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Notes on Book 19.
The main focus of this book is the Odysseus' interview
with Penelope. It is part one of the reunion of Penelope and Odysseus and
rather complex. In this book some of the groundwork for the slaughter
of the suitors is also being laid. At the beginning of the book, according
to the earlier plan, Telemachus moves the weapons out of the hall, claiming
they are getting dingy and that they might cause bloodshed if the suitors
quarrel among each other. Eurykleia wants to help (remember how she is
the one who tucks him in at night) but now, as befits his new status, Telemachus
has a more powerful helper -- Athene, who companies them with a mystic
blaze of light, signaling the ever-present help of the gods and their future
success. But Odysseus must still endure, as when the evil maidservants
insult him. He rebukes them, and notice how also Penelope joins in -- showing
the basic agreement between the couple, the psychic bond perhaps, even
before they formally recognize each other. This is a good prelude to the
interview itself, which now takes place. Penelope is ready to question
Odysseus, now that the suitors are gone. As I have noted, Odysseus here
confronts a Penelope who has, in some extent, been frozen in her grief,
perhaps by way of defense. While grief is terrible, it also is a way of
simplifying life, of dealing with situations too threatening or obscure
to handle. Notice how Penelope, in almost every extended speech, mentions
how she has lost her beauty since Odysseus left, and how she is sure he
is dead. Odysseus here must learn information about what is really going
on with Penelope, and prepare her for their recognition, and get her support
for what is about to happen with the suitors. She also tells Odysseus about
her trick of weaving and unweaving the funeral cloak of Laertes, which
will assure Odysseus of her loyalty. Odysseus in turn tells her another
lying tale about how he met Odysseus. Again, he is trying to unfreeze her,
to mentally prepare her for the possibility of his return, and perhaps
to see how she really feels about his return. After all, she has not seen
him in nearly twenty years, and this must be a tense time for him -- how
ready is she to see him? What has been the real cost of all this time lost?
At the same time it is a time of terrible temptation for Odysseus, for
he must not reveal himself too early, or the attack against the suitors
might be compromised.
He must endure, crying inwardly,
undoubtedly wanting to tell his wife who he is.
Now we might ask -- why doesn't Odysseus simply tell her
who he is, and enlist her help for killing the suitors? In fact, in earlier
versions, as I will discuss later, this may have in fact have happened,
but Homer wants to put a different stress on events. As I have mentioned,
there is the constant theme of the steps Odysseus takes to regain his identity.
He can only present himself fully to her once he has fully proven himself.
He must win her again, not only win her confidence -- as here -- but prove
himself. Think of the type of story where a hero must fight against impossible
odds to gain the hand of the princess. This is certainly one of the motifs
that underlies this episode. Again, he will only allow himself to be recognized
when he is fully Odysseus and master of his house, when all the other clutter
and distractions have been removed.
Of course, Penelope
has heard lying stories about Odysseus before, and, being cautious like
Odysseus himself, needs further proof. Odysseus gives it to her by giving
a very precise description of items of Odysseus' clothing that only Penelope
and very close relatives and friends would know. Odysseus may take risks
here of being recognized too soon. Perhaps in an earlier version of the
epic these were the items by which Penelope recognized Odysseus. In any
event, these descriptions serve to force Penelope to seriously consider
the possibility that Odysseus is really alive
and soon to come home. Clearly Odysseus has gained her confidence, but
still she is not ready to admit that Odysseus can return. Why? As noted,
she has built up a habit of grief, which, while painful, is at least stable.
But now, if Odysseus returns, her world will be totally upset. There are
so many new and complicated and difficult things to deal with if Odysseus
comes home. It is confusing and painful. It is a fact known by doctors
that sometimes, when the family of a patient has been told that the patient
is dying, and when they have gone though the grieving process, and the
patient recovers, the family sometimes resents and is angry at the recovered
patient. Why? Because they have readjusted their hearts with enormous pain
to deal with this fact, all needlessly, and now must confront the reality
that the person will live! This is all too much for Penelope, and she suddenly
wants to stop the interview, and so orders Odysseus to be bathed and put
to bed.
Odysseus usually succeeds
with his interviews, but here he sees things not going according to plan.
Penelope is the one person that Odysseus cannot steamroll by his gift of
talk, which is one reason that Penelope has managed to survive uncompromised.
He has not achieved his goal of getting the full confidence of Penelope.
He hits upon a plan, and asks that only Eurykleia bathe him. She is Penelope's
most trusted servant, and this gives Odysseus an opportunity to act like
Odysseus in her presence, further giving confidence to Penelope.
In the scene with
Eurykleia we have a sort of scene with Odysseus' substitute mother. Notice
how on page 365 Eurykleia says that she has never seen somebody that was
so like Odysseus. And here Odysseus has made a mistake, for he forgot that
Eurykleia would recognize the scar, which is a sign of who he is. Note
the importance of signs in the works of Homer, such as the sign of the
burning ship in the Iliad. Then there is a long flashback telling
how Odysseus got the scar and the significance of it. The scar is symbolically
important, for it defines who he is -- and what he is. The scar-flashback
starts with the naming of Odysseus by his grandfather Autolykos, who was
the world's greatest thief. There Autolykus says, since he has caused pain
to people all over the world (the Greek verb odyussai) the boy will
be called Odysseus. Odysseus is one who both gives pain and also suffers
it. Then we get the long description of the hunt in which Odysseus gets
the scar. This is a type of male initiation ritual, where the men of the
family or tribe take the young man on an animal hunt so he can prove himself
in the company of men. Such rituals often involve scarring or ritual mutilation,
and here Odysseus achieves notable deeds by killing the fierce boar (giving
pain) but also receiving pain and a scar as token of his accomplishments.
Why does Homer put
this recognition scene here? Perhaps in an earlier version of the story,
this is the place where Penelope recognized her husband, and Homer
has substituted this recognition scene. It may also be symbolic of what
is happening in Penelope's mind, as she suddenly is ready to continue the
interview. In other words, while Eurykleia has been recognizing him in
fact, Penelope has been recognizing the real possibility that Odysseus
is alive and perhaps even close by. She is now ready to work though some
of her conflicting thoughts about Odysseus -- remember, their recognition
will be the most complex of all. She begins the interview again with the
same litany of her constant, restless grief, but then tells Odysseus a
interesting symbolic dream. She dreams she had some geese, whom she loved,
and an eagle comes and kills them and she mourns for them. The geese are
obviously the suitors, and the eagle Odysseus. Why then, if Penelope is
loyal, does she like the geese, and then mourn their killing? Very strange,
but understandable. This, in Freudian terms, is a dream that reveals thoughts
that Penelope is repressing. The comparison with Helen here is important.
Penelope is like Helen in that she has a husband who must fight to gain
her back from competitors, in this case Paris and the Trojans. Normally,
a woman is very subordinate to men, but there is a sense that Helen likes
the special attention, the special importance gained because countless
men are fighting for her. The temptation of Penelope is to become a Helen,
to give in to the perverse joy of being the object of attention of so many
men, who are obviously very eager to get her, as opposed to the static
obscurity of Odysseus' wife. She dreams that Odysseus is back -- this some
critics have suggested means that, at one level or another, she really
does know that he has come back. But she cannot yet quite accept the dream.
She now proposes the contest of the bow. Why now? The bow contest itself
is a typical hero contest which the hero wins to get the hand of the princess.
Also, in an earlier version of the epic, Penelope may have recognized Odysseus,
and have proposed the contest to get the bow in his hands. But why does
Penelope propose it here? One can suggest that this is Penelope's method
of bringing matters to a head. She is beset by crisis, and this is one
way of solving matters once and for all. Also, it may be a way to lure
Odysseus, the famous archer, out into the open. We remember the Robin Hood
story. The book ends with another sign of the great sympathy that exists
between the two, as Penelope admits she could gladly spend all night talking
with Odysseus. The beggar has accomplished his mission of winning her confidence
and now can see the means by which he might kill the suitors -- the bow!
Notes on Book 20.
Book 20 is rather like a book of omens and preparations for the main events to come. As Odysseus goes to bed, he is forced to endure seeing his slave girls going to bed with the suitors. More importantly, he tosses and turns with worry about just how he is going to stand out against such odds. Athene comes to him (as a sudden, comforting thought might) promising her aid. Since Athene is a war goddess, Odysseus is comforted. Penelope too is tossing and turning As we noted before, Penelope is now in crisis. She cannot remain frozen in grief, she must entertain the possibility that soon either Odysseus will really return, or she must marry one of the suitors. Quite naturally, she wishes to die and to leave all this worry. She still, after all her suffering, cannot quite imagine a good outcome. Notice she has been troubled by a dream of Odysseus, which can well represent the image of what she is repressing -- the knowledge that Odysseus is alive and will return -- or maybe is even here. At dawn of the Big Day (which may be a special time for omens) Odysseus ask for and gets two omens -- one the thunder of Zeus and second the immediate favorable omen of the speech of the serving girl. Again, in Homer little important happens without noticeable omens from the gods. Melanthios the bad servant shows up, Philoitios the good one, to be a contrast with the evil slave and to help Odysseus later. Notice how kind Philoitios is to the beggar Odysseus. This makes Melanthios' guilt all the more obvious. Meanwhile the suitors are plotting the death of Telemachus, but another omen -- a bad one -- puts them off and they start to party. Telemachus positions Odysseus at a suitable place for the upcoming battle. Notice how preparations are being made for the great feast of Apollo, the god of archery. This solemn event will be the occasion for the suitors again to show their vileness, as one more suitor, Ktesippos, tries to hit Odysseus with a cow's foot, but misses completely -- as they will later as they try to hit Odysseus with spears. There are various protests, and then, as the suitors fall to laughing, we get the final, terrible omen, (see page 386, lines 370 ff.) which Theokymenos sees clearly -- the suitors are crying, are making inhuman noises, the food they eat bleeds. It is an omen from the Furies, assigning them to complete doom. And the book ends with all looking at Odysseus, ready for the signal for the final showdown.
Notes on Book 21.
This is the book of the bow, which really tells only one, although major, event -- how Odysseus gets the bow into his own hands. Notice the long description of the origin of the bow, indicating its importance in the events to come. Also, note some other themes, how Heracles, here the evil guest, had killed his host; Odysseus will reverse the situation - he will kill the suitors that have outraged him. Notice how Penelope weeps as she takes the bow out, which is still shining as the day it was put away. This is symbolic of the fact that its owner (Odysseus) is still strong. For Penelope, of course, it is a symbol of the man. In Telemachus attempting to string the bow Telemachus is probably intentionally acting a bit stupid, again to throw the suitors off. The reason that he tries the bow, of course, is to show us that he in fact is the equal of his father. He would have strung the bow unless Odysseus had not signaled him not to. This is one more step to his gaining of full heroism and heroic stature. But he intentionally fails, and again acts the weakling. Then when Leodes tries first to string it, he fails and makes the ironic prediction of how bow will break the heart and spirit of the suitors -- he doesn't know how true this will be. Then the others try. While this business is going on, Odysseus reveals himself to his trusty slaves, again by the sign of the scar, and gives the final details of the plan. As he comes back, Eurymachos, the chief suitor, tries and fails to string the bow. Antinoos, who, like all bullies, is a coward, tries to put off the contest of the bow, knowing he will lose, and goes to drinking. Then Odysseus (remember, he is still apparently a beggar) asks for the bow. This is the summit of arrogance, but, as we have observed earlier, the suitors, by creating disorder, cannot control even a beggar. Antinoos, while cursing Odysseus, ironically tells the tale of the Lapiths and Centaurs. The Lapiths, a people in Thessaly in Greece, had an important wedding and they invited the semi-civilized centaurs, half men and half horse, to the wedding. The centaurs got drunk and tried to rape the bride and other female guests. There was a great battle, and most of the Centaurs were killed. Antinoos suggests that Odysseus is drunk as a Centaur, when, of course, it is the suitors who are the Centaurs who will be destroyed. Oily Eurymachus tries to protest that they will lose reputation if the beggar strings the bow, to which Penelope responds by saying that the suitors have no reputation. As Eumaios, according to Odysseus' plan, tries to get the bow to Odysseus at Penelope's command, the suitors raise a cry. But now crafty Telemachus tricks them by pretending to rant at Eumaios as one who must attack a slave because he cannot get his will with his own mother. The suitors break down in laughter and Odysseus gets the bow. The suitors, probably nervously, watch him inspect the bow, string it and then shoot it though the axes. Notice the omens -- the clear tone that comes from the bow -- remember the bow originally came from Apollo, god of music and archery. This note is followed by the thunder of Zeus, god of justice and vengeance. Then Odysseus makes the shot. As I have noted, this bow trick may well have been a reenactment of an earlier contest that Odysseus may have participated in when he won Penelope and founded his own household. It is a re-enactment of the founding of his house, part of the regaining of his identity. This is the beginning overture to the Destruction of the Suitors.....
Notes on Book 22.
The point of this book is the destruction of the suitors. It is in part patterned in accordance with descriptions of the aristeia, the description of noble heroic deeds, as appears in the Iliad. It has three parts -- arrow fight, spear fight and cleaning the house. Odysseus rips off his rags and declares his identity for the world to know, then shoots Antinoos, the violent drunkard, right in the throat -- a fitting place. Notice how in some way this declaration of identity parallels an early scene a the palace of Alcinoos, where Odysseus told his name, and then told the past deeds he had undertaken on his voyages. Here Odysseus declares his identity and then performs his last great heroic deeds. At first the Suitors think this killing of Antinoos is some mistake, but then realize it is Odysseus. Eurymachos tries to wheedle his way out of the situation by blaming the whole mess on Antinoos and promising compensation. When this fails, he tries to lead a charge, but gets it in the liver. The liver is for the Greeks a seat of passion, so there may be something symbolic in this. Then Telemachus gets to kill his first man (another step in his development), then goes to get armor for Odysseus to wear when he runs out of arrows. Of course, there must be some suspense, and this comes when the evil slave Menathios manages to get into one of the storerooms to get weapons for the suitors. He gets weapons for twelve of them, and Odysseus almost panics, until he sends his allies who catch up and bind Menathios cruelly The signal for the spear battle is the appearance of Athena in the guise of Mentor (as she has appeared before) who, as we have seen, helped Diomedes in a spear battle. Here she reminds Odysseus, who is a bit worried, of the great deeds he performed at Troy. The help she gives is chiefly to deflect fatal spear throws from Odysseus and company. After more killing, Athene waves the aegis, the magical goatskin, which signals that the enemy have been put to rout and numbed by terror. At this point Odysseus can do the final killing. Notice during the fight Telemachus gets his first kill as well as a small wound. The end of the battle is signaled by three supplication scenes. First comes the bad prophet, Leodes, who pleas for mercy but is beheaded. Then Phemios the epic poet comes, and, with Telemachos' intercession is spared. Notice what Phemios tells about himself (and perhaps about Homer as poet) (page 420) "My gift is a song for men and for the gods undying. My death will be a remorse for you hereafter. No one taught me; deep in my mind a god shaped all the various ways of life in song. And I am fit to make verse in your company as in the god's". Medon the herald is likewise spared. This ends the battle. Now notice on page 422 that Odysseus does not let Eurykleia raise a shout of triumph over the dead. Odysseus is not that hard -- he realizes that this vengeance is a just thing, but also a terrible deed. Then Odysseus and Telemachus take care of the disloyal servant girls and slaves, helped by Eurykleia. The girls are forced to clean up the blood, then hung, and Melanthios is horribly mutilated. Then the house is ritually purified with the harsh fumes of sulfur. And how we are ready for the great recognition scene with Penelope.
Notes on Book 23.
The major event of this book is the final reunion of Odysseus and Penelope.
We see how Penelope is a true match and companion for Odysseus. At the
beginning of the book, we see how Penelope cannot believe Eurykleia's account
of the slaughter of the suitors, and then cannot believe it is really Odysseus.
As I have mentioned before, Penelope has created a hard amor of grief and
hopelessness to help her endure. There is a certain spiritual inertia,
so to speak. The real Odysseus is a more demanding and complex figure than
the ideal of her grief. At the same time, she is like Odysseus in being
always cautious, always suspicious. She is not as easily convinced as Telemachus
was, as Eurykleia was. After all, the god can duplicate even a scar.
Notice, around line 95, how when Penelope finally comes down, both Odysseus
and Penelope do not speak. They at some level realize they are strangers
to each other, that so much has happened. What should they say? It must
be Telemachus who gets the conversational ball rolling. His speech, perhaps
unwittingly, shows the tremendous tension between them that causes the
silence. When Penelope mentions the signs between then, it is a signal
for Telemachus to leave and let the adults have some privacy. This moment
is crucial for another important reason, as Odysseus notes -- soon the
families of the slain suitors will come and Odysseus may again have to
go into exile. To delay they will pretend there is a wedding going on;
one might suspect in another version of an epic story, where the Odysseus
figure wins the bow-content, then must fight the disgruntled suitors, the
wedding with the princess would naturally follow. Here, of course, it is
the wedding of Penelope to one of the suitors that is being simulated.
After Telemachus leaves and Odysseus bathes and is beautified by Athene,
Penelope is still silent, and Odysseus becomes frustrated. (We remember
how the earlier interview was full of starts and stops, with Penelope both
wanting to stop and continue.) Here the master of tactics seems to be baffled.
Odysseus has no sign he can think of . He tells the servant to make up
his bed. He seems ready to quit for now. Then -- and this is important
-- Penelope tricks the trickster by suggesting that their great bed be
moved out into the hall way. At this Odysseus becomes angry. The secret
of the bed is that its main leg is built into an olive tree stump. These
trees are extremely tough, and it is extremely hard to pull them up.
This bed is also symbolic of a kind of hieros gamos,
a holy or sacred marriage. The marriage bed, the center of the household
where procreation takes place, is rooted in the earth. There is a tight
connection between the marriage act and the very fertility of the earth.
It is a type of axis mundi, the central beam of the world. By cutting
this link the bond between household and land would be broken. No wonder
Odysseus becomes angry. But he has been tricked into revealing that he
indeed knows the secret that only the couple should know. Notice that it
is not any old secret, but the symbol of the full importance of their union.
Now Penelope fully accepts Odysseus and offers some explanation for her
actions. The point is that she, like Helen, was the object of many temptations.
How easy would it have been to believe a stranger was Odysseus, or to take
the easy way out with the suitors. She had to develop this suspicious armor
to keep her identity from being lost, just as Odysseus had to. Odysseus
tells her one thing more before they retire -- his final destiny,
which will reassure her, for Odysseus is fated to die in peace. Then they
fall to love making. This is again the holy marriage, a symbol of the reunited
house. It is at this point some commentators say the real Odyssey
ended.
Perhaps, but such an ending would leave many strings unattended
to. The last lines and book is a type of wrap-up. After love-making the
couple fall to conversation, and Odysseus tells her his adventures as a
way of bringing her up to date, of letting her better know who has come
home. This also serves for the reader as a quick backward glance that helps
the reader appreciate the full significance of the moment. Then they go
to sleep, and when he wakes, he must deal with his last trial -- what to
do about the family of the suitors. It could all still end badly........
Notes on Book 24.
As noted above, this book
could be a later modification or addition. It may be needed to tie up loose
ends, but Homer, as we see in the Iliad, does not always need to tie up
loose ends, for example, by not showing the death of Achilles that will
soon happen, or the fall of Troy. The main business has been accomplished.
There is a greater quantity of linguistic abnormalities in this book, suggesting
a different writer. It seems less well made. Who knows? The main point
of this book is to get Odysseus reunited with this father (part of the
Father-Son motif) and to clean up the mess with the suitors' relatives.
This book opens up
with what is called the Second Death Journey, as the souls of the suitors
descend to the underworld that Odysseus has visited. This scene (and we
remember how the Epic of Gilgamesh also had a visit to the underworld
in the last book) gives us the eternal perspective on the events that have
just happened as well as tying up loose ends. It also seems to recall some
of the material that appears in other, now lost, epics about the Trojan
war. Note how in the beginning Achilles and Agamemnon come and talk peacefully,
respectfully to each other -- a far cry from how they acted in the Iliad.
Their quarrel has been truly patched up. Then notice the long description
of the funeral of Achilles -- why does the writer tell us that? Again,
to give the full story of Achilles, perhaps, that was omitted from the
Iliad. Also, the story of the glorious honor of Achilles will be in stark
contrast to the shameful death of Agamemnon, and, more importantly, of
the suitors, who now come floating down, trying to get a bit of sympathy
from Agamemnon, who instead praises Odysseus. In this praise of Odysseus
we may have another answer to the question "Who was the best of the Acheans"
for Odysseus is alive. Note too how the dead suitors give another summation
of events for the listener. Then the story moves back to the world, as
Odysseus visits Laertes his father. The question arises here -- is it not
cruel for Odysseus to test his father, to torment him with longing for
his son? But Odysseus must, in his caution, still find out what the full
situation is before revealing himself. Also, as one critic has noted, Odysseus
would not be Odysseus if he did not test (and give pain) to his father.
Laertes expects that of Odysseus. And the test is short, with another one
of Odysseus' lying stories. Soon, as he sees his father's pain, Odysseus
reveals himself. But now Laertes tests him. Odysseus shows him the scar,
and more importantly, tells him their own secret, that of the trees. We
saw earlier how important the symbol of the bed grafted into the olive
tree which was rooted in the earth was. Similarly here, fruit trees that
Laertes gave Odysseus (which are a type of symbol for paradise -- see the
apple tree in garden of Eden) are also symbolic of how Laertes gave Odysseus
ownership and possession of the land and all its fertility. Notice how
then Laertes is renewed by Athene, which may be symbolic of the new vigor
Laertes feels now his grief is lifted.
Then we see how the
suitors' families react to the news of the killing. An assembly is called,
where the father of Antinoos tries to rally the people against Odysseus.
Then Medon the herald comes and tells them how Athene was present at the
slaughter and how this was the will of the gods. Homer again
underscores the nature of the Odyssey as a poem of justice and peace.
Notice how most of the assembly agrees and defends Odysseus, and only a
smaller band go to fight. Then, right before the battle, we shift to Olympus,
where Athene inquires of Zeus what he wants to happen. We saw how the
Odyssey opened with Zeus and Athene talking about what will happen
to Odysseus. This all shows that all these events are the will of Zeus.
And notice then what happens, on top of page 460. lines 480 ff. Zeus declares
that he will bring about peace. Peace! At the end of the Iliad only
death and more meaningless death was promised. But the Odyssey is
more optimistic. Not only will Odysseus win, but there will be peace and
friendship. This is in accordance with the earlier prophecy that Odysseus
will die in peace. Here we can see a farewell to the murderous hero of
epic -- Odysseus has played his part; a new world of justice is dawning.
(Ah, only if....).
But there must be
a small sacrifice beforehand. The band of the suitors' relatives come,
and now Grandfather, Father and Son stand together, shield to shield. The
family unit, three generations strong, is now complete. They attack
as Athene is present, and now Laertes gets to show his prowess as he kills
the father of Antinoos the suitor. Odysseus would have attacked, but Athene
now calls a stop to the action. Odysseus is still locked in epic mode,
and would have made a Achilles-like slaughter, but Zeus throws a thunderbolt
at this feet (like he had earlier done to Diomedes.) This signals that
the career of Odysseus the epic warrior hero is though. It is the era of
peace, and both parties sign a peace treaty, with Athene, goddess of war,
and more importantly wisdom, standing by. What a glorious, and, I think,
satisfying end. The Odyssey is thus like a morality play, where both justice
and peace win out, and all live happily ever after....