The Portrayal of Key Characters in the Odyssey

• zeus- odysseus says that zeus is to blame for the cicones and a storm. he is defo to blame for the storm that killed o's crew on his boat for eating apollo's cow.
• zeus- in book 21 he approvingly gives a thunderclap when o strings the bow
• circe is rlly important, we will talk abt her later
• athena is super important. 
• hermes gives O the anti-circe-drug in book 10

they're not good people. they've been pressuring a woman who thinks her husband is alive to marry them, they set up camp in the woman's palace, they plan to kill telemachus, they have sex with some of O's slaves, they eat food that's not theirs, they would kill O if he returned to the palace and they treat the beggar (secretly O) rlly badly

• Antinous. the leader. he wants to sacrfice some of O's own sheeps to apollo. he attacks eumaeus and philoetius for crying in book 21. when O wants to have a go at the bow, antinous threatens him w/ violence. antinous is mean to leodes, antoher suitor#
• Eurymachus. the 2nd in command, a commander rimmer type, if u will. he cares abt his reputation, but his actions rlly destroy his reputation. in book 22, he blames all of his bad actions of antinous. who is dead
• Leodes. the priest. he is not an archer, and he begs for mercy. he says that he tried to stop the suitors from being bad, which is a lie. it might be argued that as a religios figure he should have seen the wrongs in his actions and so if actually worst than the other suitors. 

at the beginning there are about 600 men on each boat, 50 on the 12 boats. 6 on each boat die @ the cicones, and 6 men die @ polyphemus. then the entirety of the other 11 boats die @ the laestrygonians. elpenor is the last to die on the prescribed sources. honestly elpenor is a mood. 

-Eurylochus (the 2nd in command) we can question his leadership in book 10 when he just lets his men go to circe while he waits outside. he is ok with leaving the men with circe, which is a stark contrast to O.

the crew tends to make bad decisions. they stayed and extra day w/the cicones and opened the bag of wind. this caused the death of 72 men

but they can be waaaaaaaaay more sensible than O, eg. not waiting for polyphemus and advising O not to tell polypohemus his name. O did not listen/

his crew is also called 'loyal' w/the lotus eaters and polyphemus when they listen to O

while he is a bad guy, he's a very balanced bad guy. yk? in book 9, we see that he is rlly organised. he makes cheese, he keeps his animals sorted by age in pens, he makes cheese w/whey. he is nice to his sheep and goats.

although he is also pretty damn brutal, ie. eating O's men. there are more ways that he is brutal:

• he doesn't talk to his neighbours (i don't talk to my neighbours)
• he drinks milk instead of wine :OOO
• he thinks the cyclopes are better than the gods
• he has no respect for xenia
• he traps the men in his cave
• he keeps poo in heaps in his cave D:
• he gets drunk rlly easily

she is an ideal greek woman, she's rlly pretty, she sings and she weaves. at the same time she drugs men and turns them into pigs... for the craic.

she is also the perfect hostess. she gives food, a bath, clothes, lodgings, gifts and advice. she also sleeps w/odysseus. 

she represents to odysseus danger, temptation and relief from his trouble. she ultimately is super-helpful bc she tells O to go the underworld. which we don't have to cover in gcse level so thank God

Penelope was actually perfect. the book says 'penelope is the standard that all women in greece (and mythology) were expected to match'

- she's modest as she covers her face while crying. idk, i cover my face w/my hand or just avoid ppl  if i cry bc i look bad... it's not abt modesty

- good hostess- she is polite and xenia-ful. yet speaks her mind against the suitors when they're worrying abt their reputation. penelope: "don't worry biach, u have no rep left <3"

- good wife: she refuses to marry even tho O is probably dead. she is a perfect match 4 odysseus, she's rlly smart. a woman being cunning was the greek standard- she weaves + unweaves laertes' shroud until she's caught. 

-generous + compassionate: she cries like a river for this stranger in a not weird way

'she knows what she must do, but is too grief-stricken and harassed by the suitors to fulfil her role as queen as effectively as she might wish'- might be seen as her 1 fault. telemachus is also a fault bc he's not a brilliant character

telemachus is maybe 20, bc he was born just before odysseus left for troy. 

throughout the odyssey he didn't have much authority. at all. following his finding out who the beggar was (his dad) he begins to show more authority and become more assertive.

this can be shown where he bosses penelope around and kills 12 innocent women. while this can be seen as obviously bad and mysoginistic, it's great by greek standards!! he's becoming a man! (it does show character growth tho so it's worth mentioning in an essay)

the slaves in the odyssey are either good or bad and there is no middle ground.

the good ones- EURYCLEIA: the most trusted not-royal woman in the palace. she is completely obedient and was odysseus' nurse when he was young.

EUMAEUS: the swineherd, the 1st man to welcome odysseus to ithaca in book 14. fights against suitors, w/ telemachus and philoetius kills melanthius.

PHILOETIUS: the cowherd. fights against suitors, w/ telemachus and eurmaeus kills melanthius.

PHEMIUS: didn't want to be a performer @ the suitor banquet

the bad ones- MELANTHO: she verbally attacks the beggar in book 19. it's assumed she's 1 of the 12 dead maids

MELANTHIUS: gives the suitors weapons

THE 12 MAIDS: they answer penelope back and telemachus hangs them for it