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Summary OCR Classical Civilisation A Level: Scholars on The Odyssey
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ODYSSEY SCHOLARSOdysseus
Emily Wilson - he is free, whereas Penelope and Telemachus (until Athene appears) are
trapped. Yet despite this, Odysseus yearns to get home (and fulfil his nostos).
Griffin - he comes from a close & affectionate human family, he will not throw away his life
for glory.
Richard Jenkyns - the Odyssey is about Odysseus' journey from isolation to community
Richard Jenkyns - there are two strands to Odysseus in the poem
1.the folktale figure who is a wanderer among magic and monsters in the first twelve
books
2.the noble Odysseus of the lliad, a hero of epic song whose prowess is displayed in
close combat with other nobles.
Barbara Clayton - Odysseus has to compensate for a lack of physical impressiveness by
means of verbal skills.
Peter Jones - His most important attribute is his 'metis’
(shown by his most common epithet 'polumetis' [resourceful]. This is also linked with
restraint, endurance, deception and disguise, characteristics which are of course shared with
Athene and is the basis of their close... unique relationship)
v
Jones - sees Odysseus as a mean, selfish time-server who employs disguise and deceit often
to gain the most disreputable ends.
Griffin - highlights that the use of disguise and self-control is the only way to win in a world
full of treachery and hostility.
^
Morrison - Odysseus is no puppet and does not rely on Athene's help.
This does not mean he does not need it - of course he needs the advice and favour of the
gods if he is to return to Ithaca, but he clearly contemplates his options and makes
independent decisions.
Griffin - Odysseus is forced to learn the power of self-control, to keep silent and not to go in
for easy heroism
(he develops as a character from Book 9 to Book 21.-He fails once, early in his adventures, at
the end of the ordeal with the Cyclops. Without this self-control he would never have
defeated the suitors)
, Morrison - the stories of 9-12 are a lie used to show the strength of Odysseus' oratory
abilities, and as his gift to the Phaeacians, which the Phaeacians swallow as credible, giving
him gifts and a swift lift home.
Is Odysseus a good leader?
Mandzuka - Homer frees Odysseus of any responsibility over the deaths of his comrades
and the executions [of the suitors] because they all had to die for reasons of fate and ethics.
Suitors
James Morrison – the death of the suitors is the triumph of good dealing over evil and
firmly ascribed to the gods.
Morrison - the suitors are terrible guests and clearly violate the code of xenia - in short, they
too deserve to be punished.
Robin Sowerby - even Odysseus recognises that Amphinomus is comparatively blameless
and displays a moral judgement by encouraging the Suitor to return home to avoid
punishment. This is obviously ignored by Athene, who has already determined his fate to
die.
Griffin – justice in the Odyssey, is both done and seen to be done.
v
Michael Silk - modern readers might disagree with Odysseus' killing of his wife's suitors
Peter Jones - if we remember Aegisthus: Aegisthus died because of his own recklessness not
because of any divine intervention. He took what he had no right to take, what he had been
warned specifically not to take. Now look at the suitors - despite divine warnings they take
what they have no right to in Odysseus' palace, something that, if the model remains true,
will lead to punishment.
Richard Jenkyns - Aegisthus has committed two crimes, adultery and murder, and these are
the crimes which in effect the suitors are hoping to commit.
^
Telemachus
Emily Wilson - Penelope's moody son
Nicole Smith - the reader is given special insight into the development and maturation of
Odysseus' son by presenting him as a weak and powerless in the beginning, only to have him
slay one of his tormentors in a fitting end.
Peter Jones - Telemachus grows in the way he learns from what other heroes have to tell
him, as much as from acting himself.
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