Non-PJo Odyssey Scholarly Snippets

Davenport: the Iliad is a poem about force, but the Odyssey is a poem about

the triumph of the mind over force

Griffin: in the Odyssey, unlike the Iliad, the individual hero stands against

the group

Griffin: the plot of the Odyssey creates tension between the dashing Iliadic fighter

and the wily hero who must use guile

Clarke: the Homeric hero is solely defined by

his membership of a specific generation or race at a specific point in time

Clarke: Odysseus’ vengeance is the heroic race asserting supremacy over

later and lesser men

Clarke: the Homeric warrior is driven to action by

his need for social validation

Clarke: fame is surrogate

immortality

Clarke: the Odyssey moves beyond the glamour of heroism to

a more fundamental level of the human condition

Hall: when Odysseus describes the Cylcops’ island, he speaks with

the discerning eye of the colonist

Hall: Odysseus the mythical explorer is related to

the real-life archaic age Greeks who sailed into unknown waters

Rieu: the Odyssey may well reflect

contemporary developments in the Greek world

Morrison: the characters in the Agamemnon story are both positive and negative

role models

Motto: the tale of Agamemnon is explicitly

a model for Odysseus

Miller: Odysseus is both an opponent of

the suitors and monsters and one of them

Jenkyns: the two types of Odysseus are

the wily trickster and the Iliadic hero

Clarke: Odysseus’ wanderings reduce him to

the barest common level of humanity

Clarke: Odysseus’ return is

a symbolic rebirth

Clarke: Odysseus’ slaughter of the suitors

brings his heroic self to the fore again

Clayton: Odysseus compensates for his lack of physical impressiveness with

his verbal skills

Bowra: his need for cunning is enforced by

his own recklessness

Camps: one of Odysseus’ distinctive features is

his ability to inspire affection and regard

Griffin: unlike other heroes, Odysseus

tries as hard as he can to avoid death

Clarke: Eumaeus is

the antithesis of the Suitors

Murnaghan: Eurycleia is a doublet for

Odysseus’ mother

Fenik: Penelope is …, …, and rather…

feckless, lachrymose, tiresome

Wilson: Penelope is trapped by

her marital status

Finlay: Penelope is key to

the unity of the poem

Felson and Slatkin: Penelope is a major force in

restoring her marriage

Felson and Slatkin: the poem celebrates Penelope’s metis

in service of the oikos

Murray: there is more to Penelope than

the faithful wife

Murray: Penelope’s desires are ultimately

unknowable

Murray: Penelope is as much … as Odysseus is its hero

the heroine of the poem

Doherty: the two figures in the poem who most closely resemble Odysseus’ characteristic excellence are

Penelope and Athene

Griffin: the contrast between Penelope’s fidelity and Clytemnestra’s betrayal is

repeatedly emphasised

Ni Mheallaigh: we cannot underestimate the quiet, subversive power of

these weaving women

Jenkyns: through Nausicaa, Homer shows us that girlishness

can be divine

Kelly: on Scherie, marriage is

a crucial problem

Kelly: Nausicaa has the same potential to prevent Odysseus’ return as

any of his other opponents

Wilde: the encounter with Nausicaa presents a moment of

sexual fantasy

Griffiths: Arete’s control is benign but

complete

Chrystal: it is Arete, not Alcinous, who

holds the key to Odysseus’ nostos

Smith: Telemachus is weak and powerless in the beginning, but eventually

slays one of his tormentors

Rieu: Antinous is … and …

vicious, uncompromising

Rieu: Eurymachus is … and …

oily, hypocritical

Bowra: the suitors are the opposite of

the heroic ideal

Folit-Weinberg: the only place where Odysseus forgets his nostos is

Aeaea

Felson and Slatkin: the ease of life on Scherie threatens Odysseus’

nostos and the preservation of his oikos

Nagy: the Odyssey is the nostos

to end all nostoi

Nagy: Odysseus’ kleos is connected to

his nostos

Minchin: characters in the Odyssey tell stories to

persuade or deceive

Hardie: the theme of disguise

pervades the Odyssey

Hardie: Homer uses lack of disguise to create

poignancy and impact

Hardie: disguise is a … attribute

divine

Hardie: Penelope’s disguises are more … and … than Odysseus’

subtle, nuanced

Murnaghan: in Ithaca, Odysseus advances

strategically

Murnaghan: the recognition scenes are segregated from

the central action

Camps: in Homer, supernatural powers are at work

everywhere and always

Mirto: sinners are only punished because

they have gone against the gods

Hastings: even the gods are subject to

fate

Griffin: the gods have supreme power, but they are not

omnipotent

Griffin: men have free

will

Kelly: the gods are … … and … of …

moral agents, enforcers of justice

Graziosi: Homeric gods fail to behave in the

dignified manner one would expect

Graziosi: the gods seem

silly

Taplin: Homer constantly poses questions of human

responsibility

Kearns: gods are an … … of the world

unquestioned part

Kearns: these are not poems about gods, but about

humans

Kearns: Poseidon’s absence gives the poem

its impetus

Kearns: Zeus outlines at the beginning of the poem that mortals’ sufferings are due to

their atasthalia

Strauss Clay: the gods are … … superior to mortals

only relatively

Clarke: the misery and exaltation of the heroic experience is a device for exploring

man’s struggle under the carefree gods

Silk: few modern readers would condone

Odysseus’ revenge killing

Hall: the Suitors’ actions exactly mirror

Odysseus’ in the land of the Cyclopes

Griffin: justice is both

done and seen to be done

Kearns: it is simply right that Odysseus should

triumph over all his enemies

Clarke: the punishment of the Suitors is an act of

absolute and timeless justice

Clarke: the Suitors have abandoned the laws of

due restraint

Stanton: Odysseus’ revenge killings show a developing concept of

retributive justice

Thorpe: the bond between host and guest was considered of

supreme importance

Thorpe: the gifts were intended to demonstrate the

alliance

West: hospitality offers an opportunity to

extend one’s reputatoin

McDonald: family is always and everywhere

aristocratic

Felson and Slatkin: the Odyssey emphasises

the oikos and marriage

Felson and Slatkin: the oikos is

a political space

Goldhill: there is a repeatedly a threat to Odysseus when a woman

wants to make him her husband

Felson and Slatkin: the resumption of Odysseus and Penelope’s marriage provides

closure

Felson and Slatkin: the Odyssey attributes Odysseus and Penelope’s reunion to

their metis

Felson and Slatkin: the Odyssey puts marriage

at the centre

Felson and Slatkin: Odysseus differs from Agamemnon because he does not

bring his affairs home

Griffin: to men, women are

inscrutable

Beard: the Odyssey features the first recorded example of a man telling a woman

to shut up

Chrystal: Nausicaa, Penelope, and Helen are free to

come and go as they please

Wilson: the Odyssey shows male fears about

female power

Felson and Slatkin: Circe and Calypso’s independence means that a husband is less a partner and more

an erotic object

Kahane: the Sirens’ song underscores the dangerous

power of female singer’s words

Kelly: Odysseus’ girlfriends are designed to portray

a range of feme archetypes

Thalmann: slaves are divided into

good and bad

Griffin: Homer tells the stories of … and … with care and attention

farmers, servants

Murnaghan: the relationship between master and servant is

permanently unequal

Murnaghan: Odysseus depends on the loyalty of

his social subordinates