What does telemachus tell the suitors

Odysseus falls asleep, and his crew eat the forbidden cattle of the sun god. Odysseus loses his last ship and all of his crew members. He is rescued by Calypso, who offers him immortality but keeps him with her for seven years until commanded to let him go. The flashback ends. In Book 10, when actually within sight of Ithaca, Odysseus falls asleep, with the result that his men open the bag of winds, and everyone is blown far away.

What does this passage tell us about Odysseus and his relationship with his crew? When Odysseus returns, why does Aeolus Hippotades turn him away so rudely? Why does Odysseus send out men and not go himself to find out what race of men lived in Laestrygonia?

How is it that Odysseus escapes, while most of his men die? Why is Odysseus so harsh towards Eurylochus? What is different about the way that Odysseus overcomes the danger posed by Circe from the way he manages to survive other dangers? Why does Hermes save Odysseus from Circe and not from Calypso? Why is it necessary that Odysseus go to bed with Circe?

If Odysseus is in such a hurry to get home, why does a shipmate have to remind him to head for home? Odysseus comes off as a man unfrightened by anything. Why is he scared of the souls who approach him? How do the Greeks seem to view death? Why is it so important for Elpenor to have his body buried?

Why does Agamemnon not know his killer is dead? If Odysseus knows the future, why not just avoid the bad things? Why does Odysseus have to go to the land of the dead to hear the prophecy from Tiresias when Circe knew it? How does Odysseus escape the various dangers—from the sirens, Scylla, and Charybdis?

Does he show good leadership? What do some of the adventures that Odysseus describes have in common? Are there repeating patterns? What is an archetype? All the adventures that Odysseus describes happened before he was washed ashore on Phaeacia. Why does Homer tell the story this way, especially when the time order is thereby confused?

Books 13 — Ithaca at Last. Alcinous provides Odysseus with gifts and a ship and crew to return to Ithaca. Odysseus is carried, sleeping, to the shore. Athena appears to Odysseus and instructs him to disguise himself as a beggar. The Loyal Swineherd. Odysseus is taken in by his swineherd, Eumaeus , and spins a false history to conceal his identity?

The Prince Sets Sail for Home. Athena tells Telemachus to leave Sparta and return to Ithaca. He gives refuge to Theoclymenus , a seer. Why is Odysseus testing Eumaeus so much about his feelings toward Odysseus?

Why does Homer have Odysseus tell such a boring story to Eumaeus? What are some similarities in the story Odysseus tells Eumaeus and what has actually happened to him? How does the swineherd know that Odysseus is lying? Why is Eumaeus so reluctant to believe that Odysseus is alive? Why is it that a swineherd would be so faithful? Is it pride? Why does Odysseus ask about his father and mother when he already knows his mother is dead?

Why does everyone have to lie? Father and Son. Odysseus reveals his identity to Telemachus. Stranger at the Gates. Over the next few books, the number of omens in need of interpretation rises dramatically, as Homer increasingly depicts the suitors as condemned men and ever more explicitly foreshadows their impending doom. His evasion is justified by his prioritizing of practical considerations—the need to return home quickly—over decorum and other formal considerations.

Ace your assignments with our guide to The Odyssey! SparkTeach Teacher's Handbook. Why does Telemachus go to Pylos and Sparta? How does Odysseus escape Polyphemus? Why does Odysseus kill the suitors?

How does Penelope test Odysseus? What is happening at the beginning of The Odyssey? Why does Athena help Odysseus so much? Why does Nestor invite Telemachus to the feast before knowing his identity? Why does Calypso allow Odysseus to leave her island? Why does Odysseus sleep with Circe? He tells the legendary tale of the shroud that Penelope wove for the eventual funeral of Odysseus' father, Laertes, the former king now living on a farm where he grieves his son's absence.

Considering the attack on his mother, Telemachus remains surprisingly calm in his rebuttal. But he foreshadows later events by appealing to Zeus for assistance in vengeance.

Dueling eagles suddenly swoop near the assembly, which the seer Halitherses interprets as a sign of Odysseus' return. Eurymachus, the other leading suitor, rudely interrupts the aging prophet and threatens Telemachus.

Mentor speaks for Telemachus, but the assembly reaches no clear decision and dissolves. With the aid of Athena, who poses as Mentor and sometimes as Telemachus himself, the prince secretly prepares and sets sail for Pylos. Homer effectively uses the content and style of the speeches at the assembly to reveal the types and natures of the characters in the action. Bolstered by Athena, Telemachus takes the speaker's staff and demonstrates that he is quickly becoming a man capable of speaking up to the suitors.

The speech moves most of the assembly to silence as the prince presents his case. His initial appeal is emotional as well as informative. Men frequently are moved to tears in the epic, and Telemachus ends his oration by dashing the speaker's scepter and weeping with passion.

Antinous, however, shockingly insults the queen, whom he obviously wants to marry for mainly political reasons. Penelope, he says, has misguided the suitors for nearly four years now, leading on each man with hints and promises but choosing no one.

Antinous demands that Telemachus must send his mother back to her father's home so that the old man might choose a husband for her. At the showdown with the suitors in the great hall, he is shrewd enough to get his mother out of the line of fire and mature enough to be a real help to Odysseus. The prince stands against more than a hundred suitors with only his father and a couple of herdsmen on his side. He fights valiantly, earning his father's respect and trust.

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