The Odyssey Read-Along @ Plethora of Books
Book XXI
The contest and therefore, the beginning of
the slaughter of the suitors, is begun by the history of the backstrung
bow. It was given to Odysseus by
Iphitos when they had met trying to retrieve their sheep and horses from the men
of Messene. Odysseus had left it
behind in Ithaka when he went to Troy, and in his household it had remained. Penelope retrieves the bow, announces
the contest to the suitors and then places it in the hands of Eumaios, who is
weeping when he sees it in remembrance of his master. Antinoös derides him, and then admits that the bow will be
hard to string, as he reminisces about Odysseus’ strength. Telemachos announces that he will be
part of the contest and, if he wins, his mother will be able to remain in his
house. He sets up the axes, making
them perfect, although he has never done this task before, then picks up the
bow, sending the string singing three times before Odysseus stops him at the
fourth by making a signal with his head, and Telemachos encourages a suitor to
come and test his skill.
Antinoös determines the order in which they will proceed, and Leodes is the first to try, a man
disapproving of the suitors’ actions.
He fails, so the suitors decide to heat the bow but even then, they are
not able to string it. Meanwhile,
Odysseus meets Eumaois and the oxherd, Philoitios, outside the courtyard and,
based on their unwavering loyalty, decides to reveal his identity to them. They are overjoyed and there is
lots of kissing. He gives commands
to both: to Eumaios, to put the bow into his hands and then tell the serving
women to bar the doors and not to open them if they hear crashes and outcries;
to Philoitios to make fast the courtyard with a bolt. In the meantime, Eurymachos finds he is unable to string the bow
and is distraught, yet Antinoös chastises him, saying that of course they cannot string the bow on a holy feast day, and that they must try again
tomorrow. Odysseus states he would
like to attempt the feat that day, but the suitors are alarmed in case of his
success, and issue threats if he is able to string it. Penelope chides them for their rudeness, stating the impossibility of her becoming the wife of "the stranger" but
Eurymachos argues that their reputation is at stake, and finally Telemachos
intervenes, sending his mother back to her house. Eumaios tries to carry the bow to “the stranger” but the
suitors are so vehement against him, he drops it. Telemachos exerts his
will and it is finally handed to Odysseus. Eurykleia and Philoitios carry out their orders, while
Odysseus strings the bow and makes it sing, sending an arrow through all twelve
of the axes.
A Decrease in Power
The suitors are made even more uneasy, not
only by the bow itself, but at the possibility of “the stranger” being able to
best them. Antinoös, though he is
full of hot air and bragging, seems to avoid even attempting the feat and later
makes an excuse that it’s because it’s a holy feast day that none of them can
succeed.
Identity
The first people to whom Odysseus chooses
to reveal himself, are two servants, Eumaios and Philoitios, a swineheard and
an oxherd. What a surprise! ……. Or
is it? One of Odysseus’ self-given
tasks is to find who he is able to trust in his household and from that, whom he
will kill and who will survive.
Both servants have shown a steadfast devotion to their master
and therefore, perhaps deserve his confidence.
There are more and more instances of
Telemachos showing a governance and mastery of his household.
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| N.C. Wyeth |
Book XXII
Odysseus sheds his rags and then springs
upon the threshold, announcing that he will shoot another mark that has yet to
be struck by man. To the shock of
the assembled party, the arrow flies straight through the throat of Antinoös
and he slumps over dead. “Poor
fools”, they thought he had let the arrow fly in error and his target was
accidental. In all his glory,
Odysseus reveals his true identity:
“You dogs, you never thought that I would any more come back form the land of Troy, and because of that you despoiled my household, and forcibly took my serving women to sleep beside you, and sought to win my wife while I was still alive, fearing neither the immortal gods who hold the wide heaven, nor any resentment sprung from men to be yours in the future. Now upon all of you the terms of destruction are fastened.”
Fear choked the suitors, but they attempt
to bargain for their lives, as Eurymachos blames all their behaviour on the
influence of Antinoös, promising to pay Odysseus gifts. Odysseus rejects his explanation and
proposal, stating not one man will be left alive, causing Eurymachos to call
the suitors to arms. Odysseus
kills Eurymachos and Telemachos, Amphinomos, on his way to his father’s side. He then runs to fetch arms for the four
of them (including Eumaios & Philoitios) and they continue to kill. Agelaos calls for someone to run to the
village for help but Melanthios informs him of the barred door but offers to
search the house for the hidden weapons.
Quickly he finds them and begins to arm the suitors, giving Odysseus
pause. Telemachos confesses that he had inadvertently left the door open and
asks Eumaios to find out the culprit.
When he discovers Melanthios, Odysseus instructs them to bind him and
hoist him up along the high column to suffer. Athene appears as Mentor and Agelaos appeals to him, causing
anger to grow in Athene.
Surprisingly she chastizes Odysseus for the temperance he’s shown
towards the suitors, accusing him of complaining instead of standing up to his
enemies. She assists him with some
of the killing but “did not altogether turn the victory their way.” There is a volley of spears between the
two parties, but while Odysseus and his warriors hit their targets, Athene
causes the suitors' aims to go astray.
Now the slaughter ensues.
Leodes grasps Odysseus’ knees in supplication and is killed, but
when Phemios the singer does the same, Telemachos pleads for mercy for him and
also Medon, their herald, who had taken care of him. Odysseus agrees, stating, “that good dealing is better by
far than evil dealing.” Otherwise,
not one man is left alive and Telemachos sends Eurykleia to Odysseus. When she sees him standing among the
blood and battle-gore, she is ecstatic, yet Odysseus lightly scolds her: “Keep your joy in your heart, old dame;
stop, do not raise up the cry. It
is not piety to glory so over slain men.”
Odysseus instructs her not to awaken Penelope, but to assemble all the
women who have been disloyal into the hall. They proceed to hang all these women and, for a finale, hack
off the nose, ears, hands, feet, and private parts of Melanthios to feed to the
dogs. Eurykleia gathers all the
women who remain and they are overjoyed to see Odysseus. “He recognized all these women.”
Disloyalty
We understand the grudge Odysseus carries
towards the suitors, but his anger towards the women was explored more in this
book. Their crime appears to stem from their immorality and
their mutiny against the household.
Both Eurykleia and Telemachos state that they refuse to listen to him or
his mother, and that they have taken to sleeping with the suitors. I’m not clear if the judgement of immorality is
based on a cultural standard, or if it is because they are sleeping with enemies
of Odysseus. Upon viewing the slain suitors, their reaction was weeping and
wailing, so their treachery was quite apparent.
Note:
The last sentence of this book: “He recognized all these women,” is very
telling. That would mean that all
the women would have had to be over 20 years old (probably 30 or more likely,
40). It appears all the young
women were the immoral ones, and the older ones were the ones who remained loyal
and steadfast. This is, perhaps,
another example of the breakdown of societal conventions due to Odysseus’
absence, and the lack of leadeship on the island.
The Suitors
We witnessed a rather gory end to these
young men. Should Odysseus been
more temperate and spared more of them?
I tend to think not. He
will have enough to deal with, trying to explain his actions, and to leave one
alive if he is not completely certain of his loyalty, could have been quite
dangerous. If one of them appeared
loyal at the palace and then later began to stir up dissent in town, his
actions could undermine Odysseus’ position. Sadly, I think out of necessity, they all had to
perish.
I wonder if any of these suitors had known
the real Odysseus, if they would have dared to behave the way they did. My guess is no.
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| The Slaughter of the Suitors by Odysseus & Telemachus Christophe Thomas Degeorge 1812 |
You are making a great progress! I am so looking forward to consulting all your notes when I get to The Odyssey myself.
ReplyDeleteAnd I finally finished it! What a great read! I understood the intricacies of Greek society much better this time. I still have questions though, some based on Odysseus' apparent compulsion for deception, and why did he caution Telemachos not to shame their blood at the end of the novel when they were preparing to fight? Questions, questions ……… there's always questions!
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