Book 22 was a crazy book to read for me. It was expected, inevitable, but still upsetting. Instead of a hero mowing down fighting suitors in glorious combat like in some cartoon, I feel like it was more of a depiction of Odysseus striking down, one by one, defenseless, begging, miserable suitors in a fit of rage. Eurymachus is the very first to plead with him, offering wealth and loyalty, claiming to not even blame Odysseus for his rage. Odysseus kills him. Later, Leodes begs for mercy as well, expressing how he is an innocent suitor, not to be lumped in with the others. Odysseus kills him. Phemius then comes up to Odysseus and begs for mercy on the grounds that he's just a singer. Odysseus would have killed him in a heartbeat if it weren't for Telemachus' interjection only then telling him who he shouldn't be killing. Fairly rotten planning there, I guess.
Odysseus feels much more like a villain in this book than a hero. His boasting, all-or-nothing attitude, and merciless sword don't make him the most compelling of characters in this scene. He could have diffused the entire situation by exposing himself as Odysseus, perhaps killing the suitors that he truly felt deserved to die, and harshly threatening all of the rest. He's already a legend, a heroic story told to everyone about the fall of Troy, a formidable figure, not to mention a king. His threat would probably be worth quite a lot to these men. The death toll required to get Odysseus home is easily in the hundreds by this point.
The suitors did not have my sympathy, that much is for certain. But neither did Odysseus really by this point, and it was also the first time that I felt that Athena's help was really unnecessary. The battle was completely rigged and still Odysseus pretended numerous times that the suitors had some sort of other option. They suitors never really got a chance to defend their actions, which I would have actually been interested in reading.
Am I cutting the suitors too much slack? I feel like I kind of did that a bit in my last post. It's fun contemplating the other side of the fight, and this was certainly a very good chapter for it.
Friday, February 6, 2015
Thursday, February 5, 2015
Sympathy for the Suiters
It's incredibly obvious that the suiters are painted to look like the bad guys as much as possible by Homer. From the very beginning they are depicted as incredibly abusive of Telemachus' hospitality, lounging around the palace doing nothing but eat and complain and plot murder. Later on, their cruelty extends to Odysseus himself, resorting to throwing things at him (disguised as the beggar) and they are painted as pure evil, no doubt to build suspense and anticipation for their impending deaths.
The hatred placed on them is so heavy-handed though, Homer may as well just say "Hey, look! These are the bad guys! Right here!" From a story-telling perspective, all the hatred for them is pretty great. It'll make the ending just that much more satisfying. Once the suiters are more closely examined, however, I feel like their fates may seem just a tad bit unfair. First and foremost, from a legal perspective, they really have every right to be there and capital punishment is, for the most part, unjustified. Penelope's husband has been missing for a whopping 20 years now, and there isn't a single person we've met so far who truly believes that he'll be returning. Alone, abuse of hospitality really isn't punishable by death. The suiters are there to form a political bond, and the moment that Penelope does that, presumably they will leave Telemachus and her alone.
They've been in an awkward limbo for quite some time now, and lounging around probably does seem like a viable option to them now. They don't just want to leave and accept Ithaca as being king-less, and at the same time, Penelope refuses to choose anybody. For at least the first part of the story, Telemachus has just been a doormat, so they really don't feel to threatened by him. The suiters feel that the kingdom is dysfunctional in its current state without a definite ruler and are just sorta rolling with that for the time being. Their agitation is somewhat justified in this regard.
In addition to all of this, the suiters aren't even completely under their own free will. Not once, but multiple times has Athena used her magical god-powers to intimidate them with Telemachus' larger-than-life form and in various instances she's even inspired them to say cruel things, throw things, and just generally be assholes in order to make Odysseus even more upset and prepared to slaughter them all.
Almost all of this was touched on in class today in one way or another, and is just something to think about while proceeding into books 21 and 22 (Oh man am I excited). I'm interested in other peoples' thoughts on whether or not the behavior of the suiters really justifies the inevitable deaths of every one of them. It's an interesting conundrum of morality (and possibly anger management).
The hatred placed on them is so heavy-handed though, Homer may as well just say "Hey, look! These are the bad guys! Right here!" From a story-telling perspective, all the hatred for them is pretty great. It'll make the ending just that much more satisfying. Once the suiters are more closely examined, however, I feel like their fates may seem just a tad bit unfair. First and foremost, from a legal perspective, they really have every right to be there and capital punishment is, for the most part, unjustified. Penelope's husband has been missing for a whopping 20 years now, and there isn't a single person we've met so far who truly believes that he'll be returning. Alone, abuse of hospitality really isn't punishable by death. The suiters are there to form a political bond, and the moment that Penelope does that, presumably they will leave Telemachus and her alone.
They've been in an awkward limbo for quite some time now, and lounging around probably does seem like a viable option to them now. They don't just want to leave and accept Ithaca as being king-less, and at the same time, Penelope refuses to choose anybody. For at least the first part of the story, Telemachus has just been a doormat, so they really don't feel to threatened by him. The suiters feel that the kingdom is dysfunctional in its current state without a definite ruler and are just sorta rolling with that for the time being. Their agitation is somewhat justified in this regard.
In addition to all of this, the suiters aren't even completely under their own free will. Not once, but multiple times has Athena used her magical god-powers to intimidate them with Telemachus' larger-than-life form and in various instances she's even inspired them to say cruel things, throw things, and just generally be assholes in order to make Odysseus even more upset and prepared to slaughter them all.
Almost all of this was touched on in class today in one way or another, and is just something to think about while proceeding into books 21 and 22 (Oh man am I excited). I'm interested in other peoples' thoughts on whether or not the behavior of the suiters really justifies the inevitable deaths of every one of them. It's an interesting conundrum of morality (and possibly anger management).
Tuesday, February 3, 2015
Deus Ex Machina
Odysseus is a hero, this is pretty much a given. He is considered to be a heroic figure by literally everybody and that satisfies my idea of a hero pretty well. Nonetheless, he receives a huge amount of help from the gods, especially Athena, who has a tendency to protect him, guide him, and help him out at every twist and turn (Calypso's release of him, his survival of the shipwreck, his discovery of Nausicaa, protective mist, etc.) The big question is whether or not this detracts from his heroism.
A really big idea throughout The Odyssey is fate. All of the characters just accept that the gods will do what they want with the humans and that they have no influence over that. The gods are perceived to essentially be uncontrollable forces of nature, and so by extension, Odysseus is basically just having a whole lot of good luck by being helped by Athena so much. Still, it's fairly easy to understand divine intervention being considered "cheating" because the sole heroic trait that Odysseus has is how badly he wants to go home (although this is contested multiple places, but that's a whole separate blog post). If he makes it home without any struggle or adversity, he's hardly a hero at all.
However, it can certainly be argued that this "good luck" is more than outweighed by Poseidon's wrath. If this is the case, then I feel like Athena's constant deus ex machina doesn't matter so much anymore. After all, is Harry Potter no longer a hero just because his life is saved by his friends? Is Frodo Baggins no longer a hero because Sam was the one who forced him to give up the ring? The levels of adversity in all of these stories immensely justify the received help, and every character (even Odysseus to an extent) underwent a psychological transformation, granting them their heroism.
A really big idea throughout The Odyssey is fate. All of the characters just accept that the gods will do what they want with the humans and that they have no influence over that. The gods are perceived to essentially be uncontrollable forces of nature, and so by extension, Odysseus is basically just having a whole lot of good luck by being helped by Athena so much. Still, it's fairly easy to understand divine intervention being considered "cheating" because the sole heroic trait that Odysseus has is how badly he wants to go home (although this is contested multiple places, but that's a whole separate blog post). If he makes it home without any struggle or adversity, he's hardly a hero at all.
However, it can certainly be argued that this "good luck" is more than outweighed by Poseidon's wrath. If this is the case, then I feel like Athena's constant deus ex machina doesn't matter so much anymore. After all, is Harry Potter no longer a hero just because his life is saved by his friends? Is Frodo Baggins no longer a hero because Sam was the one who forced him to give up the ring? The levels of adversity in all of these stories immensely justify the received help, and every character (even Odysseus to an extent) underwent a psychological transformation, granting them their heroism.
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