The Odyssey

In Book 18 the suitors arrange a fight between a local beggar and the disguised Odysseus. Athena prompts Penelope to appear before the suitors and announce that she is ready to pick a new husband.

Arnaeus, a beggar who the suitors call Irus “because he was their messenger” (408), orders Odysseus to leave, threatening him with violence. Antinous and the suitors goad the two into a fight, promising the winner a place at their banquet. Odysseus makes the suitors swear an oath that they will not help Irus, and they comply. Athena increases his strength, and he breaks Irus’s jaw with one blow. The suitors cheer and laugh as Odysseus drags Irus outside, telling him not to “bully visitors and beggars” (411).

The suitors toast Odysseus, expressing hope that Zeus will “give you your heart’s desire” (411), which he interprets as an omen. Amphinomus wishes him future luck. Odysseus quietly warns him that the king will return and destroy the suitors for their wicked behavior. Amphinomus is troubled and sees “the danger in his mind” (413), but Athena has already decided that he will die at Telemachus’s hands.

Athena puts an idea into Penelope’s head to visit the suitors and advise Telemachus to spend less time with them. While Penelope naps, Athena amplifies her beauty. When she appears before the suitors, they all desire her. She rebukes Telemachus for allowing the suitors to abuse a beggar, lamenting that he used to have “good sense” (416). He says that he is no longer a child but knows “right and wrong” (416) and lacks someone to stand by his side. He prays to the gods that someone will help rid their palace of the suitors.

Eurymachus praises Penelope’s beauty, and she replies that the gods destroyed her beauty when her husband left for Troy. Now grief weighs her down, but if he returned, her beauty and good name would be restored. When Odysseus left, he told her to care for his parents, and when Telemachus grew into a man, she should take a new husband. She informs the suitors that the time has come but complains that they court improperly, since they devour her husband’s wealth without offering anything back.

Odysseus is secretly pleased that she provokes them to give gifts that will increase his wealth. Antinous says that she can have all the presents she wants, but the suitors will not leave until she chooses one of them for her husband. They bring her gifts.

As it grows dark, slave girls light and mind the braziers. Odysseus sends them to comfort Penelope, telling them that he will mind them. Melantho, who Penelope raised like a daughter but who is sleeping with Eurymachus, taunts Odysseus. He threatens to tell Telemachus, who will “slice you limb from limb,” causing the girls to scatter (420).

Athena provokes the suitors to taunt him further and more deeply wound his sense of pride. Eurymachus mocks him for being unwilling to work. Odysseus wishes they could compete in agricultural tasks or on the battlefield, suggesting that Eurymachus is a coward who would quickly flee if the king returned. Saying he will make the beggar pay for his arrogance, Eurymachus throws a stool at him, but Odysseus ducks. It misses him and knocks over an enslaved boy. The suitors are annoyed that Odysseus is ruining their fun. Telemachus tells them to go home and sleep off their bad tempers. Amphinomus tries to diffuse the situation. They pour libations to the gods and return home.

Book 19 details the meeting between Penelope and Odysseus in his beggar disguise. She confides her concerns to him, and they exchange stories. Eurycleia recognizes Odysseus, and he and Telemachus set their plan in motion.

Odysseus tells Telemachus that it is time to collect the weapons. Telemachus instructs Eurycleia to lock the women in their rooms. Athena provides light for Odysseus and Telemachus, prompting Telemachus to tell his father that “[s]ome god from heaven must be in the house” (425). Odysseus tells him to be quiet, to “discipline [his] thoughts” and go to sleep (425). Odysseus stays behind to test Penelope and the enslaved women.

As the women prepare a space for Penelope, Melantho taunts Odysseus, who responds with a story. When he was wealthy, he helped anyone who came to him and had many enslaved women. He notes that Telemachus is “a grown-up now” who “will notice any misconduct from the women” (427). Penelope reprimands Melantho then questions Odysseus, asking him who his parents are and where he is from.

Odysseus declines to answer on the grounds that it grieves him to speak of it. Penelope replies that she too is suffering from missing her husband. His loss has robbed her of “my beauty and my status” (428). The suitors pressure her to marry, but Penelope says, “I spin my schemes” (429). She describes how she fended them off for three years by telling them that she could not pick a husband until she had completed a burial shroud for her father-in-law, Laertes. Failing to do so could subject her to the community’s criticism. Each night she unpicked the work she did, prolonging the project indefinitely. In the third year, however, her female slaves revealed her scheme to the suitors. She has run out of ideas, and her parents are encouraging her to marry. Telemachus, who is now “capable of caring for a house,” is tired of the suitors “wasting his wealth” (429).

Odysseus responds by telling her his story: He is the grandson of King Minos of Crete and the son of Deucalion. His brother is Idomeneus, who fought at Troy. He claims to have seen Odysseus when he stopped by Crete on his way to Troy. Penelope weeps. Odysseus pities her, hiding his own tears.

She tests him, asking what Odysseus was wearing and what he and his men looked like. Odysseus describes the brooch that fastened his cloak and his favorite herald, Eurybates. Recognizing both, Penelope declares him a guest-friend. He reveals that Odysseus is on his way home. His delay is owing to his taking time to amass more treasure and his men being killed because they foolishly killed Helius’s sacred cattle. Penelope hopes he is right but doubts it.

She wants a slave to bathe him, and Odysseus asks for an old one who can relate to his troubles and will not mock him. Penelope calls Eurycleia. As Eurycleia washes him, she notices his scar. As a young man, Odysseus had gone boar hunting with his mother’s family, and in the process of striking and killing the boar, it gored him. Eurycleia cries out in recognition, trying to get Penelope’s attention, but she does not notice because “Athena turned her mind” (440). Odysseus grabs Eurycleia by the neck and tells her to be quiet. He will be in danger if anyone recognizes him. She declares her loyalty and finishes washing him quietly.

After, Penelope asks Odysseus for his advice, telling him that she cannot decide between staying with her son and respecting her husband or marrying the suitor who brings the most presents. She describes her dream, in which she enjoys watching 12 geese who have come to her house and eat her grain. When a large eagle swoops down and kills them, she cries. The eagle identifies itself as Odysseus, who explains that the geese are the suitors and he has come to kill them. Odysseus tells her that it is a sign her husband is about to return. She points out that “dreams are confusing, and not all come true” (442).

She feels the day of her departure nearing and plans a contest to determine who to marry. She will set up 12 axes, then ask the suitors to string Odysseus’s bow and shoot an arrow through the axes. He tells her to hold the contest soon, since the suitors will not manage to string Odysseus’s bow before he returns.

Book 20 begins with Odysseus and Penelope separately fretting while Telemachus steadily gains confidence. Athena intervenes to provoke the suitors to increasingly outrageous behavior.

After his conversation with Penelope, Odysseus cannot sleep; his mind is preoccupied with how he will defeat the suitors. He sees the enslaved women who have been sleeping with the suitors walk past, “giggling and happy to be out together,” and is enraged (445). He considers murdering them but keeps his composure. Athena appears at his bedside, and he shares his worries with her. She affirms that with her by his side, his success is ensured. Peaceful sleep, courtesy of Athena, envelops him.

Penelope wakes up from a nightmare and prays to the goddesses for death. Odysseus wakes up and hears her weeping. Both feel confused, having imagined that the other was beside them. Odysseus prays to Zeus for an omen, and he sends thunder. A slave who is grinding wheat and barley for the suitors’ banquet hears the thunder and prays that tonight will be the suitors’ last meal. Odysseus hears her and is reassured that he will get his revenge.

Telemachus asks Eurycleia if the beggar (meaning Odysseus) was “honored, with a meal / and comfortable bed” (449). He complains that his mother “treats unwanted guests with great respect, / and rudely sends the better ones away” (450). Eurycleia urges him not to criticize his mother.

She orders the slaves to prepare the hall. Eumaeus arrives with pigs for slaughter and asks Odysseus if the suitors still abuse him. Melanthius arrives with goats and taunts Odysseus, threatening to beat him if he does not leave. Odysseus remains silent, “contemplating / his murderous plans” (451). Another herdsman, Philoetius, arrives and asks about the ancestry and land of the beggar who “has a kingly look,” referring to Odysseus (452). Philoetius greets him kindly and fondly recalls the king. Odysseus predicts that the king will return and kill the swaggering suitors. Philoetius expresses his hope that it will happen and his willingness to fight alongside Odysseus.

The suitors continue to plot Telemachus’s death until an eagle flies by with a dove in its talons. Amphinomous interprets it as an evil omen and tells them to abandon the plot. The suitors return to the hall to feast. Telemachus brings Odysseus in and orders the suitors not to misbehave. His bold speech surprises them. Antinous mocks him, but Telemachus ignores him. The suitors give Telemachus an equal portion of the food, but Athena wants them to continue insulting him to further anger Odysseus. Ctesippus offers a “welcome gift” to Telemachus’s guest and throws an ox-foot at Odysseus, who ducks. The ox-foot harmlessly hits the wall behind him.

Telemachus is furious, telling Ctesippus that he would have put his sword through Ctesippus’s belly if the stranger had been hit. Agelaus tells the suitors that Telemachus is right to chastise them, then he tells Telemachus to encourage his mother to pick a new husband. Telemachus agrees that it is time and offers a “lavish dowry,” though he reiterates that he does not want to force her to remarry.

Athena causes the suitors to lose their wits. They begin laughing “unstoppably” and lose “control of their own faces” (457). Their meat drips blood, and they begin crying and wailing. Theoclymenus sees it as an evil omen and predicts doom for the suitors. Predicting that none of them will escape, he storms from the hall. The suitors make a joke of it. Telemachus ignores them, watching Odysseus for the sign to begin the attack.