Before the satisfying and somewhat shocking rendering of the suitors’ fates, there was quite a lot of dramatic and plot-driving build up in the form of Odysseus testing everybody’s loyalty. Despite numerous reports he had from seemingly trustworthy sources, Odysseus wanted to test every person’s loyalty. If this extensive and taxing corroboration doesn’t highlight the importance of loyalty to the Greek culture in which The Odyssey takes place, I don’t know what does. Except maybe all those other times we’ve seen loyalty as absolutely paramount.
Even starting with the Telemachiad, we saw how important loyalty is to these Greeks. Penelope’s cunning in weaving and unweaving her burial shroud is portrayed as one of her best qualities in Homer’s storytelling. And this cunning is just Penelope’s way of being loyal to Odysseus. On the other hand, Homer portrays the suitors not only as greedy, selfish, and disrespectful of the customs of hospitality, but also disloyal to their king*. This latter trait, we saw towards the end of the epic, was really the one which sealed their fates for them.
Odysseus’ loyalty while away from home is also a very important point to consider, and a less straightforward one at that. While our class has pretty much condemned Odysseus’ personal defense regarding his sleeping around while he was away from Ithaca (i.e. that the women never won him over in his heart), it is nevertheless a fact that this is how Homer chose to write the story. Rather than leave the narrative at the face value of his physical disloyalty to Penelope, he did include that Odysseus claimed never to have been won over by the women in his heart. This inclusion could suggest that Homer still viewed Odysseus as loyal, or at any rate, more loyal than we think he is. So even if Odysseus’ stark loyalty isn’t what we’re meant to take away from his unfaithfulness while at sea, perhaps it is simply meant to bring the issue of loyalty to our attention.
The reunion scene between Argos and Odysseus is another poignant scene that drives home the emphasis on loyalty. This scene contains one of two times that I remember Odysseus crying (I could be forgetting something though…) and the other was his reunion with his son. The fact that the emotional connection Odysseus has with his dog Argos is almost on the level of connection he has with his own family speaks volumes. Homer goes into detail about how Odysseus trained Argos as a pup. Having built this bond at a young age, showing that each of them cares so much about the other, even 20 years later, shows that their loyalty to each other was not lost with all Odysseus’ time away from home.
Homer really, really seems to like his recurring themes, huh? How does this theme compare with the others people have posted about?
*I recognize the differentiation between the translated term “king” appearing in the Odyssey and our conventional English definition of the same, but this distinction doesn’t take away from the fact that Odysseus held a position of power and respect in Ithaca which should have commanded a certain level of respect from all these suitors. In violating this level of respect by courting Penelope improperly, they are being disloyal to Odysseus in my eyes.
Odysseus is depicted as weeping throughout his "wanderings" and his long period of exile from home--he weeps during a bard's recitation of the Trojan horse story, for example; he's weeping on Calypso's island when we first see him. But these are maybe the two times we see him weep in an emotional reaction to a present scene (not to a memory, or as a general measure of his "long-suffering" credibility).
ReplyDeleteThe final "testing" scene--where he (seemingly with no reason at all) decides to see if his own father Laertes has been loyal, even though everything he's heard from everybody suggests that he has)--stands out in my mind, as we see Odysseus starting to mess with his dad the way he'd messed with Penelope and Telemachus. But then when his dad breaks down crying, assuming his son will never return, Odysseus can't deal any longer and has to break character. It's like he loves "testing" everyone so much, he doesn't know when to stop. But to his credit, he lets the old man off the hook once it gets emo.
I remember reading some reactions to Odysseus's extramarital affections and found some interesting perspectives. One main argument was that Odysseus never actually cheats on his wife, rather he is forced to...um..."play" with these other women because of their power as gods or immortals. It was simply a way for him to survive his long journey. On the other hand, it's kind of unfair how he spends his days "frolicking" with these beautiful women while Penelope is stuck at home weeping and fending off suitors all day. In my personal opinion, I don't think Odysseus is the loyal husband this poem makes him out to be, but I do think it's fair to at least consider the other possibility.
ReplyDelete