This monologue is reprinted from The Plays of Euripides in English, vol. i. Trans. Shelley Dean Milman. London: J.M. Dent Sons, 1920. ULYSSES: Soon as we came into this craggy place,Kindling a fire, he cast on the broad hearthThe knotty limbs of an enormous oak,Three wagon-loads at least, and then he strewedUpon the ground, beside the red firelight,His couch of pine leaves; and he milked the cows,And pouring forth the white milk, filled a bowlThree cubits wide and four in depth, as muchAs would contain ten amphor?, and bound itWith ivy wreaths; then placed upon the fireA brazen pot to boil, and made red hotThe points of spits, not sharpened with the sickleBut with a fruit tree bough, and with the jawsOf axes for ?tnean slaughterings.And when this god-abandoned cook of hellHad made all ready, he seized two of usAnd killed them in a kind of measured manner;For he flung one against the brazen rivetsOf the huge cauldron, and seized the otherBy the foots tendon, and knocked out his brainsUpon the sharp edge of the craggy stone:Then peeled his flesh with a great cooking-knifeAnd put him down to roast. The others limbsHe chopped into the cauldron to be boiled.And I, with the tears raining from my eyes,Stood near the Cyclops, ministering to him;The rest, in the recesses of the cave,Clung to the rock like bats, bloodless with fear.When he was filled with my companions flesh,He threw himself upon the ground and sentA loathsome exhalation from his maw.Then a divine thought came to me. I filledThe cup of Maron, and I offered himTo taste, and said:Child of the Ocean God,Behold what drink the vines of Greece produce,The exultation and the joy of Bacchus.He, satiated with his unnatural food,Received it, and at one draught drank it off,And taking my hand, praised me:Thou hast givenA sweet draught after a sweet meal, dear guest.And I perceiving that it pleased him, filledAnother cup, well knowing that the wineWould wound him soon and take a sure revenge.And the charm fascinated him, and IPlied him cup after cup, until the drinkHad warmed his entrails, and he sang aloudIn concert with my wailing fellow-seamenA hideous discordand the cavern rung.I have stolen out, so that if you willYou may achieve my safety and your own.But say, do you desire, or not, to flyThis uncompanionable man, and dwellAs was your wont among the Grecian NymphsWithin the fanes of your beloved god?Your father there within agrees to it,But he is weak and overcome with wine,And caught as if with bird-lime by the cup,He claps his wings and crows in doting joy.You who are young escape with me, and findBacchus your ancient friend; unsuited heTo this rude Cyclops.