What is the purpose of the Telemachia?
Books I-IV are referred to as the Telemachy–the opening story of Odysseus’ son Telemakhos–which prepares us for what’s to come. The Telemachy serves a dramatic purpose by implying that the son has a essential role in the overthrow of the brazen suitors, a part for which he is not yet ready.
What is the main purpose of Book 1 of The Odyssey?
Summary and Analysis Book 1 – Athena Inspires the Prince. Homer opens The Odyssey with an invocation to the Muse of epic poetry and asks for her guidance in telling the story of a man who has experienced many twists and turns of fate and has suffered many hardships.
What happens in the Telemachy?
Menelaus tells Telemachus of his own detour in Egypt on his way home from the Trojan War, during which he learned that Odysseus is still alive, a virtual captive of the nymph Calypso. The Telemachy abruptly draws to a close with this cliffhanger, the Suitors setting an ambush for Telemachus at a harbour.
What can we learn from the story of Odysseus?
The story of Odysseus reveals moral lessons of bravery, heroism, pride and honor relevant to the Greeks and their culture. Odysseus was a symbol of Greek culture because he was brave, intelligent, and strong.
Why are the first five books of the Odyssey about Telemachus?
As Professor Mulligan noted, the first four books are often called the Telemachy because Telemachus goes on his own journey. These first four books represent the education of Telemachus, through both divine and mortal means, in absence of the influence of his missing father, Odysseus.
Why does the Odyssey start with Telemachus?
It is Telemachus duality of roles, contextually a reference for dynamic reader response and dramatically the unique character of Odysseus son, which makes the Odyssey s opening so effective in outlining the inherent dramatic questions, and fundamentally facilitates these questions pertaining to storytelling and the …
What is a theme of The Odyssey?
In this epic poem, there are three major themes: hospitality, loyalty, and vengeance.
Why is Odysseus the only survivor?
As punishment, Zeus hit Odysseus’ ship with a lightning bolt. The ship was destroyed; only Odysseus survived. However, Odysseus lost men in other places as well. For example, the sea-serpent Scylla ate six of his men.
Why are the first four books of the Odyssey called the Telemachy?
What do we learn about Penelope by hearing the contrasting story of Clytemnestra?
When Clytemnestra heard that her husband had died the man that had been protecting her for years “swept her off to his own house, lover lusting for lover” (116.1-310) While Penelope has waited 15 years for Odysseus to return and still has not made a new husband yet of the suitors, because she still believes that …
What is Odysseus main journey?
In Homer’s epic poem, The Odyssey, the main character, Odysseus, travels very far in order to get home from Troy after the Trojan War. This is a map following his journey home to Ithaca from Troy.
What does Odysseus discover about himself?
Odysseus gets himself into trouble in Odyssey 9, when he reveals his true identity to the Cyclops after blinding him. This revelation leads to Poseidon, who is the father of the Cyclops, attempting to destroy Odysseus upon the seas.
How did the Telemachy get its name in the Odyssey?
Telemachy. They are named so because – just as the Odyssey tells the story of Odysseus – they tell the story of Odysseus’ son Telemachus as he journeys from home for the first time in search of news about his missing father.
How did Telemachus find out who his father was?
But as Athena had metamorphosed him into a beggar, Telemachus did not recognise his father until the latter disclosed to him who he was. Father and son now agreed to punish the suitors; and when they were slain or dispersed, Telemachus accompanied his father to the aged Laertes. (Hom. Od. xv.–xxiv.; comp. Odysseus.)
Why did the suitors want to kill Telemachus?
Telemachus then begins his journey back home. But in Ithaca, the suitors have decided to ambush and kill Telemachus before he reaches his (669) “measure of manhood” and begin making trouble for them: in Book 2 Telemachus is considered a boy who poses no threat; by the end of Book 4 they fear his becoming a man who could stand up to them.
What was the hero’s journey in the Telemachy?
Homeric scholarship generally recognizes the Telemachy as the story of its eponymous hero’s journey from boyhood to manhood. It is only after having gone through this journey that Telemachus will be equipped to help Odysseus kill the suitors in Book 22.