There, a blind bard named Demodocus sings of the quarrel between Odysseus and Achilles at Troy. Everyone listens with pleasure except Odysseus, who weeps at the painful memories that the story recalls.
The games include the standard lineup of boxing, wrestling, racing, and throwing of the discus. At one point, Odysseus is asked to participate. Still overcome by his many hardships, he declines.
One of the young athletes, Broadsea, then insults him, which goads his pride to action. Odysseus easily wins the discus toss and then challenges the Phaeacian athletes to any other form of competition they choose. The discussion becomes heated, but Alcinous diffuses the situation by insisting that Odysseus join them in another feast, at which the Phaeacian youth entertain him and prove their preeminence in song and dance.
Demodocus performs again, this time a light song about a tryst between Ares and Aphrodite. Afterward, Alcinous and each of the young Phaeacian men, including Broadsea, give Odysseus gifts to take with him on his journey home. At dinner that night, Odysseus asks Demodocus to sing of the Trojan horse and the sack of Troy, but as he listens to the accomplished minstrel he again breaks down. King Alcinous again notices and stops the music. He asks Odysseus at last to tell him who he is, where he is from, and where he is going.
Ironically, for all of his poise, Odysseus cannot remain at peace even when he finds himself outside the direct influence of the wrath of various gods. His melancholy at the Phaeacian games prompts an insult from Broadsea, which in turn provokes an intense series of challenges between Odysseus and the Phaeacian youths. Additionally, though he makes no mention of it again after Book 8 , Homer has already hinted that Odysseus has aroused the affection of Princess Nausicaa—just a short while after escaping the demanding attentions of the divine Calypso.
The tension between passion and constancy is particularly strong in Books 7 and 8. It invites us to recall his helpless transgression with Calypso and points to the future, when, like Hephaestus, Odysseus will take vengeance upon those who have tried to steal his bed. Because he figures so prominently in the episode at Scheria and because the content of his first song so closely resembles that of The Iliad , commentators have often tried to equate the bard Demodocus with Homer.
His initial appeal is emotional as well as informative. Men frequently are moved to tears in the epic, and Telemachus ends his oration by dashing the speaker's scepter and weeping with passion. Antinous, however, shockingly insults the queen, whom he obviously wants to marry for mainly political reasons. Penelope, he says, has misguided the suitors for nearly four years now, leading on each man with hints and promises but choosing no one.
Antinous demands that Telemachus must send his mother back to her father's home so that the old man might choose a husband for her. The story of the loom symbolizes the queen's cunning as well as the suitors' density. For three full years, Penelope worked at weaving a shroud for her father-in-law's eventual funeral.
She claimed that she would make a decision as soon as the shroud was finished. By day, the renowned weaver worked on a great loom in the royal halls. At night, she secretly unraveled what she had done, amazingly deceiving the young suitors who apparently were too slow of wit or too drunk to discover the ruse. The plot failed only when one of Penelope's servants betrayed her and told the suitors what was happening. Despite the insults, Telemachus remains calm and counters the leading suitor with logic.
He argues that Penelope's father and the public at large would condemn him if he kicked his own mother out of her home. The gods would never tolerate such behavior. Besides, Icarius, the queen's father, lives much too far away. Speaking like an experienced veteran, the prince builds to a passionate peroration, again demanding that the suitors leave.
He sarcastically suggests that they might stay if the food and drink are so much better at the royal house of Odysseus; but if they do, he will call on Zeus for vengeance. As if on cue, the king of gods sends eagles as an omen. Eurymachus, the other leading suitor, is not convinced. Although he later will prove to be a sly manipulator when cornered, here, Eurymachus has no fear and insolently dismisses omens, Odysseus, and the prince.
Why does Calypso allow Odysseus to leave her island? Why does Odysseus sleep with Circe? Why does Odysseus travel to Hades? Why does Odysseus fail to reveal his identity to Penelope when they are first reunited? Does Penelope really intend to marry one of her suitors? How do Odysseus and Telemachus defeat the suitors?
Literary Devices Point of View. Previous section Style Next section Tone.
0コメント