For Tuesday: The Odyssey, Books 19-24 (The End!)

LAST QUESTIONS! Answer TWO of the following for Tuesday's class: 

Q1: In Book 19, when Penelope is talking to Odysseus (as a beggar), she says:

“Of all the travelers who have come to my house,

None, dear guest, have been as thoughtful as you

And none as welcome, so wise are your words…

Eurycleia, rise and wash your master’s—that is,

Wash the feet of this man who is your master’s age.

Odysseus’ feet and hands are no doubt like his now,

For men age quickly when life is hard (lines 381-391).

In E.V. Rieu’s translation of the poem (Penguin Classics), he translates the same passage like this:

“My dear friend—as I cannot help calling the most understanding guest this house has ever welcomed from abroad, for you put everything so well and you talk with such understanding…Come, my dear kind Eurycleia, get up and wash the feet of someone who is of the same age as your master. No doubt Odysseus’ hands and feet are like our guests’ by now, for people age quickly in minsfortune” (296).

Readers have often wondered if Penelope recognizes her husband (after all, the dog does!). Odysseus doesn’t thinks he does, and nothing outwardly says she does, and yet this passage is a telling one. Which one do you think hints more knowledge than the other? Would we assume that she knows from one passage over another? Or both (or neither)? Why might it be important to assume that she does know?

Q2: In the midst of the ghastly slaughter, Odysseus spares two of the servants and tells them, "Don’t worry, he’s saved you. Now you know,/And you can tell the world, how much better/Good deeds are than evil. Go outside, now,/You and the singer, and sit in the yard/Away from the slaughter, until I finish" (Book 22, lines 396-401). 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: In Book 23, Telemachus accuses his mother of having a heart “colder than stone,” and even Odysseus claims that she has “more than…any/Other woman, an unyielding heart.” How does she respond to these charges, and more importantly, how does she refute the female stereotype that Odysseus, Telemachus, Agamemnon, and even Athena have been selling throughout the entire narrative? In other words, what makes her a compelling character on par with women like Helen, Calypso, and Circe?

Q4: Some scholars believe that Book 24 is not one of the original books of the epic, but was tacked on by a later writer or tradition. Why is this? What might sound ‘wrong’ about this Book or dramatically irrelevant? Does it add anything crucial to his story?