World Lit I: Odyssey
Review Guide
Parts of this
complilation are copyrighted (©Copyright 2005,
Joyce M. Miller)
Image, Telémakhos &
Penelope:
Illustration of Chiusi
1831 (from http://www.perseus.tufts.edu)
| QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER FOR MID-TERM EXAM |
For
a brief discussion of areté , click
HERE:
- What heroic ethic is Odysseus bound
to? What are the Homeric qualities of a hero? (Western traditions are
linked to the Homeric ideal.) What "makes" a Homeric hero once a war is
over? A 20th-Century hero?
- Compare the heroic ideals of Achilles
and Odysseus (you will meet Achilles again in the underworld).
- Do you think Homer approves of revenge
as a heroic ideal? Of tears? Of songs/art? Of deception? Of wit? What
is your textual evidence?
- What do scenes of hospitality reveal
about Homer's world?
- How does Telémakhos become
educated
and grow into manhood?
- What are the positive and negative
ways in which women are presented?
- What is Athene's relationship with
Telémakhos? With Odysseus?
- Does Homer assign responsibility for
actions to the gods or to the human characters? How do the gods mete
out justice? Do only the powerful get justice? With what supporting
evidence could you defend your answer?
- What do we learn about Odysseus from
other characters/gods? From himself?
- Is the poem about finding what is
lost? Purification of trials by temptation/the testing of character?
Entertaining folktales? Exploration of concepts of good and evil,
glory/honor and shame, war and family?
- What values of honoring the dead do we
learn about? What function does the visit to Hades serve?
- What heroic ethic is Odysseus bound
to? What personal qualities enable him to survive his many trials?
- Discuss the purpose of the many
references to Aegisthus and Clytemnestra. What is the significance of
Penelope to this repetitiveness?
- Why would the Odyssey
become a "textbook" for young Greeks?
- What are the gods' roles in
fate/justice? Is there moral organization among the gods? Or, are
Homer's gods reckless, jealous, fickle gods who bring on disaster? What
supporting examples could you include in a response?
Odysseus
chooses mortality. Given the same opportunity Calypso offers him, what
would you do? Prepare to cite your reasons (reasons based on an ancient
philosopher's thinking).
BOOK I: Athena
advises
Telémakhos, sets
herself up as a guardian spirt of the family.
BOOK II:
Assembly of Ithaka meets;
Telémakhos asserts "manhood."
BOOK III:
Telémakhos and Nestor
(and son Peisístratos)
meet.
Lengthy tales of war.
BOOK IV:
Telémakhos and Meneláous
(of
the red hair) meet.
BOOK V:
Odysseus
departs by raft from
Kalypso's isle of Ogygia.
BOOK VI:
Odysseus and Nausikaa meet on
Sckeria, the island of the Phaeakians.
BOOK VII: King Alcinoös
and Queen
Arete; receiveOdysseus but do not know his identity.
BOOK VIII:
Odysseus excels at Phaeakian
athletic contests; Demodakus tells the tale of Aphrodite and Ares.
BOOK IX-XIII:
Odysseus' tale of The
Wanderings--the adventures beginning with the end of the war--which
include a visit to the underworld.
BOOK XIV:
Phaeakians transport Odysseus
to Ithaka.
BOOK XV:
Odysseus meets Eumaeus the
swineherd.
BOOK XVI:
Telémakhos returns to
Ithaka.
BOOK XVII:
Odysseus and
Telémakhos
reunite on Ithaka.
BOOK XVIII:
Odysseus and Eumaeus
encounter hostile stranger.
BOOK XIX:
Penelope meets Odysseus in
the palace disguised as a beggar. Nurse Antikleia:
recognition scene.
BOOK XX:
Odysseus lays out the plans to
son.
BOOK XXI:
Penelope devises contest to
string bow, marry winning suitor.
BOOK XXII:
Odysseus with help wages war
on all the suitors; spares the herald and the bard.
BOOK XXIII:
Odysseus and Penelope
reunite.
BOOK XXIV:
Odysseus reunites with
father Laêrtês.
(Adapted from Cliffs Notes)
Terms,
Recurring Themes, Characters,
and Names To Review:
HOMERIC
EPIC--Long, narrative poem in elevated style. Heroic figures performing
deeds of great valor. Its other characteristics include:
- Delay, excursions, elaboration of
techniques, epithets
- Tales of gods/supernatural creatures
- Use of divine intervention
- Long, rhetorical speeches,
repetition of events (in the Iliad, nearly
one-third of all lines are repeated lines, for example)
- Use of extended similes
- Formal invocation to the muse of
poetry
- Starts in medias res (in
the middle)
Motifs include curiosity, disguise,
immortality, fate, glory, shame, recklessness, revenge, appearance v.
reality, civilization, growth, innocence, hospitality, marriage,
fidelity, art, sorcery. Consider the following as you read:
- RECKLESSNESS: Men eat ox, open bag
of winds, eat plants of Lotus-eaters. Curiosity is a companion theme
- APPEARANCES: Cyclops' island looks
civilized
- GLORY/VENGEANCE/SHAME: Greek ethic
provides impetus for us to avoid shame by provoking us into the right
act. Glory is praise for achieving revenge on awrongful act. Vengeance
is exacted for a death; it wins glory
- CHANGE: Odysseus and Penelope are
made more handsome. Odysseus changes from hero to bard to hero. Men are
changed into pigs, beggars. Athena's enjoys many disguises.
Telémakhos
changes into adulthood.
The
constant is the
steadfastness of Odysseus and Penelope.
In
addition, note the following
motifs and symbols as you read.
For Homer,
heroism is defined as
Athena defines
Odysseus' areté as:
- Keeping his head
- Using words to get what he wants
- Using intuition
POEM'S DIVISIONS:
TELEMACHY,
I-IV;
HOMECOMING, V-VIII; WANDERINGS, XIII-XI; ITHACA, XX-XIV
Review the following:
Akchaians
heroic
ethic
Akhilleus
Aiegíisthos
Agamémnon
Alcinoös
Antikleia
Antilochus
Antíinoös
Aphrodite
Apollo
areté
Argives
Athene
Calypso (Kalypso)
Circe
(Kirke)
Clytemnestra (Klytaemnestra)
Daneans
Demodocus
Scheria
epithet
Eumaeus
Eurýkleia
Eurýmakchos
Erinyes
Helen
Hermes
hubris
in medias res
Iphigeneia
Ithaca
Laêrtês
Meneláous
Nausicaa
Nestor
Odysseus
Ogygia
Orestês
Penelope
Paris
Peisístratos
Phaeacians
Phêmios
Poseidon
Polyphemus
Queen Arete
Trojans
Teiresias
Telémakhos
Zeus
-
Professor
Joyce M. Miller 
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