Peter Jones snippets BI-XIII

BI: Homer prepares us to

accept the justice of the death meted out to the suitors

BI: Odysseus dominates

the thoughts and feelings of everyone

BII: the purpose of the assembly is

to move the dispute from the private to the public sphere

BII: the assembly allows the suitors

to show their true colours in public

BII: Penelope’s … and … emerge during the assembly

high intelligence and Odyssean cunning

BIII: Telemachus comes into contact with a world

full of heroes, where gods are honoured, and were xenia is respected

BIII: Telemachus leaves Ithaca to

establish his identity

BIV: Telemachus is able to

stand on his own two feet and find ratification of the kleos Nestor gave him

BIV: Odysseus’ most important qualities are

the capacity to disguise himself and to control himself and others

BV: Homer effortlessly blends

the human and the divine

BV: Our first sight of Odysseus, the man on whom all hopes are pinned, is

a helpless hero in tears

BVI: in the encounter with Nausicaa, Odysseus has nothing to rely on but

his wits

BVI: the vital qualities in the Odyssey are

tact, courtesy, self awareness, sensitivity

BVII: by the end of the book Odysseys has won acceptance into the palace, but has not

been able to reveal himself

BVIII: in the book, Odysseus demonstrates clearly

the sort of man he is

BVIII: Phaeacians do not feel compelled to seek

immortal glory in battle

BVIII: the poet’s art gives lasting glory because

it ensures the memory of the past is saved

BIX: Homer wishes to emphasise the __ about his heroes

human magnificence

BIX: Homer __ even the most incredible monsters and adventures

humanises

BIX: we see how the civilised man of intelligence can overcome

the threat of primitive brute force

BX: the tensions between Odysseus and his men

continue to be brought out

BX: the magical elements of the Circe story are minimised, and

the social elements are stressed

BXI: the katabasis elevates Odysseus

above ordinary humanity

BXI: the heroism of the Odyssey comes face to face with

the heroism of the Iliad

BXI: the Catalogue of Women shows

how great families arise and are corrupted

BXII: the divine help Odysseus recieves

does not diminish him as a hero, but enhances his status by proving his worthiness

BXII: it is difficult to ascertain any … or … from Odysseus during these tales

growth, development

BXIII: the tale of return becomes

one of return and revenge

BXIII: Odysseus’ means to victory will be

disguise and endurance

BXIII: the bantering between Odysseus and Athene is

one of the most remarkable scenes between a man and a God in all Greek literature

Odysseus is no more perfectly good

than the Cyclops is perfectly bad

the Polyphemus episode is Odysseus’ greatest achievement because

it shows off his metis

Penelope is mired in conflict, and part of her desire for Odysseus

is that he will resolve these issues

Odysseus’ disguises and deceptions are all

a means to a justifiable heroic end

in Homer, one’s destiny is

spun at birth

even a god cannot alter destiny, though he can

play with it at the edges

the Suitors are destroyed not by fate but by

their own recklessness

Calypso’s lover-addled state of mind is shown by how she

bungles xenia

the Odyssey’s centre of the world is not the battlefield but

the household