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Showing posts from February, 2019

The Revenge of the Odyssey

From our class discussion last week, a topic came up that I thought was very interesting. It was that the Odyssey has a series of revenge cycles. Throughout the book, almost every character has wanted to take revenge on someone. The most notable of these is Odysseus’ mass murder of the suitors. They ransacked his house and tried to court his wife, so it makes sense that he would be looking to get back at them. Another example of revenge in the Odyssey is when Odysseus decides to blind Polyphemus after he killed Odysseus’ crew members. This incident set off Poseidon’s rage and he trapped Odysseus on Calypso's island for 7 years. The cycles of revenge continue to the very end of the book when the suitors’ fathers want to murder Odysseus. I think that all of these revenge cycles were set off by one incident: Odysseus blinding Polyphemus. If he had kept his cool and not blinded Polyphemus, then everything would have been fine. He had another chance to save himself and crew, simply

Athena's True Intentions

What is Athena’s true intention? We all know that Athena adores Odysseus and Telemachus. She blesses Odysseus during the invasion of Troy and guides Telemachus on his journey. As phrased by Mr. Mitchell, Athena “digs Odysseus.” However, it is not clear why she is helping them after abandoning Odysseus on Calypso’s island for seven years and allowing the suitors to torment Telemachus for most of his life.             One theory I have is that Athena feels remorse for abandoning Odysseus; after all, she is responsible for him. As consolation for Odysseus, Athena decides to free him and helps mold his son into a hero. If Odysseus had made it home in time, he would have been the one teaching Telemachus the ways of a hero, so perhaps Athena wants to develop Telemachus to make up for lost time due to Odysseus’ absence. There also seems to be an urgency for Telemachus’ development which has to do with his father’s arrival to Ithaca. It could be that Athena plans to have Telemachus ready to