An interesting lens to look through the Odyssey with is the ways in which the power of the Gods is universal, but the power of men is *contextual*- that power relies on other people believing he sits above them in the authority hierarchy.
Odysseus, while clever and strong and witty and ruthless, really is only a powerful leader when he is *believed to be* a powerful ruler and obeyed as such.
When his men are loyal and obedient, things tend to go well. But when his men question or disobey him, he loses more and more of what makes him a king- he loses ships, he loses soldiers, he becomes more at the mercy of whichever shore he washes up on.
He turns Circe from an unbeatable foe to a valuable ally when, with Hermes' help, she recognizes who he is, and treats him as a king, not...uh...lunch.
This, in part, helps explain his actions with the Cyclops. Being anonymous may have gotten him out of trouble, but it's his NAME that gives him power. So, of course, he has to make sure his great deeds are known among mortals. Even if it enrages the gods.
Scylla and Chadybris and the Sirens are forces of nature, uncaring and unreasonable- why should they care if the sailors who they devour are kings or slaves? They are only things Odysseus can survive, not defeat.
Calypso so completely dominates Odysseus because she not only doesn't recognize his authority over her as a king, but even as a man. She provides everything *to him*, controls when and if they go to bed, and if he leaves her island. (A true "young bride sent off to an arranged marriage" situation, which shows Odysseus at his most vulnerable.)
He only begins to regain his power when Nausicaa, and then her parents, recognize and treat him as a king- granting him full hospitality and decking him out fit for a returning hero.
And Odysseus is only truly king of Ithaca again when he has killed anyone who might be disloyal- when only those who truly see him AS KING remain.
He's never less clever or strong or witty or brutal, but his power in the story hangs on whether those around him recognize his power as legitimate.
Which makes his final reunion with Penelope so interesting- because she DOES challenge him. She does not instantly believe he is who he says (in a world where Zeus is fathering mortal children in the disguise of a swan, I'd be careful of handsom strangers too.)
You'd think, perhaps, that Odysseus would need to break her power and subdue her, like Circe. Or he'd need to reestablish himself as provider and authority, as Calypso had done to him.
But no. Penelope instead *tests him*, because she is just as if not MORE clever than he is (Her olive tree bed, her skill at weaving, her decades of defending the home, and chaste all the time- Athena coded all the way through.) - and then they are reunited as *equals* in a way that *no one else* in the story has been placed as Odysseus' equal. They are, when no one else is, Homophrosýne - of the same mind.
prguitarman
areudirty
yousharknotpass
discoholicmusic
izzy806
gracieabrams
origamiaround
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
