The Odyssey Scholarship

Scholarship for OCR's A-Level 'The World of the Hero' Paper 30 mark question on 'The Odyssey' by Homer

Emily Wilson

* Odysseus has “many choices, many identities, and many places to go and people to see”
* Odysseus is free, unlike Penelope and Telemachus who are trapped
* Despite his freedom, Odysseus yearns to return home (nostos)
* Penelope is “strong-willed,… has grit,… a vivid imagination,… loyal,… a competent, mostly single mother”
* Penelope is “defined exclusively by her marital status”
* “The abusive suitors” try to force her to remarry
* Telemachus is Penelope’s “moody son”
* Empowered femininity is portrayed through the gods not mortal women

Griffin

* Odysseus comes from a close and affectionate human family, he is not the type of man to throw away his life for glory (kleos)


* Disguise and self-control is the only way to win in “a world full of treachery and hostility”
* Odysseus is forced to learn self-control
* Helen’s tale of Odysseus in Book 3 “looks forward to his disguised presence” in the poem’s second half
* To succeed, Odysseus has “to conceal his feelings”
* Odysseus acts as a god, “judging men among whom he moves in secret”
* The marriage bed is an “unmistakable symbol of the solidarity” of the relationship between O+P, showing Penelope’s metis
* Odysseus is “delighted at her skill” in extracting gifts from the suitors
* Penelope’s timē and “fidelity is crucial to the story”, a contrast to Agamemnon’s wife
* Penelope “shows herself to be like \[Odysseus\]” through her “self-command and guile”

Richard Jenkyns

* Odysseus’ journey is from “isolation” to “community”
* There are two strands to Odysseus, the “folktale figure” and the “noble Odysseus” seen in the Iliad.

Barbara Clayton

* Odysseus "has to “compensate” for his lack of physical impressiveness through his “verbal skills”

Peter Jones

* Three strands to Odysseus’ character: “loyal husband", “eternal wanderer” and “anti-hero”.
* Odysseus’ most important trait is his “metis”, shown by his epithet ‘resourceful’. Metis is linked to “restraint, endurance. deception and disguise”, characteristics shared with Athene. His metis forms the basis for their “close… unique relationship”
* Odysseus is a “mean, selfish time-server” using diguise and deceit to “gain the most disreputable ends”
* The duplicity of the suitors causes Odysseus and Telemachus to have to scheme and deceive.
* The Episode with Polyphemus is “Odysseus’ greatest triumph”, portraying “heroic self-revelation”
* Penelope’s veil is a “sign of modesty and/or chastity”
* The contest of the bow is “a clever way of creating time”
* Telemachus “learns from what other heroes have to tell him” as much as “from acting himself”
* Athene “acts as a surrogate father” for Telemachus
* “in Homer the gods help only those worthy” of it
* The Household is the centre rather than the battlefield

Morrison

* Odysseus is not a puppet and does not rely on Athene’s help
* Odysseus needs the advice and favour of the gods, but “contemplates his options” and “makes independent decisions”
* There is only one Odysseus, the stories of his travels are only used to portray his oratory abilities
* The fact Odysseus “succeeds where others might have given up” is testament to his “heroism, fame and likability”
* Penelope has “endured suffering equal to that of her husband”
* Penelope’s tricks “doesn’t say much for the mental quickness of the Suitors”
* The marriage bed trick “proves to Odysseus that she has been faithful” and takes on the meaning of a happy and faithful marriage

C. M. Bowra

* Odysseus’ “need for cunning” is only in situations he creates with his “own recklessness”
* “Odysseus has to act alone”

Mandzuka

* “Homer frees Odysseus of any responsibility over the deaths of his comrades and the executions” because they all “die for reasons of fate and ethics”

Andrew Parks

* The devotion that Odysseus shows to his crew is “highlighted through this feeling of guilt” and acts as “reinforcement of the vast suffering this man is forced to endure”

Seth Schein

* In Book 23, Penelope described as a shipwreck survivor “reverses the male and female roles” and allows “Homer to value Penelope’s heroism”
* Polyphemus eats Odysseus’ men raw, which is far more savage than cooking them

M. Finley

* Penelope is the motivation of the poem, “key to its unity”

Robert Fagles

* The relationship between Odysseus and Penelope is one of “intellectual equals”, based on “true love” and a “shared outlook” on life

Karen Nimheallaigh

* Through her weaving, Penelope is the “ideal virtuous woman”

Nicole Smith

* The audience gains insight into the maturation of Telemachus by “presenting him as weak and powerless” at the beginning of the epic, “only to have him slay one of his tormentors” in Book 22

Camps

Odysseus inspires affection and regard as husband, man and king

Halverson

The integrity of the household is far more important to the plot than nostos

Walcot

* Homer stresses that the Phaeacians fail to qualify as perfect hosts
* Polyphemus as a host is “so much worse”
* “equally true of life” presentation of hospitality in the Odyssey

Segal

Phaeacia is a fantasy realm - the people there are mortal but magical

Kelly

* Nausicaa “could be a rape victim”
* Nausicaa is a “helper” she kindly receives Odysseus
* Nausicaa is “advertising herself, her availability and attractiveness”
* She oscillates between “helper and harmer”

West

* Menelaus views Eteoneus’ hesitation as “idiotic”
* Odysseus’ behaviour in the epic is “so eccentric”
* Odysseus and his men are wrong for making Polyphemus’ home “so free without invitation”
* “The relationship between host and guest is… asymmetrical”

Hall

* Homer views the Cyclopes as Greek colonists would have viewed other civilisations
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