The Odyssey Study Questions
L19
“The Odyssey” Study Guide
I. Complete the following questions as we read through the selected stories in The Odyssey. Answer with as much detail possible in the open space between questions.
II. This study guide will be a QUIZ grade. It is due at the beginning of class Block day, April 14/15 (Test Day). It is your responsibility to keep up with the correct answers as we go through discussion in class. If you wait until the last minute, not even an all-nighter will catch you up!
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TELL THE STORY
1. The Odyssey opens with a convention of epic poetry—the poet’s prayer to the Muse. What does the poet ask of the Muse?
PART ONE: WANDERINGS
CALYPSO, THE SWEET NYMPH
2. To what is Hermes’s flight compared?
3. What do you see, hear, feel, and smell in this famous description of Calypso’s home?
4. Why has Hermes arrived at Calypso’s island?
5. Considering that they often have the same appearance and emotions, what do you think really distinguishes humans from gods?
6. What is being compared in lines 119-122? What is the significance of the comparison?
“I AM LAERTES’S SON…
7. What impression do you get of Odysseus from his description of himself?
8. What central idea of the poem does Odysseus express in lines 143-146?
9. In lines 156-162, Odysseus, who considers himself a great leader, blames his men’s refusal to obey him for the Cicones’ attack. Does their mutiny reflect unfavorably on Odysseus? Why or why not?
10. What is “unyoking time”?
11. What details in the description of dawn tell you that the event is personified? (To the Greeks, Dawn was not a personification of something nonhuman, but a full-fledged goddess named Eos, the daughter of Hyperion.)
THE LOTUS EATERS
12. Explain what is happening to Odysseus’s men in the land of the Lotus Eaters.
THE CYCLOPS
13. Why do you think Odysseus and his men burn an offering for the gods?
14. How does Homer help the reader sense what Odysseus is up against with this strange opponent?
15. What does the phrase “fair traffic” mean? What does the Cyclops mean by his questions in lines 242-245?
16. What did you learn in an earlier episode that explains why Odysseus gives the Cyclops a warning?
17. What is going on in lines 271-272? What does Odysseus’ remark suggest about his character?
18. Why do you think Homer includes such gruesome details in lines 277-283?
19. What two things are being juxtaposed in lines 297-305? What effect does this juxtaposition have on the reader?
20. What do you think Odysseus plans to do with the pointed staff?
21. Since Odysseus is the captain, he could have just chosen the men he wanted for the job rather than drawing lots. Is it smart to “toss” for this job, or is Odysseus foolish in risking the future of the whole group by not just appointing the men he thinks best fit to go with him?
22. Odysseus says that the rams may have entered the cave at “a god’s bidding.” What does this mean, and what does it suggest about the role that the rams will play in the future?
23. What is ironic about the Cyclops’s saying he will Nohbdy last?
24. What is the blinding of the Cyclops compared to in lines 386-391?
25. Explain the irony in lines 398-408.
26. Do you think that Odysseus’ laughter is wise, since he and his men are obviously not yet out of danger?
27. How would you characterize Odysseus in lines 416-420?
28. What steps does Odysseus take to prepare for their escape?
29. What is ironic about line 454?
30. In lines 466-469, why do the “fellows’ faces” turn from shining to grief? Why does Odysseus hush his men?
31. Is it wise for Odysseus to taunt Polyphemus? Explain.
32. What is ironic about the order that Odysseus gives in lines 486-489?
33. How might Odysseus’s revelation of his name his name get him and his men into trouble later on?
34. Do you believe Polyphemus’s promise? Is he trustworthy? Explain.
35. Go back and reread the invocation (TELL THE STORY) that Homer uses to open The Odyssey. How much of Polyphemus’s curse will come true?
THE WITCH CIRCE
36. What does the sailors’ opening of the bull’s-hide bag suggest about their relationship with Odysseus?
37. To emphasize the strange gentleness of the wild beasts’ behavior, what does Odysseus compare them to in lines 543-546?
38. Like Calypso, when we first glimpse her, Circe is at her loom, singing and weaving. Based on this, what inference might you make about women in ancient Greece?
39. At what other point in the epic have some of Odysseus’s men eaten something that made them lose their desire for home?
40. What has happened to the men in lines 570-576? Will Eurylochus somehow rescue them?
41. Hermes helps Odysseus on page 913. What other role has Hermes played in The Odyssey?
THE LAND OF THE DEAD
42. Whom is Odysseus referring to when he uses the term “sovereign Death”?
43. Which god is Teiresais referring to in lines 621-623?
44. Remember Homer’s words at the beginning of the epic on page 890, when he reveals how the story ends. According to Homer, will Odysseus’s men heed Teiresias’s warning, or does the seer’s prophecy come true?
45. Much of what Teiresias says has already been recounted by Homer in the beginning of the poem. Does this lessen your enjoyment of the epic to know what happens in advance? Explain.
THE SIRENS; SCYLLA AND CHARYBDIS
46. In line 663, what is the meaning of the word innocent?
47. From what you know of Odysseus, do you think he will take the risk of listening to the Sirens’ song?
48. People sometimes use the expression “caught between Scylla and Charybdis.” What does it mean?
49. Do you agree with Circe’s advice that it is better to sacrifice six men than to risk losing them all? Explain.
50. Who else warned Odysseus to leave Helios’s cattle alone?
51. Read lines 718-723. Do you agree that it is better to know about the dangers you are facing? Explain.
52. Why does Odysseus put wax in his men’s ears?
53. Why does Odysseus try to gesture with his eyebrows for the men to untie him?
54. What does it mean that the Sirens have dropped under the sea rim?
55. Read lines 770-777. Is it necessary for great leaders to inspire their men? Explain.
56. What do you think of Odysseus’s decision not to tell his men about the danger of Scylla? Is his silence justified? Why or why not?
57. What does Odysseus’s failure to remember Circe’s warning about the uselessness of weapons reveal about his self-image?
58. What things are being compared in lines 822-827? What is the effect of this comparison?
59. Do you agree with Odysseus that this is the worst sight he has seen on his travels? Why or why not?
60. What have Teiresias and Circe told Odysseus about Helios’s cattle?
THE CATTLE OF THE SUN GOD
61. Since Odysseus is the captain, shouldn’t he have just ordered his men to bypass Thrinakia? Explain your response.
62. What does Odysseus mean when he says that no man can avoid the eye of Helios?
63. Who is the “Lord of Noon”?
64. What does Eurylochus mean by the comment in line 893?
65. In The Odyssey, Odysseus constantly takes credit when things go well. Now, when a tragedy occurs, he blames the gods for making him fall asleep. What does this reveal about his character?
PART TWO: COMING HOME
THE MEETING OF FATHER AND SON
66. What important Greek value does Telemachus’s and Eumaeus’s treatment of the unknown beggar reveal?
67. What does Telemachus’s response to Odysseus’s transformation suggest about the relationship between the ancient Greeks and their gods?
68. What epithet (see page 970 for a definition) is used to characterize Odysseus in line 1005?
69. Why has Athena changed Odysseus’s appearance?
70. TO what are the cries of Odysseus and Telemachus compared?
THE BEGGAR AND THE FAITHFUL DOG
71. Why would a great epic concern itself with an old dog?
72. How does the description of Argos make you feel?
73. What do the lines 1053-1055 reveal about Odysseus’s character?
74. Why is the scene in lines 1062-1066 ironic?
75. What do you think of Eumaeus’s idea about servants?
76. What qualities does Penelope reveal about herself through her actions on page 933?
77. Based on what you know about Odysseus, what do you predict his strategy for dealing with the suitors will be?
78. Why do you think Odysseus does not reveal his identity to Penelope yet?
THE TEST OF THE GREAT BOW
79. What images does Homer use to help his audience visualize even something as ordinary as the scene at the storeroom?
80. Why is Penelope crying?
81. Given that Penelope is carrying a huge bow and arrows capable of inflicting “coughing death,” why do you think Homer chooses to mention her beauty here? Does he mean simply her physical attractiveness, or is he suggesting something more?
82. What is the internal conflict that Odysseus faces in lines 1126-1129?
83. Why does Odysseus decide to reveal his identity to the two men on page 937?
84. What does Odysseus mean in line 1147?
85. What does Odysseus plan to do to vanquish the suitors?
86. Why is Penelope’s acceptance of the beggar as a suitor ironic?
87. What do Odysseus’s actions in lines 1174-1177 suggest about his state of mind?
88. What epithet is used for Odysseus in line 1185? Where else has Homer used this epithet for Odysseus?
89. List some auditory images you find on page 939 (ex. “twanging bow”).
DEATH AT THE PALACE
90. The climax of the story is in this section. What is the major question you expect the climax to answer?
91. What makes the description of Antinous’s death especially powerful?
92. What does Homer mean when he says the suitors “imagined as they wished” in line 1249?
93. What does Eurymachus’s speech reveal about his character?
94. What two things has Odysseus done that make it nearly impossible for the suitors to “fight [their] way out or run for it”?
95. Why does the appearance of Athena’s shield make the suitors “mad with fear”?
96. To what are Odysseus and his men compared on page 943?
ODYSSEUS AND PENELOPE
97. DO you think the maids’ punishment fits their crimes, or is it excessive? Explain.
98. How do you think Odysseus is likely to react to Penelope’s “testing”?
99. Why does Penelope have so much trouble recognizing Odysseus?
00. To what does the simile in lines 1342-1346 compare Odysseus?
01. What is Penelope implying in lines 1355-1360?
02. What was the process by which Odysseus built his bed?
03. What do Penelope’s physical sensations suggest she is feeling?
04. What is ironic about Penelope’s statement “No one ever matched your caution!”?
05. What does Penelope mean when she refers to her “stiff heart”?
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