Modern Scholarship

Clayton

"Compensates for his lack of physical impressiveness by means of verbal skills."

Jones

"The Polyphemus episode is Odysseus' greatest achievement, partly because it shows off his key quality of metis."

Schein

"A comic character, a tragic hero, a stoic sage, and a villain, Odysseus could never be pinned down."

Griffin

"In the process of achieving adult status, asserting himself for the first time both with the suitors and with his mother."

Jones

"The story of the Odyssey is an example to Telemachus."

Griffin

"By her self-command and guile, Penelope shows herself to be like him; the true wife for the hero of the Odyssey."

Wilson

Penelope is a competent, mostly single mother who shows deep love for her difficult, moody son, and keeps a big and complex household running for two decades

Wilson

"Odysseus has a lot of freedom to travel and assume multiple identities but Penelope is trapped by her marital status, either waiting for Odysseus or marrying someone else."

Mheallaigh

"Ask an ancient Greek or Roman about the ideal virtuous woman and his or her answer would probably say something about weaving."

Jones

Athene is a surrogate father for Telemachus

Hall

Circe is the most famous figure in the Odyssey

Jenkyns

Nausicaa is a blend of elevated and ordinary

Wilson

Women are compared to birds (Athene bird of prey, Penelope nightingale, slave girls doves or thrushes)

Camps

“The Odyssey looks back with grief and regret to the war at Troy”

Morrison

The deaths of the suitors are approved of by the gods and treated as a necessary victory of good over evil