Sunday, January 31, 2010

Growing Up

At the beginning of the Odyssey, Telemachus seems young and powerless. He is completely passive in the face of the suitors abuses and they treat him like a pushover. As he embarks on a journey and the epic wears on, how and why does the character of Telemachus change?

Whose Fault Is It Anway?

Zeus complains in Book I of the Odyssey:
Ah how shameless--the way these mortals blame the gods.
From us alone, they say, come all their miseries, yes,
but they themselves, with their own reckless ways,
compound their pains beyond their proper share (1.37-40).
What is Zeus saying? Is he right? Whose fault is it anyway that Odysseus has been wandering for ten years -- that the suitors are eating him out of house and home?