How would you describe it when you eat too much? Is this action triggered by excessive hunger? Or is it a case of gluttony? Probably not hunger, because an individual would stop eating when he or she is satiated. So, why would one want more? This may be because one feel greedy about the food, which sounds more like the expression of gluttony. In The Odyssey, by Homer, similar gluttonous instances are present which consequently produce negative outcomes. The characters are involved in all sorts of gluttonous activities such as munching on lotus plants, devouring and feasting on cattle, and gulping down wines, which impairs their senses to forth coming troubles.
While gluttony is a repetitive event in The Odyssey, practically everyone who indulges in the gluttony is ultimately punished for their misdeeds. Henry Fairlie, in his book The Seven Deadly Sins Today, supports that “gluttony is a grievous sin if it induces us to find all our contentment in gratifying of our appetites” (Fairlie, 171). When Odysseus and his comrades reach land of lotus-eaters, they feast on lotus plants and forget about their homeland (IX: 94-97). It looks like the sweet and pungent smell of lotus might have caused comrades’ wisdom to fade out, and greedily involve in gluttonous activity. This giving in of the temptation to feast by Odysseus’ comrades causes their morale to degrade and make them incompetent to succeed through the challenges of their journey back to Ithaca. But what makes this instance gluttonous is the idea that the shipmates want to feast on lotus plants even if they have abundant supply of food in their ship. This event foreshadows the troubles that the Odysseus and his companions will face in days to come.
In a similar way, gluttony as a sin can be depicted again in the scene where Odysseus and his men gluttonously sacrifice Cyclopes’ cattle and eat his cheese (IX: 231-232). When Cyclopes finds out about this, he punishes the comrades by “cutting them limb by limb and without leaving anything ate them, entrails, flesh and the marrowy bones” (IX: 291-293). Cyclopes, on the other hand, is a glutton himself as he eats Odysseus’ men and drinks intoxicating wine incessantly. He so much gets into temptation of wine that he drinks too much, which causes him to fall into deep sleep. Now, gluttonous Cyclopes himself is punished as Odysseus and his men strikes him blind. This shows, as explained by Solomon Schimmel that “one sacrifices the psychological serenity that comes with moderation and simplicity on excess desire of food” (Schimmel, 151). Thus, Odysseus, his comrades, and Cyclopes go through high levels of anxiety and stress as a result of giving into the temptation of food.
In another setting, it shows how gluttony can make one blind to dangers and traps set before them. This idea can be observed in Circe’s Palace, where Odysseus’ men give into the temptation of the food and wine and falls in Circe’s trap. First, Circe’s beautiful voice attracts them, and upon calling, they follow her naively to drink the drugged potion mixed with barley, cheese and pale honey (X: 221-234). This event shows how the “man who is slave of his belly is less capable intellectually” (Leslie, 192). In other words, the man who over-indulges in eating and drinking loses his sense of morality. This is evident in the scene where goddess Circe, after tricking them with drugged potion, turns Odysseus’ men into pigs, and “drives them into her pig pens” (X: 238). Ironically, indulging of the shipmates to temptation of food causes their transformation into a food themselves.
Other instance involving gluttony is also seen when Odysseus’ men devour Helios’ cattle to stretch out their bellies. Trapped under the pressure of hunger, Eurylochus, tells other comrades to “rather die later gulping the waves eating Helios’ cattle than to slowly pinch off to death on the desolate island” (XII: 350-351). Ignoring Odysseus’ order and Circe’s warning to abstain from eating the cattle, the comrades feast on fine cattle, slaughtering their throat and ripping off their skin. Soon after this incident, the comrades are penalized by Zeus with thunder and lightning on their ship killing them all but Odysseus. Odysseus may have been spared because he was not involved in the outrageous sin of killing and devouring Helios’ cattle. He was, to some extent, righteous and remains abstained from those kind of gluttonous activities.
Unlike his comrades, Odysseus does not fall into the gluttony per se. Rather, he falls into gluttony only when combined with seduction. In the epic, whenever he falls into love, he falls into gluttony. While living with Circe, he forgets about his journey back home, and goes on to stay with her for a year feasting on meat and sweet red wine. The text states, “there for all our days until a year war completed we sat feasting on unlimited meat and sweet wine” (X: 467-468). Eventually, his comrades remind him about the journey they were set out for and insist to sail back to Ithaca.
Also, on the native land back home in Ithaca, the suitors of Penelope are depicted in gluttonous activities as Homer presents “eating, drinking, and singing of the suitors, an opprobrious behavior” (Allen, 108). They devour her properties and warn her against leaving the house until she chooses one of them as her husband. As a consequence, Odysseus himself kills them all. “It is clear that Homer has made arrangements that Odysseus’ slaying of suitors be legal” (Allen, 112). For that, it can be noted that the suitors, while harassing Penelope, invite their death. The suitors want to marry Penelope to become the emperor of Ithaca, as they are hungry of the power that the emperor beholds; that’s what invites their own death.
The epic clearly contains many instances of feasting and gluttony. The characters enslave themselves on the excess food and wine, and get themselves into trouble in every instance. Although not expressed explicitly, it can be inferred from negative consequences that gluttony is seen as sin in the epic, as after most of the gluttonous events characters are depicted being penalized. Negative consequence includes making the shipmates forget about their homeland, turning them into pigs, and even killing them. That is why, ultimately, all of his shipmates who constantly involve in gluttony die, whereas Odysseus, who opposes gluttony most of the time, becomes the only one to make it back to Ithaca. As one of the human weaknesses, gluttony has a way of satiating our desire for hunger. But if we keep on feeding the gluttony in us, we will, in no time, become the slave to feed the gluttony itself. The transformation is subtle, and often time, unnoticed, until it’s too late.
