The Odyssey: Books 19-24
Episode 27
Time for Odysseus to finally reclaim his kingdom!
TRIGGER WARNING: Death (and lots of it)
Transcript
Intro:
Welcome to Piper’s Paraphrases. I’m Professor Pipes, and today I’m finally finishing up Homer’s classic epic of faithfulness, honor, hospitality, and mostly good old fashioned revenge: The Odyssey. But before we jump into Books 19-24, let’s take a look back.
Previously:
Previously in The Odyssey. This dude Odysseus left the Trojan War only to face problem after problem while attempting to get home, including lots of man-eating monsters and seductive ladies. After ten years at war and ten more travelling, and with the help of some friendly Phaecians and Athena, Odysseus makes it back to his own town, where he is disguised as a beggar and infiltrates… his own home. Oh! And he told his son who he is, but nobody else, including all the jerk suitors who are trying to marry his wife!
Summary:
In Book 19, the suitors go beddy-bye, so Odysseus and Telemachus remove all their weapons from the great hall in preparation for the next day’s attack. Then Odysseus, still in his beggar disguise, goes to see Penelope, who tells him about her sneaky weaving trick and then admits that she might actually have to marry one of the horrible, no good, very bad suitors. Odysseus then claims that he once met Odysseus (understatement of the century) when he was on his way to Troy and then says that he heard the Odysseus is, even now, on his way home and will be here soon! Overjoyed, Penelope tells Eurycleia to wash the beggar’s feet, as a thank you gift. For the record, I prefer Target gift cards. Or chocolate. As Eurycleia is doing some foot scrubbing, she recognizes a large scar on Odysseus’ leg that he apparently got from boar hunting, and she realizes who he is! Uh oh! Luckily she pinky swears she won’t tell anyone and Athena had magically distracted Penelope. No, Cooper! Not magic tricks! Penelope then tells Odysseus about a dream she had where an eagle swooped down and killed a bunch of geese she was particularly fond of and then the eagle said to her - yup, the dream bird talks - he said that he was really Odysseus and this dream is a vision that he will come home and kill all the suitors. Despite this, Penelope’s like, “What could this dream possibly mean?? I guess we’ll never know. Anyway, Imma make a contest to choose my husband tomorrow.”
In Book 20, Penelope can’t sleep because she’s too upset, and she even asks the gods to kill her! Meanwhile, Odysseus can’t sleep because he’s too upset that Penelope’s too upset. Oy. Eventually Zeus gives him a sign to show him that things’ll be ok. In the morning, Eumaeus comes by and chats with the beggar Odysseus, but then that jerk goatherd from yesterday comes by and - surprise, surprise - is a jerk again! But then another NICE servant, named Philoetius, who says that Odysseus reminds him of someone he used to know - his master, Odysseus. What!?! No way! Then he and Eumaeus both said they wished Odysseus would return… During dinner, the suitors are as mean as ever, throwing shade and throwing food. After Telemachus lectures the suitors, Theocylmenus then says he sees darkness looming, blood dripping from the walls, and a hall full of ghosts. Hmm… Sounds promising!
In Book 21, Penelope gets Odysseus’ bow and arrows and then reveals her challenge to the suitors: they have to string the bow and then shoot an arrow straight through the holes of twelve axes in a line. No problem! Telemachus tries and intentionally fails, and then basically says, “Oh no! I’m too weak! If only I were as big and strong as you suitors!” So then a bunch of suitors try, but they too fail. Odysseus sees Eumaeus and Philoeteus leave the hall, all upset, so he follows them and asks if they would rather fight for Odysseus or the suitors. When they both say they would fight for Odysseus, he reveals his identity to them and promises them all sorts of gifts - and also wives, of course, if they help him defeat the suitors. He even shows them his scar as proof, because apparently everyone in Ithaca knows about this leg scar. Awkward! They then go to lock the doors, sealing in the suitors’ doom! When Odysseus goes back in, he asks to try the bow. The suitors get real mad about this, but Penelope says he gets a try just like everyone else. Then Telemachus tells his mom to leave, rather rudely, if I’m being honest, and with the suitors’ insults ringing in his ears, Odysseus strings the bow with ease and shoots an arrow through the axes. He then gives the sign to Telemachus that it’s finally time for REVENGE!
In Book 22, Antinous is mid sip when BAM Odysseus shoots him with an arrow straight through the throat! The rest of the suitors think it must have been a totally random completely accidental shot. There’s no way he could have shot him dead on purpose… Right? WRONG! Odysseus then reveals his identity and Eurymachus basically says, “OMG! So glad you’re home, man! Oh, and nice job killing Antinous. He was a total jerk and he made us all try to steal your wife! We’ll give you a bunch of cows just as a thanks for letting us hang out. We good?” But Odysseus says, nope. They ain’t good. The suitors then freak out, especially when they realize all their weapons are gone and the doors are locked. A full on battle commences, with Telemachus, Eumaeus, and Philoteus helping Odysseus. When Telemachus gets more weapons out, the jerk goatherd, Melanthius, is able to sneak into the storeroom and get the suitors some weapons, but pretty soon he’s killed, too. Soon Athena arrives, disguised as Mentor, and after encouraging Odysseus for a bit, she joins in and starts massacring dudes left and right. Fun times. Eventually, our hero is victorious and he and his buddies kill everyone, sparing only the bard and one faithful man named Medon. Odysseus then has Eurycleia make all the disloyal servants clean up the big ol’ mess of dead bodies and blood and stuff, and then to add injury to insult, Telemachus hangs them. Moving on!
In the penultimate book, Odysseus is formally reunited with his wife, but she’s like mmm… not so sure. Eurycleia tries to convince her it’s really him and Telemachus gets super annoyed that she’s not acting all excited right away, but she assures him that she’s just totally stunned. Odysseus ain’t worried and decides maybe he should change out of his blood covered rags. Yeah. Good idea. Athena then makes him look extra handsome, and just like he did when he left for war. When Penelope is still worried this might be a trick of the gods, Odysseus gets annoyed and says he might as well sleep in a guest room. Penelope tells Eurycleia to have the bed he built moved out into the hall, and that REALLY sets him off! He asks who could possibly have moved his bed since he literally made it out of a living olive tree that he built their bedroom around. Since no one else had ever seen their bed, Penelope is convinced he’s the real Odysseus, and the couple finally embraces after 20 years apart! Aww! Happy ending! Well, not quite, there’s still more in this book. Oh! And another book after this one! Odysseus tells his wife all about his adventure and about the fact that Teresias told him that he’ll need to travel far away to make a sacrifice to Poseidon. The next day, Odysseus goes out to see his dad, Laertes.
In the final book of the… book… we take a trip down to the underworld, where Agamemnon and Achilles are chit chatting about their deaths, as one does, when all the suitors suddenly arrive and start complaining about how mean Penelope and Odysseus were. Wah! Agamemnon, though, just points out what an awesome and faithful wife Odysseus has. Meanwhile, Odysseus sees his dad and, after faking his identity for a minute, he reveals who he is and - yet again - shows him that apparently widely recognizable scar. I mean, really now, that Scar is more famous than Mufasa’s brother! Odysseus and his fighter crew then have dinner with another faithful servant, Dolius, and his sons. Meanwhile, the other Ithacans find out about the death of the suitors and form a mob, ready to attack Odysseus. He and his band of buddies get ready to do battle and, yet again, Athena shows up looking like Mentor. Just as this new battle gets going, she yells that they all need to stop fighting and settle the matter without killing each other any more. About time! The Ithacans are stunned, and when Odysseus is about to swoop in and kill more of them, Athena tells him he’d better stop or her daddy is gonna be mad! Sooooo… he stops. The story ends with Athena, yet again dressed up like Mentor, making a peace treaty. Hmmm…. I was expecting more, you know, dead guys.
Characters:
This section of the book is really all about good and evil, and there honestly isn’t much in between. Odysseus, his faithful servants, his wife and his son are clearly the good guys, and even when they murder others, it is seen as the right thing to do. Their killing spree is honorable and condoned by the gods. The “bad guys,” on the other hand, are irredeemable. They are rude, brash, and violent. The story even mentions numerous times that Athena intentionally inspires them to be particularly awful. Sooooo… are they really to blame? According to the story, and, one would assume the culture, yeah. So their deaths are seen as justified.
We definitely see more of why Penelope suits Odysseus in this section, too. They are both clearly suspicious and intelligent. Not only has she previously tricked the suitors with her weaving ruse, but now she is so wary that Odysseus might actually be a person or a god in disguise, testing her faithfulness, that she comes up with a test of her own before she’ll trust what she sees. Couple Goals! I guess…
Speaking of her match, I mentioned way back in my first Odyssey video that Odysseus is kind of represented by the god and goddess who fight against and for him. Poseidon represents the worst qualities of Odysseus, such as his violence and fury, and we see a whole Hades of a lot of that in this section, what with the massacre of the suitors and all. However, Athena represents his best qualities, like his honor and intelligence. We see this in his well planned and well executed, well, execution! Odysseus maintains his identity until he knows he can trust his fellow fighters, and he prepares his hall in order to ensure their victory. Then, in the final lines of the book, Odysseus ends his violent attack on the other Ithacans in order to bring about peace, showing the victory of intelligence over violence. However, Odysseus balances these qualities, and this section in particular shows the necessity of both brave aggression and thoughtful planning, proving that his “best” and “worst” qualities aren’t necessarily good or bad in and of themselves.
Themes:
Despite the fact that this section kind of seems like a giant bloodbath, it still manages to demonstrate several of the qualities seen as important elements of true heroism to ancient Greek culture. AKA our themes.
First, we see the necessity of Respect and Honor. While Odysseus has demonstrated respect to just about everyone throughout the epic, and particularly to the gods, the suitors at his home absolutely have NOT. In fact, pretty much the exact opposite. They’ve been eating up all his food, harassing his servants and guests of the house, and trying to force themselves upon his wife. The result of all of this is evident in the final battle: Odysseus has the gods on his side, literally, and the servants are brutally massacred. Odysseus even calls them out for fearing neither god nor man before attacking them. Clearly, the ancient Greeks took honor reeeeally seriously…
Next up is a related theme: Faithfulness or Loyalty. We see both characters who are loyal to Odysseus, and are rewarded for this, and those who are not, who are punished pretty severely. Telemachus has all the unfaithful maids hanged for their disloyalty, and the jerk goatherd, Melanthius, is tortured before being killed. Suddenly I’m really glad I wasn’t alive back then. On the other hand, Eumaeus and Philoeteus are rewarded for their loyalty to Odysseus, as he promises them homes, wives, and status, viewing them as members of his own family. And the ultimate symbol of loyalty? Odysseus’ dog, of course! Oh wait, that was in the last section... Penelope, then! She’s so loyal to her husband that she’s concerned he might be a cruel trick from a suitor or the gods, so she won’t trust it’s really him until he definitely proves that he must be her husband. She spent the last twenty years waiting for Odysseus and the last several of them finding new ways to fend off over a hundred suitors, and she’s rewarded with the safe return of her beloved husband.
And finally, we get to see that sweet, sweet… Vengeance! The importance of revenge in this culture has been evident throughout the epic, such as when Agamemnon’s son killed his father’s murderer, when Nestor encouraged Telemachus to kill the suitors, when Odysseus blinded the cyclops (and wanted to kill him) for killing his friends, when Poseidon spent about ten years trying to punish Odysseus for blinding his son, and even when the townsfolk want to attack Odysseus for killing the suitors. But the final battle between Odysseus and the suitors is the most extreme example of revenge, and shows that it was an acceptable and justified response to wrongdoing or a violation of other important cultural ideals. So I guess the lesson here is that if you live in ancient Greece, don't ever, for any reason, do anything to anyone for any reason ever, no matter what. Or you just might get killed.
Food for Thought:
Now that we’ve finished the whole dang epic, it’s time for our final food for thought.
First, in what ways does Penelope serve to “redeem” women in this epic?
Second, what do you think about the ending, where Athena helps to create a peace contract between the Ithacans and Odysseus? In what ways does this affirm or go against the rest of the story?
Third, look back at the description of Odysseus and Penelope’s bed. What does it symbolize and suggest about them and their relationship?
Fourth, in what ways is the slaughter of the suitors similar to and different from other deaths in the story, such as those at the hands of the city that was pillaged or Polyphemus? What might these similarities or differences suggest?
Finally, The Odyssey was composed thousands of years ago. In what ways is it still relevant or useful today, and why, if at all, should we study it?
Thanks for watching this episode of Piper’s Paraphrases. As always, go forth, read a bunch, and be good people.
