The Odyssey

Choices and Transformation

Required Readings
Our selection includes 7 out of the 24 books of the Odyssey, but special attention
will be given to 1, 5, 19, 23, as marked by an asterisk below.
Book
*1
2
*5
16
*19
21
*23

Plot Summary
In Odysseuss long absence, his son Telemachus becomes a young man and wants to
be master of his house. The goddess Athena offers him help.
Telemachus calls an assembly. Suitors tell how Odysseuss wife Penelope used a
trick to hold them off.
The nymph Calypso lets Odysseus go after keeping him for seven years.
Odysseus reunites with Telemachus.
Penelope tests the beggar, who is Odysseus in disguise.
Odysseus challenges the suitors in an archery contest to win Penelopes hand.
Odysseus reunites with Penelope.

Focus Questions
As you read The Odyssey, try to ponder the following questions and be ready to
share your responses in class.
1. Telemachuss Choice: To Grow or Not to Grow?
The maturity of Telemachus is one of the main plots of the Odyssey. Take a look at the following
three stations of his life, and analyze his process of maturity.
In Book 1, line 121, Telemachus appears for the first time. How is he depicted?
Compare this with the way he behaves in Book 2. What are his challenges? Does he cope
well?
In Book 16, Telemachus reunites with his father. Judging from their dialogue (16:247-339),
would you say Telemachus has finally become a man?

2. Odysseuss Choice: Home or Away?

2.1
Odysseus (Books 1, 2 and 5)
What do people remember about Odysseus? What may happen to such memory if he remains
away from home?
How does he make his first appearance in Book 5? Is he the same man we know in Books 1
and 2?
2.2 Calypso and Odysseus (Book 5)
How does Calypso make her first appearance? How does she compare with Penelope?
What does Calypso offer to Odysseus? How does she make it? (5:134-135; 5:205-212)
What is Odysseuss response? (5:176-178; 215-227) Why does he respond so?
How good and happy is Odysseus as a raft-maker and mariner? (5:234-35; 240-61; 269-81; 324-28)
2.3 Penelope and Odysseus (Books 19 and 23)

Penelope first appears in Book 1 as a teary woman on an endless wait, who is also told off by
her son. How does she appear in Book 19 (54-56)? Does she appear in a different light in the
two testsOdysseuss test of her (Book 19) and her test of Odysseus (Book 23)?
How is Penelopes choice to wait (cf. 19:573-584) compare with Odysseuss choice to go home?
In what way does Penelope resemble Odysseus? In what way is she different?
How would you characterize the couples relationship? What is the significance of the bed
and of story-telling between the two?
2.4 Odysseus and Telemachus (Book 16 & 21)
Why is it important that Odysseus comes home to his son? (16:200-221; 248-53; 316-30)
How does Telemachus become the true son of godlike Odysseus (21:460)?
*If you were Odysseus, would you choose to go home? What would be your considerations?

3. Hospitality: Sense of Right or Wrong?

The English word hospitality comes from Latin (hospitlis means of a guest), but its root
hospit- may mean host as well as guest. In the Odyssey, Zeus, the father of gods and
men, is also the god of hospitality.
3.1 Telemachus
What is the right thing to do with a stranger at the door, as you observe the way Telemachus
receives Mentes (Athena in disguise) (1:121-142)?
3.2 Agamemnon
In Book 1, Zeus introduces Agamemnons story:
Mortals they are always blaming the gods
For their own troubles, when their own witlessness
Causes them more than they are destined for!
(1:37-48)
Why is Zeus so concerned about what happened to Agamemnon? What moral code is violated
in the plot to kill him?
What do Penelopes suitors do wrong? Do they deserve the punishment they finally get?
3.3 Modern Application
Do you find love towards strangers a bizarre or good idea for today? Is Homeric hospitality
still practiced somewhere in the world? If so, in what form?