The odyssey books 2124 summary and analysis gradesaver. Back in ithaka, odysseus wife penelope is getting swarmed by a horde of unwanted suitors. It is disrespectful and futile to pit ones will against the will of the gods. Get an answer for what are odysseuss reasons for slaying the suitors in the odyssey. First, odysseus could not have just sent the suitors away or punished them verbally, because i feel like the suitors would come back to kill odysseus when not expecting it. The word odyssey has come to mean a journey of epic proportions. After he has proven himself with the axe heads, odysseus stands by the door and kills antinous with an arrow through the throat. They meet the ghosts of achilles, ajax, and agamemnon. Homer, odyssey book 17 theoi classical texts library. He tells piraeus not to bring his gifts from menelaus to the palace. Essay on the odyssey study guide books 1724 1784 words. The nurse goes upstairs excited by the news and she wakes penelope telling her that her husband has returned. Odysseus holds his peace, struggling to control himself from slaying the goatherd.
Odysseus instructs telemachus to gather the weapons and hide them where they will not be readily available to the suitors the next day. Penelope tells her not to play tricks on her and eurykleia is surprised that penelope would joke about such a thing. Odysseus reveals his true identity to his son, and they work out a plan to defeat the suitors. What do you think of his killing of those who embraced his knees and begged for mercy. Odysseus foreshadows the showdown in book 22 by wishing that antinous might meet his death before he meets his bride. Book 1 book 2 book 3 book 4 book 5 book 6 book 7 book 8 book 9 book 10 book 11 book 12 book book 14 book 15 book 16 book 17 book 18 book 19 book 20 book 21 book 22 book 23 book 24. So it is that the gods do not bestow graces in all ways on men, neither in stature nor yet in brains or eloquence. Summary and analysis book 19 penelope and her guest.
Because this entire theme has affinities with the final recognition theme between odysseus and penelope in book 23, we may learn something of importance by analyzing the theme in book 17 and its earlier relatives. Telemachus leaves odysseus at eumaeuss hut and heads to his palace, where he receives a tearful welcome from penelope and the nurse eurycleia. Disguised once more as an old beggar, odysseus journeys to town. But odysseus saw her, and the hounds, and they barked. Melantho, the disrespectful servant girl who sleeps with eurymachus, confronts the beggarodysseus once more. Teiresias informs odysseus of the situation of odysseuss house in book 11 and asserts that he must take revenge on these men for their misdeeds by killing them od. Comes in as beggar and sees who gives the most and feels for others.
What are odysseuss reasons for slaying the suitors in the. Homer, odyssey book 23 theoi classical texts library. She tells him to go looking for news of his missing father, so he heads to pylos to visit king nestor. First, they were disrespectful to him and his household, especially the first ones he and his son target with arrows. Many men from other lands thinking odysseus is dead, intrude his kingdom and try to take power. Notice the description of the victorious odysseus as spattered and caked with blood like a mountain lion. He tells penelope that menelaus had heard that odysseus had been trapped on calypsos island. During odysseus long absence, unmarried young men start to suspect that odysseus died in troy or on the journey home.
At his castle gate, the hero is recognized by a decrepid dog that he raised as a pup. Against the skillful odysseus, the suitors seem to stand little chance. If the proud wooers shall secretly slay me in my hall, and divide among them all the goods of my fathers, i would that thou shouldest keep and enjoy these things. It couldnt have been dolios or his sons because they welcomed odysseus like.
The suitors shoot arrows at odysseus, but athena makes sure the. A newborn when odysseus left, a child when the suitors started plaguing penelope, telemachus was an untested youth at the time odysseus returned. Here, youll find essays on the theme of violence and happy endings as found. What did athena tell odysseus to do to the suitors. Penelope gets odysseuss bow out of the storeroom and announces that she will marry the suitor who can string it and then shoot an arrow through a line of twelve axes. The suitors in the odyssey, by homer essay example. Sparknotes bookrags the meaning summary overview critique of explanation pinkmonkey.
Odysseus comes home to take his revenge on the suitors. We will begin this lesson with a brief recap of book 21 of the odyssey. Go to previous table of contents book xvii, go to next. We learn the story of how the bow was obtained by odysseus when he was a young man sent to messenia by his father to recover a debt of 300 sheep. Penelope gets odysseus s bow out of the storeroom and announces that she will marry the suitor who can string it and then shoot an arrow through a line of twelve axes. They promise death for odysseus, but he reveals his identity and. It is finally time for the suitors to meet their reckoning. It ends quickly as odysseus floors irus and stops just short of killing him. The abortive messages that dolios almost but never conveys from penelope to laertes and from laertes farm to penelope in books 4 and 24 of the odyssey allude to alternative versions of odysseuss in which odysseus returned to ithaca with an armed band and expelled the suitors with the knowing collusion of penelope and laertes. As odysseus lies awake on the ground, he restrains himself from killing the suitors, who cavort with women in their own.
Under the pretense of courting penelope, these youths, called the suitors, take up residence in odysseus home and vie for her hand in marriage. He waits the full 20 years for his master to return home. Mit internet classics archive, the odyssey, book i. But odysseus of many wiles stripped off his rags and.
We also know that odysseus will make the suitors see the lightthe dark night came upon them lost in pleasure, they welcome the darkness but the suitors do not know that they are in the dark. Welcome to justin miller, justin kaercher, jordon thompson, and joe coveys c101 page. What is athenas changes to odysseus apperence what do odysseus and telemachus plan to do. When odysseus enters his palace disguised as a beggar, argos recognises him, but odysseus cant give away his emotionsrecognitio. Homers classic work the odyssey centers on odysseus and his journey home from the trojan war, but it also follows his wife penelope and son telemachus as they deal with their own complications. Suppose the haughty suitors at the palace should slay me privily and share.
The suitors could also still try to marry her if odysseus is gone. He is nominally in charge of his fathers household, but the suitors had no fear of him. We put this page together for professor warehs ancient greek culture class at indiana university, and it is here for your educational purposes. The suitorsin homers odyssey, it has been sixteen years since odysseus left his home in ithaca for war. The internet classics archive the odyssey by homer. Describe penelopes confrontation with antinous book 17 what does theoclymenus prophesy to penelope how does odysseus test the suitors describe melanthius who makes odysseus extremely angry. I believe this not because the suitors actions necessarily warranted their brutal deaths, but because the suitors totally betrayed any trust odysseus may have had for. Unshaken by eumaeus curses, melanthius leaves the two behind and enters. Telemachus and his mother meetulysses and eumaeus come down to the. Books 1516 cliffsnotes study guides book summaries. Chapter summary for homers the odyssey, books 17 18 summary.
How odysseus returned to his own home learn with flashcards, games, and more for free. Murray 1 as soon as early dawn appeared, the rosyfingered, telemachus, the dear son of divine odysseus, bound beneath his feet his fair sandals and took his mighty spear, that fitted his grasp, hasting to the city. The suitors are both impious and foolish to try to harm a person who seems to have the protection of the gods. Book 22 what do you think of odysseus killing of the suitors. They think of odysseus as a servant but we know hes a king.
Argos argus is odysseus loyal dog, appearing in book 17. What is the significance of his slaying of the prophet leodes. Terms in this set 6 what does theoclymenus prophesy to penelope. On the trail he encounters an insolent goatherd named melantheus, who curses and tries to kick him. Achilles speaks to agamemnon and pities his death at home instead of in battle where he should have died. Soon, odysseus knocks down irus and stops short of killing him. But odysseus returned and no one of them escaped the palace alive. Mortals can act freely, in this world, only if they do not interfere with the plans of the gods. I believe that odysseuss slaughter of the suitors in book 22 of the odyssey is totally and entirely, 100% justified. How did the news of the suitors slaying spread so fast. I believe that the slaughter of many of the suitors may have been brutal, but i feel like it was necessary.
She tells her that the old beggar was odysseus and he killed all the suitors. Odysseus asks to be allowed to try, despite initial derision from the suitors, and completes the task with ease, after penelope has been sent away. Telemachus sneezes and this seals an omen that odysseus will kill all the suitors. Penelope says that no one was dealt, because of the trojan war, a heavier blow than her for during the time her husband was away, she, not knowing. We will then go on to a summary of book 22, where odysseus and telemachus slaughter the suitors. Odysseus shoots antinous dead then reveals his identity. However, amphinomus, the most decent of the suitors, calls for patience in order to learn the will of the gods before striking.
What is the importance of odysseuss bed in homers odyssey. In the palace hall he meets theoclymenus and piraeus. By the time homers audience encounters odyssey 23, odysseus has revealed his identity to his son. Odysseus son telemachus is about 20 years old and is sharing his absent fathers house on the island of ithaca with his mother penelope and a crowd of 108 boisterous young. Odysseus trimming the torches for all of the suitors. The odyssey speaks of odysseus adventures that delay by a decade the return to his beloved homeland, ithaca.
The scene in book 17 ending with the passage given above begins with the arrival of telemachus at the palace of his father. The odyssey begins after the end of the tenyear trojan war the subject of the iliad, and odysseus has still not returned home from the war because he angered the god poseidon. Odysseus, with the help of telemachus, slays the suitors for two main reasons. Athena inspires penelope to bring out odysseuss mighty bow and set up the contest that she spoke about with odysseus the previous night.
Telemachus sets up the axes and then tries his own hand at the bow, but fails in his attempt to string it. Eumaeus doesnt know he is talking to a disguised odysseus. The odyssey 2017 the slaying of the suitors scene 910. As book 17 of the odyssey begins, telemachus decides to leave eumaeuss hut. Suitors of penelope are called those who wished to marry penelope and living in the palace of odysseus consumed his wealth at their feasts during his absence. The suitors look for weapons on the wall, but there are none. The suitors warm and grease the bow to make it supple. The odyssey by homer, part of the internet classics archive.
After returning to his kingdom, odysseus dylan vox kills all the suitors that aim to marry his wife penelope kelly b. Summary odysseus walks to town the next morning, joined by eumaeus, who still thinks he is accompanying an old beggar. If the suitors kill me in my own house and divide my property among them. The notion of hospitality is so strong in the world of the odyssey that guests can even be considered part of ones. Meanwhile, antinous also has a plan and tells the other suitors how they must assassinate the prince. While they leave for the house of laertes, hermes takes the souls of the fallen suitors down to the underworld to join the rest of the dead. The odyssey books 1720 summary and analysis gradesaver. Odysseus and penelopes son, telemachos, now a typically moody teenager, gets a visit from the goddess athene who was always chummy with odysseus. When the suitors enter the underworld in book 24, agamemnon revels in their slaughter contrasting the dutiful penelope with the crimes of his own wife clytemnestra. Telemachus brings gifts to palace, theoclymenus says odysseus is near i. Father, i verily am going to the city, that my mother may see me, for. Odysseus son telemachus is about 20 years old and is sharing his absent fathers. Odysseus used to string this bow and shoot arrows through a line of twelve axeheads. The word comes from homers epic poem the odyssey, written in the 8th century bc and it is a sequel to homers other epic poem, the iliad, which describes the last days of the great trojan war.
99 680 815 128 718 1017 205 1280 1051 1282 25 1194 525 524 991 1435 18 324 856 1399 558 172 657 1423 1492 279 900 1112 28 1433 1115 878 79