The Odyssey Modern Scholarship

Goldhill on Calypso

"unwilling sex slave"

Jenkyns on Odysseus' relationships with women

"He also benefits from Athene's sexless wisdom and Penelope's wifely stoicism"

Rosenfelder on women and seduction

"the Sirens form a chain of women...who, with their power to charm and seduce, threaten the hero's all-important homecoming to Ithaca"

Miller on Odysseus

"Odysseus can be seen as both an admirable hero and despicable villain"

Hardie on Odysseus' tales

"including honesty so sparingly wrapped up in tricks and lies"

Griffin on Odysseus and kleos

"such a man does not throw away his life for glory"

Bowra on Odysseus' recklessness

"his need for cunning is enforced by his own recklessness"

Jones on oikos

The Odyssey makes "the household...rather than the battlefield the centre of its world"

Kelly on class

"The Odyssey, however, gives prominence even to slaves and beggars"

Jones on Telemachus and revenge

"Orestes returned to kil his father's usurper Aeghistus: so should Telemachus kill the suitors?"

Morrison on the Suitors

"the suitors are terrible guests and clearly violate the code of xenia"

Kelly on the gods

"the gods take on the role of moral agents"

Griffin on free will

"the gods have supreme power but are not omnipotent...men have free will and are responsible for their actions"

West on Odysseus' agency

"Odysseus acts as the god's agent in his massacre of the suitors"

Morrison on Odysseus' agency

"Odysseus is no puppet"

Griffin on Penelope

"the fidelity of Odysseus' wife is crucial to the story"

Murray on Penelope

"she is as much the heroine of the poem as Odysseus is the hero"

Murray on Odysseus' match

"the only character in the entire poem who can outwit him in wisdom and cunning is his wife"