The Odyssey Sectional Highlights
Part I:
· Intro:
o Invocation of the Muse (Creative spirit – on the level of the gods)
o Purpose: So she can help tell the story
· Books 1-4: Describes Telemachus, Odysseus’ son, who has been searching the Mediterranean for his dad.
· Book 5: Odysseus is on the island of the goddess Calypso; she finally releases him at Zeus’ command, and Odysseus sails on a raft until Poseidon creates a storm.
· Books 6-8: Odysseus washes up on the shore of Scheria, home of King Alcinous. Here he tells his story of his journey, beginning in media res (in the middle).
· Odysseus’ tone of voice: arrogant
o Hubris: bad pride- Odysseus’ tragic flaw
· Epithet: descriptive phrase that renames someone. “Circe of Aeaea, the enchantress”
· “But in my heart I never gave consent.” Does Odysseus’ cheating really qualify as cheating since he was seduced by goddesses?
· Homeric/ Epic Simile Extended comparison of sometime ordinary to something in mythology.
o Purpose: So the listeners would be able to identify somehow with the supernatural events of the story.
· Lotus Eaters:
o Lotus flower: Opiate, makes you lose your memory and forget home.
o Odysseus’ men eat the flower; Odysseus finds them and brings them back, ties them down (like weaning someone off a drug addiction)
o Significance: Odysseus’ loyalty to his crew
· The Cyclops, Polyphemus
o Odysseus and his men land of the island of the Cyclops, find the cave, and Odysseus’ curiosity makes them stay and wait for whoever lives there.
o Poly comes in with his ewes and closes a massive rock over the cave and interrogates them
o They offer gifts; he refuses, asks where their ship is.
o Odysseus’ intelligence (1): Crashed on the rocks
o Poly eats a few men (graphic description filled with imagery)
o Odysseus almost kills him, but then realizes they won’t be able to get out
o Poly takes his ewes out to graze; the men make a spear
o Odysseus intelligence (2) They give Poly some wine, Odysseus says his name is “Nohbody,” he falls asleep, they stab him in the eye
o Poly calls for his brothers; they come and ask what’s wrong from a distance, but he says, “Nohbody has blinded me!” So the brothers go away
o Poly opens the cave door; the men tie themselves under sheep so Poly thinks his sheep are leaving. (Odysseus’ intelligence 3)
o Odysseus arrogance: “baiting the beast” (Twice! Really?) He wants his name known far and wide.
o Cyclops throws a boulder and almost sinks their ship
o Poly prays to his dad, Poseidon, a curse on Odysseus
§ All his companions will die
§ He will return to bitter days
· Aeolus, the Wind God
o He bags up all the wind so Odysseus can get home; the bag stays on the ship, but his stupid crew opens it and a hurricane is let loose; they are thrown thousands of miles off course.
· Laestrygonians, Cannibals
o Many men are eaten
· The Witch Circe
o 23 men led by Eurylochus explore the island and find wild animals in front of a cave, but they don’t attack
o Beautiful goddess Circe give the men wine with poison and turns then into pigs, except Eurylochus who didn’t go in.
o He tells the rest of the crew; Odysseus goes to rescue his men
o Hermes comes to his aid and gives him Moly, a poisonous plant that will counter-act Circe’s spell
o Circe frees Odysseus men, realizing she has met her match; she seduces Odysseus and he ends up staying there with her for a long time
o After anywhere from 1 month to a year (different translations), Odysseus begs Circe to let him leave; she tells him he must go to the Land of the Dead and speak to the blind prophet Teiresias.
· Land of the Dead
o Teiresias’ blindness suggests true wisdom
o Odysseus sacrifices a black sheep and speaks to the prophet
o T. tells O. that Poseidon is out to get him; he can only get through it if he denies himself (learns a little humility) and his shipmates can restrain themselves
§ You’ll come across Thrinakia, land of Helios (the sun); don’t eat his cattle or your crew will suffer
§ You alone will survive and return home to find strange men in your house trying to marry Penelope; they must “atone in blood”
§ All will be peaceful in the end
· The Sirens; Scylla and Charybdis (Circe’s Warning)
o Circe warns them of the Sirens, who will “sing men’s minds away”; the ship will steer into the rocks, so plug the crew’s ears
o Scylla: Has the cry of a puppy, but she is a huge monster: 12 legs, six serpent heads, triple serried rows of fangs. Every ship loses at least 6 men to her.
o Charybdis: Spits up water and sucks it back down 3 times a day, creating a whirlpool in seemingly peaceful waters.
o Circe’s advice: hug the cliff of Scylla; better to lose 6 men than all of them
o Don’t eat Helios’ cattle or destruction will come on your crew
· Odysseus and the Sirens
o They tie O to the mast and plug their ears with beeswax
o Examples in our culture? (film clips)
· Scylla:
o Odysseus does not tell his men what’s to come – good or bad idea?
o Six men die
o But they bypass Charybdis
· Helios
o They eat the cattle; Zeus throws a thunderbolt and drowns all but Odysseus
· Calypso
o He ends up on the island of Calypso and becomes her prisoner
· Court of King Alcinous
o Finally we are up to date, but Odysseus has more difficulty ahead in order to get home
Part II: Coming Home
· King Alcinous gives Odysseus a fast ship to get home to Ithaca
· Meanwhile, Telemachus has been searching the Mediterranean for his father
· Athena appears to both men; she tells Telemachus to go home, his father is alive
· She tells Odysseus to dress up as a beggar; this is no time to be impatient; he needs to keep his wits
· Touching moment when Telemachus returns and Odysseus reveals he is T’s father: “Then, throwing his arms around this marvel of a father Telemachus began to week. Salt tears rose from the wells of longing in both men, and cries burst from both as keen and fluttering as those of the great taloned hawk…so helplessly they cried, pouring out tears, and might have gone on weeping so till sundown…” (Lines 1059-1067)
· Has Odysseus FINALLY learned some humility? “Odysseus, who had endured the long war and the sea answered: ‘I’ll tell you now. Suppose Athena’s arm is over us, and Zeus her father’s, must I rack my brains for more?’” (Lines 1108-1111)
· He and Telemachus come up with the plan: Telemachus will remove the suitors’ weapons from the hall (make up an excuse) – then they will fight (find out “how far the women are corrupted”)
· They don’t tell Penelope (O’s wife) who the beggar really is
· Only Argos, Odysseus’ old dog, recognizes him
o Compare the two: How are Odysseus and the old dog similar?
§ They are both past their prime, forgotten
· Introduction to the Suitors: Odysseus goes into his palace, disguised as a beggar, and the suitors are cruel – especially Antinous
o Great dramatic irony: “A poor show, that – hitting this famished tramp – bad business, if he happened to be a god. You know they go in foreign guise, the gods do, looking like strangers, turning up in towns and settlements to keep an eye on manners, good or bad.” (Lines 1254-1258)
· Penelope is kind to the beggar and washes his feet; she recognizes a scar on his leg and knows it is Odysseus.
· Athena wipes the event from Penelope’s mind; it is not time for her to know
· The beggar tells Penelope that Odysseus is alive; she comes up with a plan:
o She will hold a competition: whoever can string Odysseus’ bow may marry her
o She is allowing a way for Odysseus to reclaim his kingdom
· [Penelope has been weaving a shroud, cloth used to bury the dead, for 3 years and unweaving it at night, deceiving her suitors]
Notes:
· The Test of the Great Bow
o Penelope offers the challenge to the men: whoever can string Odysseus’ bow and shoot an arrow cleanly through a line of 12 ax-helve sockets.
o No one can even string the bow (weak!)
o Telemachus has removed all of the weapons from the great hall; all of the women lock themselves in the family chambers
o Odysseus (who is still disguised as an old beggar) strings the bow and shoots thru all of the sockets perfectly
· Death at the Palace
o Telemachus joins his dad
o Odysseus kills Antinous; the rest try to plead for their lives
o “Death Trap” – no weapons; all the men die
· Odysseus and Penelope
o Odysseus makes the maids who have betrayed him clean up the dead, then Telemachus hangs them in the courtyard
o Penelope is in shock and tests Odysseus:
o She tells her servant to make up his bed outside their bedchamber
o He thinks someone has moved their bed and knows that’s impossible
o He tells her about their bed, and she realizes it really is Odysseus
Notes: