Summary: Book 17
Telemachus leaves Odysseus at Eumaeus’s hut and heads to his ______, where he
receives a tearful welcome from Penelope and the nurse __________. In the
palace hall he meets T_________ and Piraeus.
He tells Piraeus not to bring his gifts from ___________ to the palace; he fears
that the suitors will ______them if they ____ him.
When he sits down to eat with Penelope, Telemachus tells her what little news he
received of Odysseus in _____ and _________, but he doesn’t reveal that
____________________________________.
T_________ then speaks up and swears that Odysseus is ___ _________ at this
very moment.
Meanwhile, _________ and Odysseus set out towards town in Telemachus’
footsteps.
On the way they meet Melanthius, a ______________ of the suitors, who
s______ on Eumaeus and kicks his ________ companion.
Odysseus receives a ________ ________ at the palace.
The suitors _________ly give him food, and Antinous goes out of his way to
________ him.
When Odysseus answers insult with _________, Antinous hits him with a
________ that disgusts _____ ___ ______ ______.
Report of this ________ reaches Penelope, who asks to have the beggar brought
to her so that she can ________ him about __________.
Odysseus, however, doesn’t want the suitors to see him heading toward
____________ _________.
Eumaeus announces that he must return to his _____ and ____, leaving Odysseus
alone with _________ and the ________.
Summary: Book 18
Another beggar, Arnaeus (nicknamed I____), saunters into the palace. For a beggar, he is
rather _______: he _________
Odysseus and challenges him to a ______ _______. He thinks that he will ______________
the old man, but Athena gives Odysseus __________ ________ and __________.
I_____ soon regrets challenging the old man and tries to escape, but by now the suitors have
taken notice and are egging on the fight for the sake of _________ ______ __________.
It ends quickly as Odysseus ________ I_____ and stops just short of ________ ____.
The suitors _____________ Odysseus.
One in particular, the moderate A___________, _______ him and gives him food.
Odysseus, fully aware of the b___________ to come and overcome by pity for
A___________, pulls the man aside.
He predicts to A___________ that Odysseus will ______ ___ ______ and gives him a thinly
________ warning to ________ the palace and return to his own land. But A__________
doesn’t depart, despite being “fraught with grave ___________,” for Athena has bound him to
death at the hands of T___________.
Athena now puts it into Penelope’s head __ ____ __ ___________ before her suitors.
The goddess gives her extra _________ and _______ to ________ their hearts.
When Penelope speaks to the suitors, she leads them on by telling them that Odysseus had
instructed her to _____ __ ______ ________ if he should fail to return before Telemachus
began _________ ______ _____.
She then tricks them, to the silent delight of Odysseus, into _________ ____ ______ by
claiming that any suitor worth his salt would try to win her hand by _______ _______ to her
instead of taking what’s ___________ _______.
The suitors shower her with ________, and, as they celebrate, Odysseus instructs the
maidservants to go to Penelope.
The maidservant Melantho, Melanthius’s sister, insults him as an _________ ______ ____ __
_______; Odysseus then scares them off with threats. Hoping to make Odysseus even
_________ at the suitors, Athena now inspires _________ to ______ him. When Odysseus
responds with insults of his own, Eurymachus throws a _______ at him but misses, hitting a
servant instead. Just as a ______ is about to break out, ______________ steps in and
diffuses the situation, to the consternation of the suitors.
Analysis: Books 17–18
Homer uses ______ characters of _____ rank to great effect in Books 17 and 18.
Like many Homeric characters, neither the swineherd Melanthius nor the
maidservant Melantho is very _________.
They are little more than male and female versions of the same __________
person: each seemingly works for __________ but has become a partisan of the
_______.
Despite their simplicity, they function as foils—characters whose _______ or
________ contrast with and thereby ____________ those of other characters.
Melanthius’s __________ treatment of Odysseus stands in stark contrast to
Eumaeus’s un_______ing ________ to his master.
Similarly, in contrast to the devoted E_________, Melantho proves the
embodiment of ____________ toward Penelope: though Penelope raised her like
her own ______, Melantho shows no concern for Penelope’s _______.
Additionally, Irus’s mingled ________ and ___________ provide a good foil for
Odysseus’s __________ and ____________.
Homer also uses Irus to __________ the ultimate __________ of the suitors:
disguised as a beggar, Odysseus cuts down an _________ __________, leaving
little doubt as to what he will do to the __________ nobles when he reassumes
his ________ form.
The foreshadowing is not lost on the suitor A___________, who walks away filled
with _________.
A____________ provides another case study in the ________ power of the
gods.
Even though A__________ shows some kindness toward the seeming beggar,
Odysseus pities him, and Homer singles him out as the one __________ and
____________ man among all of the suitors, nothing can save him from the
p_________ that Athena has planned for him.
In fact, Athena doesn’t even take his ___________ into consideration.
Homer explains that “Athene had already marked him out to fall to a spear from
Telemachus’ hand.” (18. 156-158 (pg 243)).
Just as Poseidon vents his ______ on the well-in__________ Phaeacians, in Book
13, for treating his __________ Odysseus kindly, Athena c____________
A___________ to the same fate as the most __________ suitors of the bunch.
Homer continues to in___________ the suitors, with the seeming purpose of
___________ their specific character f______.
In Book 17, for example, he gives us the most c________ depiction yet of
A_______, who disgusts even the other suitors with his _________ of the
disguised Odysseus.
Whereas other suitors at least give the beggar food, A_________ displays
nothing but _________ for the man’s apparent low breeding and physically assails
him; Penelope thus labels Antinous “especially […] like a black spirit of
destruction.” (17.499-500 (PG 235))
Homer portrays Antinous as an i______ noble, and Antinous’s detractors often
point out the disparity between the _________ of his birth and the ________
of his actions : “Antinous, you may be _______ born but there is nothing ____ in
your speech.” [17.380-381]).
The explanation for the c________ in which the others hold Antinous for
mistreating Odysseus lies in the f________ structure of Homeric society, which
was bound together by reciprocal obligations and responsibilities among people of
different ________ classes.
While it would be a mistake to think that the Greeks considered
mis___________ of the poor an automatic sign of ____ or _______ deficiency,
we definitely get the sense that Antinous is abusing his rank when he beats the
seemingly ________ beggar.
Antinous is guilty not of pure evil but of a kind of _________.
Accordingly, the insults hurled at him accuse him not of straying from some
______ code but of straying from the expectations of his _______ birth.