Metablogicon: Father and Son

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Father and Son

It's rather distressing when Eumaeus greets Telemachus like a son upon his arrival, when his real father (Odysseus) is sitting feet away and is IGNORED. and he can't even say hello without sounding terribly awkward. I also find it interesting that he doesn't tear up at this moment, although later, when he glimpses his loyal dog Argos, he has to look away for the tears in his eyes.

BUT IT'S OKAY. Because moments later, Athena transforms Odysseus and reveals him to Telemachus, and they are geeking out and crying and saying, "No, YOU'RE a god!" and "No, I'm not!" It's a pretty dramatic and touching moment, and I'm glad Telemachus believes him, because I already know (thanks, introduction) that Penelope doesn't believe him at first. Anyway, Odysseus the Liar tells Telemachus to keep his secret, which doesn't make sense to me, because they're both extremely BA. otherwise known as BASICALLY ARETE or something. (how do you pronounce Arete?)

The suitors are all murdery and deceitful, and it's terrible, and I hoped that Telemachus wouldn't die, or else the whole story would be ruined. Thankfully, Bernard Knox ruined it for me, and I didn't get terribly anxious. However, in 436-449, Amphinomus is like, "Alright, yo, check it. Dark. Smoke. Let's not kill Telemachus." I appreciate that, and I'm sure Telemachus does, too.

1 comment:

teacon7December 15, 2011 at 10:44 AM
Arete = ar EY tay. At least as far as we know--attic greek happened 3000 years ago.

You'll notice that everyone in this story seems to get a choice- and then they seem to ignore it. The suitors have seen all of the Eagle-portents by now, and some of them notice that this might spell their certain death, but then they don't do anything. Why not? Were they fated to die? Even the good one? Or do they have a choice and are deliberately ignoring the knowledge of their certain doom?
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