The Odyssey
-supposedly written by Homer, but this is questionable because of the different formats of the poems [the Iliad is
linear while the Odyssey has an embedded narrative]
- the Odyssey is a coming of age, fantastical and political tale in its basic form
- Odysseus
-different type of hero
-Greek ideal was to be a good looking aristocratic- Odysseus is no so physically impressive
-extremely smart and cunning, often seen as a trickster figure “brains over brawn”
-older and pragmatic. Experience is important to him
-Athena
-the patron saint of Odysseus- she is the goddess of wisdom
-daughter of Metis- a tricksy figure, but Athena has practical cunning wisdom
-parallel between Odysseus and Athena- deception and cunning was usually associated with women
-association with the cunning of Athena = less negative because Athena is not uncontrolled
-Odysseus avoids becomes feminine by associating with Athena
Book One [1-10, 37-48, 313-317, xenia]
- begins with the invocation of the muses: “Speak memory- of the cunning hero, the wanderer, blown of course time
and again.” In Greek- the first word is MAN- Odysseus is a man, a human character with no divine parentage
- Council of the Gods- Zeus thinks mortals are dumb and witless: “Mortals! They are always blaming the gods for
their troubles, when their own witlessness causes them more than they were destined for!”
- Zeus uses the story of Orestes as an example of a mortal over-reaching
- moral principle- ‘badness’ is punished through the workings of humans- free will and divine control combined
- Athena argues that the ‘goodness’ of humans should also be rewarded- goodness of Odysseus specifically
- Athena appears to Telemachus as an old friend of his father
- Xenia- (bonds of friendship between persons) - hugely important in the play as a whole [Suitors abuse this bond,
staying overlong]
- Athena tells Telemachus to grow up- “You’ve got to stop acting like a child. You’ve outgrown that now.” [Orestes
also comes up again as an example- this time a person to follow.]
Book Five [150-155, 215-220]
- second embassy of the gods. Hermes is sent to earth to tell Calypso that she must free Odysseus from his sex-slave
position in her cave
- Calypso complains of the double standard in Greek mythology - the males continually take lovers, the end result
being bad, but females are not allowed at all to take lovers. [parallels to standards of Greek Society]
- Odysseus is an unwilling lover - “She found him sitting where the breakers rolled in, his eyes were perpetually wet
with tears now, his life draining away in homesickness.”
- explanation of the double standard - female more powerful in the goddess/mortal coupling = bad reversal of
traditional power set up
- Calypso offers immortality if Odysseus will stay, but he refuses because he loves his wife too much -“Goddess and
mistress, don’t be angry with me. I know very well that Penelope, for all her virtues, would pale beside you. She’s
only human and you are a goddess, eternally young. Still, I want to go back. My heart aches for the day that I return
to my home.”
- making mortals immortal never works anyway [Demeter’s mishap anybody?] so Calypso lets Odysseus go.
Book Nine [69-82, 114-121, 144-148, 169-172, 180-188]
- story telling [embedded narrative/ flashback mode]
- blinding of the cyclops [uncivilized people] because the cyclops abuses the bonds of xenia
- Odysseus stops to get food and water on an island and when he sees that someone lives there he tries to establish
bonds with them - instead the cyclops throws Odysseus and his men in prison.
- eats the men raw - a symbol of uncivilized forces.
- Odysseus does his famous trick - parody of xenia - gives the cyclops some super potent wine to ‘knock his socks
off’ and then stabs out his eyeball.
- the cyclops calls out for help - “The heard his cry and gathered from all sides around his cave and asked what
ailed him” - when he answers that ‘No man’ is hurting him, the other cyclops scoff and leave
- the cyclops lack of civilization turns against him
- Odysseus escapes with his remaining men by tying himself under sheep
- pathetic nature of the cyclops is revealed through this trick of Odysseus - “My poor ram, why are you leaving the
cave last of all? You’ve never lagged before...Are you sad about your master’s eye? A bad man blinded me, him and
his nasty friends, getting me drunk.”
- Odysseus makes a mistake when he gets to his ships - he calls out taunting the cyclops - “So, Cyclops, it turns out it
wasn’t a coward whose men you murdered and ate in your cave, you savage! But you got yours in the end didn’t
you?”
- although a valid point about the savageness of the cyclops, Odysseus goes to far boasting and claiming credit for
the deed - “Cyclops, if anyone, if any mortal man asks you how you got your eye put out, tell him that Odysseus the
marauder did it, son of Laertes, whose home is on Ithaca.”
- Cyclops suddenly remembers he had a prophecy that he would lose his eye - “I always suspected a great hero
would come here, strong as can be. Now this puny, little, good-for-nothing runt has put my eye out - because he got
me drunk.”
- Cyclops yells curses at Odysseus as he leaves - justification for the wanderings of Odysseus - then calls on is father
Poseidon to avenge him [sea as a fearful uncontrollable substance]
Book Ten [213-221]
- The Laestrygonians - Odysseus anchors his boat far from shore because he has learned from the Cyclops incident.
- ends up saving himself and his ship because the Laestrygonians are cannibals.
- sail onto another island inhabited by Circe - she turns men into animals when they visit her - another symbol of
savagery and the uncivilized achieved through the abuse of the bonds of xenia
- Hermes helps out Odysseus, giving him advice - “When Circe strikes you with her magic wand, draw your sharp
sword from beside your thigh and rush at her with murder in your eye. She’ll be afraid and invite you to bed.”
- sexual encounter - imbalance of sexual powers - Odysseus will be dominant - tie in to sex as a tool for gain.
Book Eleven [line numbers below]
- Circe tells Odysseus that he must travel to the underworld and talk to the seer
- this journey is the height of the travels of Odysseus - inconsistent idea of the underworld - Odysseus sails to the
bounds of the earth and offers a sacrifice, which demonstrates the weakness of the shades [they need the blood to be
anything]
- Odysseus meets several people in the underworld:
- Elpenor [61-75]
- a sailor who fell off the roof at Circe’s house and broke his neck. He pleas for a proper burial
- dominant theme = concern for family still in the world
- domestic viewpoint.
- the mother of Odysseus appears, but he holds her back to talk to:
- Tiresias [119-135]
- warns Odysseus not to eat the sun cattle - humans can make active choices
- he then tells Odysseus that he will return to Ithaca and overcome the obstacles before him, but that he will
have to leave again afterwards and travel to the land where men have no salt.
-‘Happily Ever After’ ending prophesied - with folk tale elements [sailor walking with oar = common tale in
many cultures]
- Odysseus will be expanding the realms of the worship of Poseidon - making amends for blinding the
cyclops
- is also told that he will die old and at home. Lovely!
- The Mother of Odysseus [204-208, 220-224]
- Odysseus asks mostly about is family - learns that his mother died pining away for her son, that his father
is doing the same
- tries to embrace her, but is unable - “Three times I rushed forward to hug her, and three times she drifted
out of my arms like a shadow or a dream.”
- Agamemnon [272-283, 284-296]
- comparison between the House of Agamemnon and the House of Odysseus
- Agamemnon’s wife murdered him - perversion of normal roles.
- again there is an emphasis on the importance of family
- Agamemnon advises Odysseus to not tell his wife everything
- end of the meeting is sad, for Odysseus has no news of the family of Agamemnon for him.
- Achilles [344 -360, 397-399]
- notes that this feat of Odysseus is just one more to add to his list
- Achilles’ very telling response about death - “I’d rather be a hired hand back up on earth, slaving away
for some poor dirt farmer, than lord over all these withered dead.” - life is precious, and status is better
than death.
- asks after his family, mainly his son - Odysseus can give him some news
- Achilles is able to take some satisfaction for the success of his son
- Heracles [481-493]
- this passage is a later introduction into the Odyssey as a whole - change in the religious worship of
Heracles
- similar parallels to Odysseus in suffering - labours and travels - connection with the great feast of the
underworld.
-emphasis is to make the magnitude of the trip of Odysseus to the underworld obvious
Book Twelve [52-62, 158-164]
- Scylla and Charybdis - Scylla eats men and the Charybdis is a whirlpool with a vengeance
- a few men are eaten, but it’s thought to be a small price to pay
- Days of travelling - ship life getting tiresome - An island is spotted - Odysseus does not want to stop because of the
prophecies of Circe and Tiresias -“Hear my, men, for all your pain, so I can tell you Tiresias’ prophecies and
Circe’s too, who gave me strict warnings to shun the island of the warmth-giving sun, for there she said was our
gravest peril.” - but eventually they stop
- the wind dies down and they are stranded and when their own food runs out, then men on the ship eat the red cattle
of the sun god [Odysseus refrains]
- Zeus punishes everyone by sending lightening bolts etc.
-the punishment of the ‘badness’ of the men
- Odysseus washes up on the shore of another island, tells his story and then is sent home.
*Books Thirteen to Twenty Two [not included in our text]
- reestablishment of family as a whole
- Odysseus gets home, doesn’t reveal himself directly, remains wary and careful [ from experience] enlists the help of
a swineherd to slowly infiltrate is kingdom
- Odysseus and Telemachus reunite - positive relationship
- Defeat of Suitors
Book Twenty Three [41-60, 135-150, 245-256]
- Reunion of Odysseus and Penelope
- Penelope initially shows restraint - she is being wary and careful
- Odysseus takes a bath and Athena makes him more dreamy that usual, but Penelope still reluctant, which angers
Odysseus. Penelope tells her servants to bring out her bed, and this makes Odysseus furious - he reveals the truth of
who is ti to Penelope by revealing that the bed cannot be moved because it is fashioned in part from a living tree, and
olive tree - “there was an olive tree growing on this site, long leaved and full, its trunk as think as a post. I built my
bedroom around that tree, and when I had finished...I had myself a bedpost.”
- the entire house has been structured around the olive tree/ bed = reflection of importance of family as the
foundation of state and centre.
- olive tree is a symbol of longevity and productiveness, as well as a symbol of Athena.
- Union of equals - purpose of marriage [here already established] - emotional and psychological bond is now what
it’s about.
- Odysseus tells his wife everything - “After Odysseus and Penelope had made sweet love, they took turns telling
stories to each other.”
*Book Twenty Four {not given in text]
- the dead suitors arrive in the underworld and news of the deed of Odysseus begins to spread.
- Odysseus completely re-establishes his family, reuniting with his father
- problem = all the dead suitors were the sons of the nobility, they get angry, but Athena intervenes and all is good.
Central Themes
- Justice- invocation of the muses, the fate of men, homecoming of Odysseus, death of the suitors, the Cyclops.
- Responsibility- we are responsible for what we do. Despite the intervention of the gods, there are consequences for
our actions [speech of Zeus at beginning]
- Civilization-[307-311, xenia/oikos]
- Journeys of Odysseus = a symbol of the establishment of civilization
- Odysseus establishes/defends certain ethics [cyclops and guests = xenia]
- re-establishment of family = re-establishment of the civilized [oikos = family, house, household]