English 210 Literature and World History

FRESHMAN ENGLISH 212 Name: Homer’s Odyssey (translated by Stanley Lombardo) Reading #8: Book 23 (353-364): Odysseus and Penelope Are Reunited GUIDED READING QUESTIONS

SUMMARIZE— VISUALIZE— QUESTION—CONNECT—INFER—REPAIR

1. Page 353. Eurycleia’s news.

a. What is it that Eurycleia is excited to tell her mistress Penelope? (See line 7.)

b. INFER. Why do you think that Penelope is so unwilling to believe her?

2. Pages 354-355. SUMMARIZE the dispute that Eurycleia and Penelope are having on these two

pages.

a. Why does Penelope believe that Eurycleia’s “story / Can’t be true”? (lines 66-67)

b. Why was “her heart / In turmoil” (lines 89-90, at the bottom of page 355)?

3. Pages 356-357

a. At the bottom of page 356, Odysseus lets Telemachus know that they need to think about the revenge that relatives will want over the “city of young men” (line 126) he and Telemachus have killed. Then, on page 357, how does Odysseus cleverly plan to delay this vengeance?

b. How does Athena help Odysseus—at the very bottom of line 357.

4. Pages 358-359.

a. When Penelope tells the Nurse (Eurycleia) to “bring the bed out from the master bedroom

(line 184), Odysseus is furious and from line 197, tells the story that is “their old secret” (line

213). Explain what their secret is.

b. VISUALIZE the olive tree in the bedroom that Odysseus describes in lines 197-208.

c. So why does Penelope “finally let go” (line 212) and throw “her arms / Around him” (lines

214-215) in joy?

5. Pages 360-361

a. On page 360, what does Athena step in to do for the couple, Odysseus and Peneleope?

(Read carefully the paragraph right in the middle of the page.)

b. And on 361, what is the “trial” that Odysseus is talking about?

6. Pages 362-363; 364. After Odysseus and Penelope tell their stories of the past twenty years, who

does Odysseus get ready to see (he says it on page 364) and why is he dressing in armor?

Summary of Book 24: The End of The Odyssey Hermes leads the dead suitors into the Underworld, where they meet the ghosts of Achilles and Agamemnon. The suitor Amphimedon explains their fate to Agamemnon, who compares his deceitful, murderous wife Klytaimnestra to the faithful steadfastness of Penelope.

Meanwhile, Odysseus arrives at his father Laertes' house and finds his frail, elderly father tending to his vineyard. Odysseus comes up with a false identity and introduces himself, noting that he last saw Odysseus five years ago. Laertes' grief forces Odysseus to reveal himself, proving his identity via his scar and knowledge of the vineyard's trees. They embrace and join the others inside to eat. Odysseus tells his father about his victory over the suitors.

Back in town, people hear about word of the suitors' defeat and take away the bodies and bury them. Half of them, led by Eupeithes, father of Antinoos, want vengeance for the deaths of their sons, while others realize that a god was on Odysseus' side and argue that their sons deserved to die. Eupeithes leads the townspeople to Laertes' house, but Athena makes Laertes hurl his spear and kill Eupeithes. Odysseus and his men begin killing the others, but Athena stops them and declares a truce between the warring parties, and that’s how the Odyssey ends.