Odyssey Scholars Flashcards
Simon Goldhill says…
The main message is about what it is to be a man.
Penelope Murray sees…
Penelope as the equal focus and hero of the peon alongside her husband.
Samuel Butler believes…
A woman wrote the Odyssey and put herself in it as Nausicaa.
Jasper Griffin sees…
The importance of the message to live a long life opposed to the glamorous idea of the Iliad.
“Heroism of the survivor is not such a small thing”
Michael Silk emphasises…
The complexity of the poem says it’s hard to pin it down to one message.
“Its relentless exploratory character: ends are opened, questions raised, alternative voices let loose”
Nancy Felson and Laura Slathin discuss…
The importance of marriage, focuses on rebuilding of the marriage and oikos: importance of symbolism of the bed.
“The Odyssey might be read as a series of ingenious plans, the collision and unfolding”
“The Odyssey invites reflection on the impacts of war and the warriors absence on the wife”
Margaret Atwood wrote…
The female reinterpretation called the Penelopiad where Odysseus is seen to exaggerate and lie in this version it comments on the double standards in the text especially brutal sexism and elitism.
Barbara Graziosi identifies…
The importance of the knowledge the bards have. Demodocus knows about the gods in a way no other mortal does.
Robin Osborne identifies…
The poem contains elements of Archaic Greek Society and unfamiliar elements. Makes the audience realise it is set in the unfamiliar Bronze Age.
Peter Walcot believes…
Phaeacians are less good hosts than believed, Nausicaa warns that they may be unwelcoming.
Carola Scupham believes…
You can find a realistic Ithaca in the poem.
Robert Flower emphasises…
The importance of clothes, thinks a change of clothes highlights not only disguise but revelation.
Oliver Taplin points out…
The importance of sleep, good sleeps like in houses and bad sleeps like the bad of winds and cattle of Helios. Sleep is a crucial middle and end point, it happens instead of death.
Otis Wilde shows…
The importance of Nausicaa with her perspective being vividly given. Odysseus is seen as a sexual threat from the mountain lion simile.
Emily Kernus says…
The gods’ role is downplayed in the Odyssey compared to the Iliad.
