Having watched the course introduction video (and realised we are not required to read the whole of the Odyssey!), I am inclined to say the Odyssey is mainly about nostalgia (a Greek word, but did they invent it?), a fantasy about restoring the past. The Iliad is a lot more comfortable about showing life as it is, so I suggest that the Odyssey was written much later, looking back to the Iliad as a model, with a desire to conjure that world up again. There is quite a bit of 'cosmetic surgery' going on, idealisation of characters (I've lost count of the good fathers / kings / old men / wives / servants), and all that eating... In Book 2, Telemachos dashes his sceptre to the ground in the assembly, an action clearly intended to remind us of the same scene in the Iliad (the Odyssey Study Guide drew my attention to this - link on the side bar underneath "Other stuff"). The Iliad begins with a big quarrel, which is mirrored in the assembly episode here. I feel this is very deliberate, but one can't help noticing the difference: in that scene everybody was a king, there was a multitude of them (also heroes), now there is a huge absence, a kinglessness - and no heroes either, they have been replaced by young men who don't work, don't fight, just party all the time at somebody else's expense, wooing a woman past child-bearing age. Everything seems to be just the opposite of what it should be. Everything’s out of order. I must confess I took one look at Lattimore's introduction - read a few sentences about how the punishment of the suitors is too harsh. I do not share this sensitivity; I'm looking forward to the bloodbath! The suitors are making a fool of themselves at every opportunity. Their arguments are really weak and it is rather funny when they admit they've been had pretty badly by Penelope (the shroud-trick). Why does Antinoös describe this in such detail? The only reason, I think, is to make him look stupid. Women didn't use to be so "clever" in the past, he reckons. Antinoös in l. 112 says he has told them all this so that "all the Achaians may know it". Bringing things out into the open is an important aspect of their society, and is reinforced by Telemachos (l. 211) when he announces that there is no point in continuing this conversation, it is enough that "by now all the gods know about this, as do all the Achaians". It has been made public and the suitors have been warned, not only by Telemachos but also by an omen from the gods, seen by the whole assembly and interpreted to them by Halitherses, an "aged warrior", experienced in reading signs. The treatment of old people by the suitors is another little motif here ("better go home and prophesy to your children," l. 178). All shall be well, though. Athene, this time impersonating Mentor, gives Telemachos a lengthy pep talk, which is helpful after all the insults hurled at him by the suitors: "So now, let be the purpose and the planning of these senseless / suitors, since they are neither thoughtful men nor just men, / and have not realised the death and black fatality / that stands close by, so that on a day they all must perish" (ll. 281-84). She is going to accompany him on the journey she suggested to him as Mentes in Book 1. She will also help "assemble volunteer companions" (l. 292) to go with them. Telemachos goes home to prepare for the journey. The suitors are back in the house enjoying yet another feast and mock Telemachos and his plans. They are a tad concerned, though, even suggesting that Telemachos will bring home some poison from those lands he is planning to visit and spike their wine. At the same time they tease him by saying he will perish away from Ithaka, "as did Odysseus" (l. 333), and how they will "divide up his possessions" when that happy event has taken place. I have always liked the way Homeric characters use verbal aggression face to face, describing how they want to harm someone or what sorts of evil they want to befall him. A lot of creativity goes into these.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorHave studied A219 Exploring the Classical World and A275 Reading Classical Greek at the Open University. Currently studying for a Psychology degree. ImagesPlease click on any image to be taken to its source.
Archives
August 2014
Categories
All
Resources |