Consumption to Destruction

Wine is an integral part of American culture; it is seen every day from parents drinking a glass at dinner, to modern media. Wine is also seen in the Odyssey. It, mixed with drugs, is used to achieve goals and cause different effects. In Ancient Greek culture, wine has a different role than in American culture. The use of liquor and drugs caused intriguing issues that affected the plot of the poem. In the Odyssey, alcohol is used to trick and confuse the weak and feeble. Alcohol is also used to control others actions, to punish one based on their sins, and to influence one to forget.

A simple woman held no power over Odysseus and his men. They thought of Kirkê as “A young weaver singing a pretty song to set the air” (10.250). Their demeaning attitude made this feminist angry. The men were acting like pigs, and so she would make them be as they were acting. “On thrones she seated them, and lounging chairs, while she prepared a meal of cheese and barley and amber honey mixed with Pramnian wine, adding her own vile pinch, to make them lose desire or thought of our dear father land” (10.260). Kikê used her power of potions and alcohol to her desired advantage. Her offering of “honey mixed with Pramnian wine” portrays a delightful entertainer offering a sweet, innocent, elegant, fine wine. In turn, the effects are used to control and punish the men.

Compared to Odysseus and his men, a Kyklopes was bigger and stronger, but not smarter. Odysseus outsmarted Polyphêmos, by using wine and its effects to trick the Kyklopes. Odysseus stated, “My moment was at hand, and I went forward, holding an ivy bowl of my dark drink, looking up, saying: ‘Kyklopes, try some wine. Here’s liquor to wash down your scraps of men’” (9.380). ...

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...ings. Helen, for example, used a potion to change the feelings of guests at her house, “But now it entered Helen’s mind to drop into the wine that they were drinking an anodyne, mild magic of forgetfulness. Whoever drank this mixture in the wine bowl would be incapable of tears that day” (4.230-240). Helen drugged the weak, crying men changing feelings, to create happy emotions. The effects of the alcohol and drug would wear off by the morning, but for the day, Helen used the alcohol to her advantage.

Liquor can be used as a norm or a taboo. It can affect a culture in many ways. Cultures use alcohol to control ones actions, to penalize others and to persuade others. In the text we see all of this happen from Kirkê getting revenge, to Elpêlor trying to evade from his sorrows. It is human nature to desire anything that can help you escape or change who you are.