Feel free to finish the entire book for Wednesday, but there's a lot to unpack here, so we'll have to go pretty slowly. So for next time, at least read the next three books, which aren't too long. Consider the questions below just for these books (we'll pick up the final two in our Discussion Quiz on Friday):
Answer TWO as usual...
Q1: Athena seems to take an increasingly active role in the final books of the story (after being relatively silent after her business with Telemachus). Why do you think this is? She not only seems eager to punish the Suitors, but is also constantly testing Telemachus and Odysseus, even chiding the latter for being weak in the heat of battle. What might this say about the poet's concept of the gods--or of Odysseus' relationship with them?
Q2: In the midst of the ghastly slaughter, Odysseus spares two of the servants and tells them, "My son has saved you so that you may know in your hearts--and tell others--that doing right is a much better policy than doing wrong" (Book 22, lines 373-375). Is this how we're supposed to read the slaughter of the Suitors, as divine justice? While they have clearly done 'wrong,' so have Odysseus and the entire Greek army which destroyed "sacred Troy." Are these just more "winged words" of Odysseus, or do you feel the poet truly believes them?
Q3: What role does Penelope play in these penultimate Books? Though she still remains in the shadows, she comes out several times to chide the Suitors and even argue with her son. Is she meant to be read as a loyal, but relatively naive woman (as Telemachus sees her)? Or is she just as "twisting and turning" as her husband, and is driving the plot forward as much as Athena? Clues toward either reading?
Q4: Does the poet ever show any pity or humanity toward the Suitors or the slave-girls in Book 22? After all, the entire hall is bathed in blood, and the slave-girls are made to cart off their bodies and clean up the tables before being humiliated and strangled. Is this overkill? What purpose does this accomplish? Do you feel the poet considers this the "will of the gods?" Or is it another example of Odysseus' hubris (pride) and misogyny?
No comments:
Post a Comment