The Odyssey Modern Scholarship

• Rieu


  has a well-knit plot, psychological interest and interplay of character
• Davenport


  the illiad is a poem about force, the odyssey is a poem about triumph of the mind over force
• Jones


  the odyssey makes the household the centre of its world rather than the battlefield
• Halverson


  the odyssey is a defence and reaffirmation of oikos in the threat of erosion
• Halverson


  oikos is a more central and dominating issue than nostos
• Morrsion


  Odysseus- recognition scenes with Telemachus, Argus and Eurycleia shows him as a lord and master of the house
• Morrison


  there are costs to revealing your name, choosing to conceal it might have benefits
• Jones


  false tales show his expertise and ease in telling false tales, shows off his talents
• Jones

  three ways to describe: loyal hero husband; anti-hero; eternal wanderer
• Jones


  story allows him to show off his own heroism (books 9-12)
• Bowra


  need for cunning reinforced by his own recklessness
• Finley


  penelope is key to unity of poem
• Griffin


  marriage bed is a symbol of the solidity of their relationship
• Wilson


  Penelope is strong-willed, she has grit, she has a vivid imagination, she's loyal, she's competent mostly single mother
• Smith


  development and maturation of Telemachus from weak and powerless, to slaying his tormenters
• Bowra


  suitors are the other extreme from true nobility, degenerate corruption of heroes
• Morrison


  the suitors are terrible guests and clearly violate the code of xenia
• Camps


  supernatural powers are at work everywhere
• Griffin


  presence of divine agents enables the poet to show the meaning of events and the nature of the world
• Wilson


  vision of empowered femininity in the Odyssey, but it is conveyed in the world of the gods not mortal world
• Wilson


  the odyssey traces deep male fears about female power
• Jenkyns


  many types of women in the odyssey: Nausicaa's maidenly tendresse; Calypso the passionate woman; Circe the divinized good-time girl
• Morrsion


  arrival in Ithaca is a spiritual rebirth
• Morrison, not reliant upon the gods


  Odysseus contemplates his options and makes independent decisions, only taking the advice and favour of the gods.
• Lonley, tisis


  Tisis (retribution) helps agents determine what is just and unjust and who is good and bad.
• Davenport, Odyssey vs Iliad


  The Iliad is a poem about force, the Odyssey is a poem about the triumph of mind over force.
• Camps, characters


  The poem exhibits a vast range of characters from all parts of society.
• Camps, Trojan war


  The Odyssey looks back on the Trojan war with grief and regret.
• Bowra, Odyssey vs Iliad


  The Odyssey is less heroic than the Iliad because Odysseus faces monsters and his inferiors rather than his equals.
• Griffin, justice


  Justice in the Odyssey is both seen and done.
• Rieu, epithets


  Epithets are used to remind us of the eternal qualities of people and objects.
• Morrison, Agamemnon


  Figures of the Agamemnon story are role models, both positive and negative.
• Jones, oikos


  The household, rather than the battlefield, is the centre of the Odyssey.
• Jones, order


  Order is found and reasserted through faithful servants.
• Halverson, oikos


  The Odyssey is a defence and reaffirmation of oikos.
• Halverson, oikos vs nostos


  Oikos is more central to the Odyssey than nostos.
• Rieu, Eumaeus and Eurycleia


  Eumaeus and Eurycleia represent what the palace used to be like and will be again when its master is restored.
• Austin, order


  The two servants are stalwart paradigms of order.
• Griffin, oikos vs kleos


  A good husband and father like Odysseus does not throw away his life for glory.
• Jenkyns, society


  The Odyssey gives prominence to all members of society: slaves, beggars, women, even a dog.