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Notes on Homer's Odyssey
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Authored by Frank Redmond, 2005
It is clear that Homer arranged the episodes in the story of Odysseus’ wanderings for the maximum effect. By arranging them thematically, and not causally, this allows Homer to accentuate the encounters that Odysseus had, rather than focusing in on how Odysseus happened to have these encounters. There is a major difference between the two. The first focuses on the quality of the encounter, while the second focuses on the process leading up to the encounter. Therefore, one episode does not necessarily feed off the previous encounter. They all stand separately, each being able to be read for their own sakes. This is seen in how Odysseus and company usually tend to drift to each encounter with little purpose in mind30). There is always a surprise waiting around the corner for Odysseus and company. The barbarity of the Cyclopes, the sly trickery of Circe, the dopiness of the Lotus Eaters, the perils of Scylla and Charybdis, the condition of Achilles in the underworld – they all point towards Homer’s love of thematics. By having themes, Homer is able to maintain a semblance of surprise. You never know what lies beyond that island, what is around that large stone!
While there is an obvious thematic arrangement to Odysseus’ story, what is not so clear is as to whether there is a climax. I believe that there is a climax and it lies in the conversation that Odysseus has with Achilles. It is here that a revelation occurs; it is here that Odysseus sees what the meaning of life is. Truly heady stuff, but it is about as philosophical as Homer gets. The revelation Achilles gives Odysseus resembles the discussion of the two jars in the Iliad in that both transcend the mundane level of understanding and approach the loftiness of Plato. As Homer says:
“’But you, Achilles, are the most fortunate man that ever was or will be! For in the old days when you were on Earth, we Argives honoured you as though you were a god; and now, down here, you have great power among the dead. Do not grieve your death, Achilles.’ [Achilles] replied, ‘I would rather work the soil as a serf on hire to some landless impoverished peasant than be King of all these lifeless dead’.” (11.483-491)
It is here that Odysseus makes a turning point. He has a revelation and now sees clearly why he is striving so hard to return to Ithaca. Now he knows that one must do all in their power to maintain a good name while alive, for when you are dead you become as nameless as dirt. As Achilles implies, fame must be achieved while on Earth and cannot be found among the dead. This is the climax of the story since it is here that Odysseus gains a new understanding about reality. His other encounters were learning experiences, sure, but nothing changed the perspective of Odysseus more than his encounter with the bravest of the Achaeans, Achilles. Like I mentioned, with this passage Homer reaches new heights and treads with the highest of the philosophers. And that is why it is the climax of the story.
The Odyssey is nothing like the Iliad in that the Odyssey does paint a black and white picture of the Suitors, while the Iliad is highly sympathetic to the Trojans. Interspersed throughout the Iliad are snippets of the Trojans being portrayed in a positive light. This is seen when Hector is with his wife and child, when the elders have a meeting with Paris, and when Priam mourns Hector. Homer gives the Trojans both good and bad characteristics. They are not villains, or even enemies, to the readers of the Iliad. Rather, they are just as respectable, at times more respectable, as the Greek fighters. The same could not be said of the Suitors. The Suitors are in the story to act as the pure, black adversaries. There is no ambiguity; they are portrayed as gluttonous pigs out for their own advantage. At any chance they get, they rape Odysseus’ house. This seems to be the extent of their activity. They do nothing to seduce Penelope; they just keep at their games. The Suitors are perhaps the most predictable characters in the whole epic. If they were nuanced in any way, it would be harder to say that they are purely adversarial. But it is easy to say that they are the pure adversaries of Odysseus. Granted, a few, just a few, of the Suitors do show glimpses of some redeeming qualities; however, that does not redeem them in any way as they continue to exhibit the same pattern of behavior throughout the epic. To my mind, patterned behavior dictates what should be considered when deciding if someone is pure black or white. All the way to the end, the pattern that the Suitors exhibit is very consistent.
Homer has little sympathy for the Suitors as is seen in the following quote:
“[Odysseus] found the whole company [i.e. the Suitors] lying in heaps in the blood and dust, like fish that the fisherman have dragged out of the grey surf in the meshes of their net on to the curving beach, to lie in masses on the sand longing for the salt water, till the bright sun ends their lives” (22.383-389).
He considers them to be as negligible as fish dying on the sandy beach. Odysseus, the hero, is the fisherman plucking all these petty fish from the sea to their deaths. Odysseus prevails over the forces of evil within his house, for it is seen that picking off the Suitors is just as easy as a master fisherman plucking fish from the sea. With this metaphor, we can see the adversarial battle between Odysseus and the Suitors in living color. Like with any good black and white battle, the white always prevails and dominates at the end. This is what occurs between Odysseus and the Suitors. This quote does not show that there are nuances to the Suitors; rather it shows that the Suitors are pure adversaries of Odysseus. Odysseus is that “bright sun” which ends their lives.