For Tuesday: The Essential Odyssey, Books 1,4, 5 & 6 (see below)

For next Tuesday, be sure to read Books 1, 4,5 & 6 from The Essential Odyssey, though there are NO QUESTIONS to answer. However, I've given you a few ideas below which you might consider as you read, and one of these will be used as an in-class response on Tuesday's  class (hint, hint!). Otherwise, try to enjoy the break and enjoy this exciting book--you might like it even more than The Iliad (or at all, if you didn't like that book). 

* Why does Athena take the form of Mentes, an old family friend, rather than simply appearing to Telemachus in her natural form? Is Telemachus (or others) fooled by the disguise? What might this suggest about the gods' relationship with mankind, and how might it relate to what we read in The Iliad? Do the gods seem to have more interaction with mortals here, or less?

* Book 4 is fascinating in that it imagines Helen of Troy living back with her husband, Menelaus, after the Trojan War. How does the poem depict Helen at this stage of her life? Does this sound like the same woman who defied Aphrodite and Paris? Who spoke at Hector’s funeral pyre? Or is it a different character by a different author?

* In the ancient world, good manners/customs are as important as looking good or noble. Though Athena often paves the way for Odysseus and Telemachus, their manners often save the day, and make others accept them and/or render them aid. What seems to be the definition of 'good manners' in Homer's Greece? What qualities/actions did they expect men and women to display in public? 

* Calypso is yet another "evil woman" in ancient literature, though Homer offers a much more nuanced portrait of her motives. How does she compare to Helen of Troy in Book Four, particularly in her response to the gods to release her hold on Odysseus? Again, you might consider whether or poet is a "man" or a "woman" in writing this (I'm speaking generally--meaning only, are they more sympathetic to a woman, or more judgmental). 

* Odysseus proves quite clever in defeating the cyclops, Polyphemus, but he ultimately loses this adventure. What is his fatal flaw in this encounter, and how might it tie in with the theme of the work in general? Where else have we seen men 'fail' in the same way? 

* In general, how is Odysseus depicted as a ruler and a hero in these books? Is he also a royal tyrant, a greedy ruler, like Agamemnon? Or more of a selfish, hubristic hero like Achilles? How might his adventure with the cyclops illustrate his essential nature, and is this how an Achilles would have acted?