odyssey scholarship

Mary beard

“an integral part of growing up ,as a man, is learning to take control of public utterance and to silence the female of the species"

Mary beard

to become a man was to claim the right to speak

Jasper griffin

in the odyssey the individual stands against the group

Felson and Slatkin

Odysseus is an unsuccessfully leader

Julie stanton

modern and ancient audience view the deaths of the suitors differently

B clayton

Odysseus compensates for a lack of physical impressiveness with verbal skills

C M Bowra

odysseus’ need for cunning is enforced by his own recklessness

Jasper griffin

the Phaeacians are the transition from the fantasy of the first half of the epic to the reality of the second half

Emily Wilson

Penelope is trapped by her marital status

Charlotte Higgins

“homecoming is more than a physical arrival“

Emily Wilson

“the silencing of female voices and the dangers of female agency are central problems in the poem”

Clarke

Homeric heroes are driven by their need for social validation

morrison

suitors are terrible guests and violate xenia

Morrison

the suitors death is the triumph of good over evil

Morrison

Penelope’s suffering is equal to that of Odysseus

Barbra Graziosi

women delay Odysseus at every point and work against the plot and the narrative of homecoming, even Penelope

Richard Jenkyns

the poem asserts the value of the love of men and women

Emily Wilson

the long suffering protagonist is rewarded in the odyssey for their willingness to wait for the right moment to act without giving up their goal

Edith hall

the only department in which Odysseus is deficient in is that of a father

peter Jones

Odysseus' deceptions are all means to a justifiable and heroic end

Felson and Slatkin

within marriage we see women as domestic yet empowered