Monthly Archives: March 2015

Book 16 Lines 333-337

“The two of them met, the herald and the noble swineherd, going by reason of the same message, to report to the lady. But when they had come to the house of the sacred king, the herald stood in the midst of the serving maids and delivered his message: ‘Now, O queen, your beloved son is back in this country’.”

Odysseus and Telemachos are planning a surprise attack to take back their kingdom and get rid of the suitors. My question is, if you’re going to take them by surprise, why would you announce to your enemies your return? And why do you need two people to relay the same message?

“And yet Athene would not altogether permit the arrogant suitors to keep from heart-hurting outrage, so to make greater the anguish in the heart of Odysseus, son of Laertes. There was a man among the suitors versed in villainy; Ktesippos was his name, and he had his home in Same. He”

In this quote, Athene wants the suitors to tease Odysseus so he’ll get all worked up in anger. My question is why does Athene want to get Odysseus angry if she was the one who helped him transform into a beggar?

In The Odyssey of Homer, there are several scenes where characters disguise themselves in the books. Towards the end of book 13, Athene tells Odysseus that she will make him look like a beggar so that no one can recognize him, “but come now, let me make you so no moral can recognize you. For I will wither the handsome flesh that is on your flexible limbs, and ruin the brown hair on your head, and about you put on such a clout of cloth any man will load the when he sees you wearing it; I will dim those eyes, that have been so handsome, so you will be unprepossessing to all the suitors…” (396-404). In book 14, when Odysseus arrives at swineherd’s home disguised as a beggar, he is treated very kindly by Eumaios who opens up to him and about Odysseus leaving to fight in Troy thinking that he is dead. Odysseus still disguised as a beggar tells Eumaios that Odysseus is not dead, that he will come back. Eumaios doesn’t really believe him but it brings him hope about Odysseus coming back. He then brings the beggar more food and wants to treat him the best he can. Odysseus is touched how kindly Eumaios treats him.

The quote I’d like to discuss is the following:

… He made his dwelling among the trees of the sacred grove of Phoibos Apollo, and he gave me glorious presents. He gave me seven talents of well-wrought gold, and he gave me a mixing bowl made all of silver, and gave along with it wine, drawing it off the storing jars, twelve in all. (Lattimore 142; lines 200-205)

This part of the book is talking about a gift that was given to Odysseus because he save the life of Maron and his family and how Odysseus and his companions were drinking wine. My question is: what does the seven talents really mean? I feel that there is a different meaning to “seven talents.”

I’ve thought of many shows that are on TV today, but most of them were already talked about on previous posts by my fellow classmates. However, I did find one show that I used to watch late 2014. The show is a Netflix series called “Hemlock Grove.”

Hemlock Grove is a Netflix Series that takes place in a fictional town in Pennsylvania. The people living in town ranged on all social classes, from the richest family to the poorest family. The TV series have certain characteristics of Jacobean theater; such as, secrets, promiscuity, abuse, killings, incest, and mainly demonic I’d say. The show started when police were investigating a murder of a high school cheerleader who was brutally murdered. The main suspects are two guys. One guy who is a ware-wolf and another guy who comes from high social class. However, they decided to investigate the case themselves. This let them to discover many secrets the town had hidden.

Acts 4 and 5 of the Dutchess of Malfi reminded me in some sort way of this show, where all the violence started, executions, etc.

RED BAND trailer below.