Odysseus escapes Scylla by becoming Scylla. He beats monsters by becoming the monster. Odysseus and Achilles show two different and monstrous sides of the poet’s work. The special thing is that Odysseus is a hero for it, Achilles is a hero for it. Tragic poets cleanse (catharsis) while Homer harmonizes. Homer shows us these two human monsters, shows us the world-bending (and world-breaking) beauty of human monstrosity, challenging us, we non-heroes, we normies, to see ourselves reflected, if we can, unpunished, unpurged. Of course, the poet herself becomes both monsters at once. That is daemonic work, that is the work of the Muse.
