Odyssey

Part 3
Book XIX: Odysseus, Penelope, and Eurycleia
Eurycleia: : first Odysseus's wet nurse when he was a child and was
a confidant for him his entire life. She then becomes Telemachus's
nurse and his confidant

The book opens with the execution of the first stage of the strategy
hatched by Odysseus and Telemachus. All the weapons are
removed from the banquet hall and put in the store-room. Odysseus
also instructs Telemachus not to reveal the real purpose of the
removal to the suitors, not even to Penelope. As a master strategist,
he knows that the power of an assault lies in surprise. No suitor
can even begin to imagine a threat in a beggar, although in his fight
with Irus, Odysseus has given them a glimpse of what is to come to
them. But, blinded by pride and complacency, the suitors overlook
Homer begins the scene on a low key with Melantho, the sluttish maid,
insulting Odysseus and getting reprimanded by Penelope for it. Penelope
orders a seat for Odysseusand, once again, Odysseus spins a tale about
himself. He talks about his meeting with Odysseus in Crete, nineteen years
back. He gives her an accurate description of himself at that time in order
to convince her of the authenticity of his tale. When Penelope begins to cry
on hearing the description of Odysseus, he cleverly slips in the veiled news
of his return: “he is safe and will soon be back

Eurycleia is called in to bathe Odysseus. She at once recognizes, on his

thigh, the scar that he got when he was a boy; from the white tusk of a
boar when he went on a visit to his maternal grandfather, Autolycus. She
recalls how it was Autolycus who had named him Odysseus, “the victim of
enmity” (p. 260). Eurycleia is filled with “delight and anguish” on
recognizing Odysseus. But before she can expose his identity, Odysseus
puts his hand over her mouth and orders her to keep quiet and wait.
Penelope, at this juncture, requests Odysseus to interpret a
dream of hers. In her dream, she saw a great eagle sweep
down and kill twenty geese which she keeps in the house.
The dead geese lay in a heap on the floor. Penelope cried in
the dream. The eagle came back and told her that it was
“not a dream but a happy reality” and that the geese
represent the suitors and the eagle was her husband (p.
263). At this point the dream was over. Odysseus declares
that Penelope’s dream has already been interpreted in her
dream itself. There can be no other possible interpretation.
 Book XX: Prelude to the Crisis
While Odysseus lies down to sleep, he hears the voices of the women servants,
who are the suitors’ mistresses. The moral degeneration among the womenfolk in
the house of chaste Penelope infuriates Odysseus. He is tempted to dash after
them and put them to death, but he fights his “repressed fury”.

While Odysseus prays to Athene and receives assurance, Penelope prays to

Artemis, the chaste goddess, to send her death as she can no longer withstand
the indignity and disgrace of her situation.

The Feast of Apollo falls the next day, which is a public holiday. Preparations are
made for the feast in the palace. Eumaeus and Philoetius, the cowman come to
the palace. Once again Odysseus is insultingly taunted by Melanthius, the
goatherd, but he does not retaliate. The suitors discuss ways and means to
murder Telemachus. At this moment a bird of omen appears on their left. It is a
soaring eagle carrying a terrified dove in its talons. The omen is interpreted by
Amphinomus, one of the suitors, as a warning against such an evil scheme. He
The grand feast begins. Telemachus asks the suitors to
refrain from “all provocation and violence.”
Telemachus’ menacing tone astonishes the suitors but
they are afraid of killing him since the bird of omen has
warned them against it. At the height of the riotous
feast, the suitors demand that Telemachus go and order
his mother to choose a husband on this grand occasion.
Declaring that his “childhood is a thing of the past,”
Telemachus refuses to “drive her from the house
against her will”
 Book XXI: The Great Bow
Penelope brings out Odysseus’ bow and iron axes from the store room and challenges
the suitors to try their skill on the bow. She proclaims that she will marry the man
who strings the bow and shoots an arrow through the holes of the handles of the axes,
lined in a row. It is a tense situation. A number of suitors try to string the bow but
none succeed. While the suitors try the bow and get disgraced in succession,
Odysseus calls Eumaeus and Philoetius aside and reveals himself to them. He gives
them specific instructions to cause a situation in which he gets a chance to string the
bow

The suitors rationalize their failure; saying it is due to the fact that the day belongs to
the archer god, Apollo. Perhaps the next day may be more propitious. At this
juncture,Odysseus begs to have a try and is roundly mocked at. Penelope orders that
he be given a chance; clarifying that even if he wins, she will only gift him new clothes
and weapons and send him home. Telemachus, who is aware of the next stage of the
strategy, sends her to her apartment. Philoetius and Eumaeus bar the doors from the
outside. The suitors are now completely trapped in the banquet hall. Final battle
 Book XXII: The Battle in the Hall
Odysseus first shoots Antinous through the neck. The sudden
collapse of Antinous creates panic all around. The suitors run
about in search of weapons but find none. Odysseus calls them
“curs” and pronounces their doom. Realizing that Odysseus is
back, the suitors are petrified with terror. They cry for mercy.
Eurymachus pleads that Antinous, “the prime mover in these
misdeeds” is already dead and promises that they will repay
what they have used, adding gifts as well (p. 289). Odysseus’
response to the plea is an arrow through the nipple of his
breast. Now the battle begins in earnest. Telemachus has
brought the armour. And the four men; Odysseus, Telemachus,
Eumaeus, and Philoetius, armed with spears and arrows, begin
Twelve faithless maidservants are ordered to carry
the dead bodies of the suitors to the portico of the
walled courtyard. They are made to wash the blood
from the floors and the walls. Afterwards they are
hanged in the courtyard by Telemachus. Melanthius
is horribly mutilatedand thrown out into the
courtyard. After the cleaning, begins the process of
fumigating the house by burning sulphur. Only after
that does Odysseus permit the women of the house to
come out and welcome him.
 Book XXIII: Odysseus and Penelope
Odysseus’ homecoming cannot be complete till he is united with his
wife, the centre of the family. Eurcyleia informs Penelope of the
happenings in the hall. Her disappointment over the years has been
too deep for Penelope to believe in her words. In her opinion,
Eurycleiahas gone crazy. But when Eurycleia declares that the
beggar is in reality Odysseus come back, Penelope’s heart leaps
with hope. But her characteristic prudence does not permit her to
hastily run to the man supposed to be her husband. She has to
make sure of it herself. She enters the hall and takes a chair
opposite Odysseus, who is sitting by one of the huge columns. For
quite some time she watches Odysseus without uttering a single
word.

Odysseus diverts Telemachus’ attention to the problems they are

Odysseus and Penelope are united at long last. They go to
bed, make love, and then Odysseus tells her about the
prophecy of Teiresias and narrates his adventures. Next
day Odysseus and Telemachus, accompanied by Eumaeus
and the cowman, sneak out of the palace and the town,
hidden in the darkness thrown over them by Athene
 Book XXIV: Peace
Homer shifts the scene to the farm of Laertes, Odysseus’
father, whom he finds in his gardener’s dress. Odysseus
cannot help telling his father a false tale about himself. It is
quite in character. Moreover, the prospective joy of reunion
with his father inspires him to play a little drama before
revealing himself. But Laertes is as skeptical as Penelope
and demands some definite proof. Once again, there is a
recognition scene between father and son. Odysseus offers
two proofs of his identity; shows Laertes the scar, and
mentions the gifts his father gave him when he was a little
boy: thirteen pear trees, forty fig trees, ten apple trees and
fifty rows of vines. If the bed is the secret token between
● The Odyssey is a poem of peace and social order
● the Iliad is a poem of war and disorder.
● The largest theme that runs through the epic is that of
the control of brute violence by the force of intellect and
reason. No quieter ending could be imagined for the
poem than a sudden, god-ordained cessation of the
violence that has been building up for over half of the
narrative.
● Without divine intervention only two things could have
happened - a feud or an exile for Odysseus and his family.
● The purpose of classical epics was the establishment
ofsocial order, which was a civilizational necessity of
classical times.