After Odysseus blinds Polyphemus and escapes from the Cyclops’ cave, Odysseus begins taunting Polyphemus, which “made the rage of [Polyphemus] boil over. Ripping off the peak of a towering crag, he heaved it / so hard that the boulder landed just in front of [Odysseus’] dark prow … / and a huge swell reared up … / [Odysseus] thrust … off and away, / tossing [his] head for dear life…” (9.537-544). Odysseus’ unnecessary taunting almost gets him and his crew killed. Afterwards, against his crew’s advice, Odysseus again taunts and reveals his name to Polyphemus, which Polyphemus responds to by begging his father Poseidon, the earthquake god, to “grant that Odysseus … / never reaches home. Or if he’s fated to see / his people once again …, / let him come home late / and come a broken man—all shipmates lost…” (9.588-593). This all eventually comes true, which means Odysseus is ultimately responsible for the death of all his shipmates and own misfortunes because he was the one who decided to taunt and reveal his name to Polyphemus for no good reason.

Odysseus says that after he departs Aeolia with favorable winds kept in a sack given by Aeolia’s king and when very close to his homeland, “an enticing sleep came on me, bone-weary / from working the vessel’s sheet myself, no letup, / never trusting the ropes to any other mate … / But the crews …/ [were] sure I was hauling troves of gold and silver home, … / They loosed the sack and all the winds burst out…” (10.35-52). Odysseus was so close to home but his distrust in the crew and misjudgment to keep working the ropes led to Odysseus and his crew to go through all the future pains and misfortunes.

After Circe turns everyone in Eurylochus’ platoon into swine except Eurylochus himself, Eurylochus returns to Odysseus and warns him, “’Quick, cut and run with the rest of us here— / we can still escape the fatal day!’ … / [Odysseus] shot back …, ‘I must be off [to Circe]. Necessity drives me on’” (10.297-301). Odysseus ignores Eurylochus’ important advice, allowing himself to easily be turned into swine too. Luckily, Hermes saves Odysseus with a magic herb but it was still an extremely reckless act by Odysseus.