Further building the case against the suitors, Telemachus boldly scolds them and catalogues their offenses. Although Telemachus may be emboldened partly because he is aware of his father's presence, this passage also demonstrates that he is now a stronger, more mature prince than the one portrayed early in the epic. He is ready for his first real battle.
The effect of this detail, as well as Telemachus' recitation of the suitors' many violations is to further justify the merciless revenge that is about to take place. Preparation for battle must include intervention by the gods. Athena comes to Odysseus in the night and guarantees success even if he were to face "fifty bands of mortal fighters" Penelope, too, hopes for help from the gods and asks that she die if she cannot be with her husband. Finally, Penelope has chosen Apollo the Archer's celebration for the contest of the bow.
Not only is the contest fitting for archers, but Apollo's arrows carry death — as will those of Odysseus this day. The suitors have been repeatedly warned, individually and as a group. Their standard response is to mock the speaker.
Evidence has been gathered. In effect, they have testified against themselves. The gods have condemned the intruders. Justice, like a terrible storm, is about to break upon them. What does this scene show?
Why does he encourage the Suitors to take part? How does Odysseus reveal his identity to the cowherd and swineherd? Why does he do so at the moment he does? What are his instructions to these faithful servants? What reason does the disguised Odysseus give for wanting to try to string the bow?
Why does Antinous tell the story about the wine-crazed centaurs? In this book, Odysseus raises and lowers his brows. The priest Leodes begs unsuccessfully for mercy. Odysseus has Eurycleia come out. She openly rejoices to see the suitors dead, but Odysseus checks her impropriety.
She rounds up the disloyal servant women, who are first made to clear the corpses from the hall and wash the blood from the furniture; they are then sent outside and executed. Odysseus tells Telemachus to cut them down with a sword, but Telemachus decides to hang them—a more disgraceful death. Last of all, the traitor Melanthius is tortured and killed. After the bloodbath, Odysseus has the house fumigated. The dramatic scene in which Odysseus effortlessly strings the bow is justly famous.
Since the bow gives Odysseus a weapon in hand, it also allows for a seamless transition to the fighting of Book Homer tells us that Odysseus received the bow during a diplomatic trip to Messene, long before any of his hardships began, and that it has been seldom used since then. Through his mastery of the bow, Odysseus comes full circle, once again the king and most powerful man in Ithaca. Athena plays a less prominent role in the battle than earlier books suggest she might.
Disguised as Mentor, she offers encouragement at a crucial moment, but her departure to the sidelines puts the focus squarely on Odysseus and his allies. Of course, Athena would presumably intervene if the battle were to go awry, but her reserve until the very end allows the victory to be portrayed as the work of Odysseus and Telemachus.
When the suitors do fall, Homer makes their deaths seem fitting by reminding us of the foul deeds that merited this purge. Antinous, foremost among the suitors for his impudence, falls first.
The fighting of Book 22 is the only pitched battle in The Odyssey , and while it cannot help but recall The Iliad , which abounds in bloodshed, the description remains thoroughly Odyssean. For one thing, it maintains the comic and domestic flavor that many critics find characteristic of The Odyssey.
The battle, for instance, occurs not on a field but in a palace with the doors locked. Additionally, some of the deaths have a kind of Gothic humor to them, as suitors like Antinous and Eurymachus trip over their dinners. The incapacitation of Melanthius in the storeroom adds comic relief, as does his castration. After all, these are not famous heroes fighting one another but rather one famous hero warding off a bunch of freeloaders.
0コメント