Lesson Four: the Characters in the Odyssey
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
1
Lesson Four: The Characters in the Odyssey.
Aegisthus lover of Clytemnestra and murderer of Agamemnon on Agamemnon’s return from Troy. Killed by Agamemnon’s son, Orestes.
Aeolus ruler of the winds
Agamemnon king of Argos, brother of Menelaus, husband of Clytemnestra. Killed by Aegisthus.
Alcinous king of Phaecia.
Anticleia mother of Odysseus, who died while he was away.
Antinous one of the leaders of the Suitors.
Arete queen of the Phaecians.
Argus faithful dog of Odysseus.
Athene Greek goddess of wisdom, daughter of Zeus, protector of Odysseus.
Calypso sea-nymph who held Odysseus captive on her island of Ogygia, daughter of Atlas.
Charybdis whirlpool encountered by Odysseus and his men.
Circe enchantress who turned men into beast and with whom Odysseus lived for a year.
Clytemnestra half-sister of Helen, wife of Agamemnon; killed along with her lover Aegisthus by Son, Orestes.
Eumaeus faithful swineherd of Odysseus.
Eurycleia faithful old nurse of Odysseus and later Telemachus.
Eurymachus one of the leaders of the Suitors.
Helen half-sister of Clytemnestra, wife of Menelaus; taken from Sparta by the Trojan prince, Paris.
Hermes herald and messenger of the gods.
Laertes father of Odysseus.
Menelaus king of Sparta, husband of Helen, brother of Agamemnon.
Mentes king of the Taphians, old friend of Odysseus’ family; Athene first visits Telemachus Disguised as Mentes. 2
Mentor close friend of Odysseus in ithica; Athene supports Telemachus disguised as Mentor.
Nausicaa daughter of Alcinous and Arete of the Phaeacians, rescuer of Odysseus on the seashore Of Scherie.
Nestor wise old king of Pylos and one of the Greek leaders in the Trojan War.
Odysseus king of Ithaca and hero of the Trojan War, forced to spend ten years wandering Before returning home to reclaim his kingdom and his wife.
Orestes son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, killed his mother and her lover to avenge their Murder of his father.
Penelope wife of Odysseus and mother of Telemachus.
Phemius the minstrel, one of the craftsmen attached to Odysseus’ palace.
Polyphemus the Cyclops encountered and outwitted by Odysseus.
Poseidon god of the sea, brother of Zeus and Hades, father of Polyphemus and enemy of Odysseus.
Scylla a sea monster situated opposite the whirlpool Charybdis.
Teiresias the blind prophet of Thebes, consulted in the underworld by Odyesseus.
Telemachus son of Odysseus and Penelope.
Zeus ruler of all the gods and men, brother of Poseidon and Hades, father of Athene.
The Characters in General – according to York Notes Advanced. York Press, 2008
The purely functional character is exemplified in the person of Mentor who has given his name to what he represents in the Odyssey: an experienced guardian or guide.
All of the characters have a clear function in relation to the main action.
Odysseus is the just and responsible king who is to restore order to Ithaca on his return. Around him we can see the dutiful son, the loyal wife, the faithful retainer and the good old nurse.
In opposition to him are the wicked Suitors.
By the Odyssey would have been a very flat tale if this were all.
Homer has given the world a gallery of fully rounded characters who have an imaginative appeal that transcends the poem in which they occur. This is particularly true of Odysseus himself, who has exerted a fascination on subsequent readers. To a large extend this is a consequence of his dramatic presentation. 3
Characters are established not by authorial pronouncement but by their own words and deeds.
1. The author Robin Sowerby suggests that the reader learns about the characters through their own words and deeds. What language technique is this? 2. What do you think when Sowerby says that “All of the characters have a clear function in relation to the main action.”? 3. What does Sowerby mean by a gallery of “fully rounded” characters? 4. What does she mean by their appeal transcending the poem in which they occur?
The Suitors Like Odysseus’ companions, are constantly referred to enmasse.
As Odysseus’ companions take no part in the main action Homer does not concern himself with their characterization. But in the case of the Suitors he has carefully distinguished three quite different forms of iniquity.
5. What does enmasse mean?
Antinous Their leader, whose very name suggests one who is antagonistic, is straightforwardly a nasty piece of work. All his speeches are direct, insulting and without disguise. As leader of the gang of suitors he initiates the plot against Telemachus in the beginning and renews it later when it has misfired. He angrily insults the disguised Odysseus and refuses to give him food when he begs for it, throwing a footstool at him instead. For this gross breach of the sacred Greek custom of hospitality he is rebuked even by his fellow Suitors. Through him Homer represents the Suitors’ behaviour in its ugliest aspect/form. All his speeches and actions point to this end – ie illustrate this.
6. Underline the STATEMENT in this paragraph about Antinous. 7. Number the EXAMPLES given about Antinous in this paragraph. 8. Circle the ANALYSIS OF THE RELEVANCE OF THE EXAMPLES or THE LEARNING GAINED FROM THE EXAMPLES that the author has provided in this paragraph.
Eurymachus Seems altogether a more genial fellow. In contrast to Antinous’s anger and emotion, he makes a soothing speech to Telemachus at the opening, assuring him of their good intentions (book 1, lines 400- 11). In the council, though he is stern with the soothsayer, he nevertheless does not blame Penelope at length as Antinous does, but puts more emphasis upon the apparently reasonable solution that Telemachus should send Penelope back to her father’s house (book 2, lines 194-207). Homer in the beginning does not implicate him directly by name in the plot against Telemachus. Later we hear that he is the favoured choice of Penelope’s father and brothers (book 15, line 17).
Telemachus even advises Theoclymenus to go to Eurymachus’s house where he can expect to meet a more orderly reception than in his own home (Book 15, line 518).
When Penelope rebukes the Suitors for plotting against her son, it is Eurymachus who makes a soothing speech assuring her of his protection for her son whom he regards as the dearest of men. He speaks to encourage her and to gain her good opinion) while ‘death for Telemachus was in his heart’ (book 16, line 4
448). Later he flatters Penelope, praising her beauty when she appears before the Suitors to elicit gifts from them (book 18, lines 245-9).
While Antinous exhibited simple anger at the beggar, Eurymachus at first makes jokes about his baldness and ugliness to ridicule him and is only driven to anger and the use of a footstool when Odysseus has provoked him in return.
When Odysseus finally reveals himself, Eurymachus admits the Suitors’ iniquities and tries to shift all the blame on to Antinous.
He is a more subtle character than Antinous, with a more attractive exterior masking hidden cunning. His iniquity is more hypocritical and disguised.
9. What does the author mean while ‘death for Telemachus was in his heart’? 10. What are “iniquities”? 11. What does it mean that Eurymachus is a more “subtle” character? 12. What is Hypocritical?
Amphinomus Penelope’s favourite among the Suitors, who still has some inherent goodness (book 16, lines 397-8) recognizes the iniquity of the plot against Telemachus when it has miscarried and diverts the Suitors’ thoughts away from further action (book 16, lines 400-5).
He greets the beggar at the feast and wishes him good fortune. When the disguised Odysseus issues his warning, he is heavy at heart and filled with foreboding (book 18, lines 153-5).
His guilt, in contrast to the insensitivity of Antinous or the hypocrisy of Eurymachus, is strongly felt in this scene.
After Eurymachus has been provoked to throw a stool at Odysseus, Amphinomus urges reverence towards Telemachus’s guest and makes the peace (book 18, lines 412-21).
Still, it is his doom, pronounced by Athene (book 18, lines 155-6), to die alongside the rest.
The character of Antinous is constant throughout the action, while that of Eurymachus is gradually revealed by the action, and that of Amphinomus is introduced at a moment in the action when the issue of guilt comes to the fore.
These three characters are clearly differentiated in a realistic way that is quite consistent in each individual case. Their reactions and behaviour together are varied and make up an interesting pattern of diversity credible within the group. This is a source of great human interest in the plot; the Suitors are not mere ciphers.
However simple the broad moral outline of the poem may be, the Suitors are allowed a point of view. In the initial speech to the assembly in which Antinous puts all the blame on Penelope for promising one thing and performing another, there is some justice.
The whole situation has the complexity of real life. 5
Nor is all of the Suitors’ behaviour equally outrageous. There is displeasure at Antinous’s refusal to give alms, for example, and another of the Suitors called Agelaus, makes a conciliatory speech full of good sense after Telemachus has complained of their treatment of the beggar (Book 20, lines 322-37).
That Homer’s villains should be susceptible to better feelings and right behaviour at times is a further example of his [Homer’s] skill as a storyteller, since their better moments serve only to emphasise [contrast with] the violation of Greek manners represented by their general behaviour. If they know how to behave correctly then why don’t they?!
Despite Agelaus’s speech, the description of their last supper concludes with laughter and raillery at the beggar’s expense.
13. What is “raillery”? 14. What are alms? 15. What would a “conciliatory speech” be like? 16. What does “inherent” mean? 17. What does it mean that the plot has “miscarried”? 18. What is foreboding? 19. Does Amphinomus sincerely feel guilty about the behaviour of the Suitors? 20. What is reverence? 21. What does the author mean “These three characters are clearly differentiated in a realistic way that is quite consistent in each individual case”? 22. What does this mean? “Their reactions and behaviour together are varied and make up an interesting pattern of diversity credible within the group. This is a source of great human interest in the plot” 23. What is a “cipher” in this context? 24. Do you share the “point of view” about Penelope that Antinous puts forward in the initial speech to the assembly? Why or why not?