Telemahkos Coming of Age Essay
In The Odyssey, Homer highlights the character development of Telemahkos, the son of Odysseus. In the beginning of the book, Telemahkos is described as, “...for he, too, /was sitting there unhappy among the suitors,/ a boy, daydreaming.” (1, 144-146) He doesn’t know much about his identity, and doubts that he is the son of the great Odysseus. With some help from Athena, by the end of the book Telemahkos is sure of who he is, and takes pride in knowing that he is the son of Odysseus. When given a challenge, Telemahkos is able to thrive and prove he is strong, brave, and a leader. In the beginning, Telemahkos is uncertain of who he is. His house is filled by suitors waiting to claim his mother, and he has no fatherly figure. His mother tells him that he is the son of Odysseus, but Telemahkos has never known Odysseus. As Telemahkos says, “Friend, let me
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With this sudden confidence, Telemahkos calls a meeting amongst the suitors. “At daybreak we shall sit down in assembly/and I shall tell you--take it as you will--/you are to leave this hall.” (I, 422-424) In Greek culture, calling a meeting is something men do. By calling and summoning everyone for this assembly, Telemahkos shows that he has taken a step towards becoming a man. Greeted with shock, he leads a meeting and discloses his trip to find his father. One of the first people to notice this change in Telemahkos is Antinoos. “Telemakhos, no doubt the gods themselves/are teaching you this high and mighty manner.” (I, 434-435). Antinoos saying that the gods are teaching Telemahkos is high praise, and it shows signs of development in Telemahkos’ character. The suitors notice this change in Telemahkos, and so does the Nurse Eurykleia. Telemahkos decides to head on a journey, and gathers a crew to help him. When he tells Eurykleia, she responds with doubt. As she says after his reveal of the
At the beginning of the book Telemakhos is troubled with the suitors trying to marry his mother. He tries to keep them in line but they are rampant, especially when they're drunk. They kill Odysseus's herd for their own feedings and disrespect the house of Odysseus. So Telemakhos is obliged to search for his father because he is his last and only hope of keeping the suitors away. He is determined to search for his father and must find him at all costs. When Odysseus is stuck on the island of Kalypso, Athena had obliged him to leave the island in search of his home, Ithaka. She tells him of the memories he had there and he remembered how much he had longed for Ithaka. So he was determined to get home. Just like how Telemakhos was determined to find his father. They were destined by the gods to come together. In book 16, it talks about Telemakhos and his father talking to each other planning how they were going to take over the suitors. They talked and talked and were happy to see each other.
In Odyssey, Homer creates a parallel between Odysseus and Telemachos, father and son. The two are compared in the poem from every aspect. One parallel was the quest of Telemachos, in correlation with the journey of his father. In this, Odysseus is developed from a childish, passive, and untested boy, to a young man preparing to stand by his father's side. This is directly connected to the voyage of Odysseus, in that they both lead to the same finale, and are both stepping-stones towards wisdom, manhood, and scholarship.
Given these points, Athena (as Mentor) acts as a mentor and advisor for Telemachus. She is able to greatly increase his confidence, prepare him for his journey to find his father, and make him feel worthy of being his father’s son. In real life, many people have experience with a relationship similar to this, someone who gives them advice and is a positive, guiding influence in their life. This relationship is critical to Telemachus and his growth from an immature child to a man, and also proves to be an important relationship to have in one’s own
Telemachus demonstrates his new maturity when he explains his plan if he discovers his father is dead. “I can come back to my own dear country/ and raise a mound for him, and burn his gear,/ with all the funeral honors that benefit him,/ and give my mother a husband”(2.231-234). Telemachus changes because of the responsibility that he is taking on and the mature decision that he is prepared to make. Telemachus also exemplifies this step into manhood when he acknowledges that he must find a way to overcome his obstacle of the suitors. He takes on the quest to find his father, which is important to him.
The. " In disguise as an old friend of Odysseus', Athena travels to his manor in Ithaka, now overrun with noisy, lustful suitor's intent on marrying Odysseus' wife, Penelope. Odysseus' son, Telemakhos, unhappy among the suitors, greets Athena warmly as a stranger and invites her to their feast. As the suitors devour Odysseus' oxen, Telemakhos says he believes his father - whom he does not know at all - is dead. "(gradesaver.com/
After he gets together a crew he begins to take charge, and “Telemachus shout[s] out commands to all his shipmates: ‘All lay hands to tackle!’ They [spring] to orders” (106). Telemachus at this point is beginning to find his own voice. He is driven by the desire to find Odysseus and it is bringing out an authoritative side to him which the men seem to respect. Despite some of the crew being older than him they listen and respond positively to his orders. Once they reach their first destination, Pylos, King Nestor addresses Telemachus and his crew. At the start of this interaction Telemachus is quite fearful and intimidated by the king. Thanks to Athena however, “poised Telemachus answer[es], filled with heart, the heart Athena herself inspired, to ask for the news about his father, gone so long, and make his name
Throughout Homer’s Odyssey there is a consistent internal conflict regarding identity. Odysseus’ long circuitous route home can be attributed not only to the gods but to his own flaws that additively form his identity. Particularly, these faults of complacency, arrogance, and desire for concealment as means of avoidance are outlined in his early interactions most explicitly with Polyphemus (IX). Phaeacia, where he recounts his adventures, serves as a transition point where Odysseus is forced to address his flaws. He gains the capacity to learn from his mistakes and change the person he sought to cover up with disguises (VI, VII).
In book II of the odyssey Telemachus is about to start his journey to find his father. In lines 49-85 Telemachus is beginning to give his speech during the assembly. In this speech he is trying to get some people to help him on his voyage to find his dad. For the simple fact that everything is falling apart because Telemachus mother has attracted suitors. Also Telemachus knows his family doesn’t know how to defend themselves. Although it may seem as if Telemachus words aren’t registering to the people, they are really taking his words into consideration.
The Hero’s Journey is never an easy one. This particular journey, as detailed in Homer’s The Odyssey, is one of struggle, loss, heartache, pain, growth and triumph. It is comprised of many steps that Odysseus has to overcome and battle through in order to achieve his final goal of reaching his home and his loved ones. From the Call to Adventure to the Freedom or Gift of living, Odysseus conquered them all. The story begins in the middle of the story, as many of the oral Greek traditions did, with the Journey of Telemachus to find his father. Although Telemachus has not yet met his father, it is almost as if they are journeying together, where the end of both of their journeys results in being reunited. Telemachus journeys from being a boy to becoming a man, while out in the sea Odysseus is battling Poseidon to return to the home that wife that he loves and the home he has left behind.
Telemachus’ and his father Odysseus’ experiences/journeys parallel each other in many different ways. One way that they are both similar is that they are both very well liked by Athena, who accompanies both on their journeys around Greece. Athena acts as guardian to both father and son. A quote which proves this is I, 85 “In the meantime I will go to Ithaca, to put heart into Odysseus' son Telemachus; I will embolden him to call the Achaeans in assembly, and speak out to the suitors of his mother Penelope, who persist in eating up any number of his sheep and oxen; I will also condu...
The reader first finds the character of Telemachus sitting among the suitors in his father’s palace. This seemingly unimportant detail yields information regarding his temperament. The suitors, whom Homer portrays as malicious usurpers, continue to take advantage of Telemachus’ hospitality. Instead of defending his home, his mother, and his belongings from these men, Telemachus numbers among them. This lack of assertiveness displays his frailty and his helplessness given the overwhelming circumstances. At this point, Athena, disguised as Odysseus’ old friend Mentes, visits Telemachus in order to “inspire his heart with courage” (I.105). The two share a meal and engage in a lengthy conversation. The goddess discusses how Telemachus should handle the troublesome suitors and suggests a journey to try to ascertain the whereabouts of Odysseus. The conversation appears to immediately galvanize the young man’s resolve. In fact, immediately after her departure, he summons the courage to confront the suitors, demanding that they are to leave his house at once. The assertiveness that Telemachus displays in this instance is a dramatic departure from ...
Throughout the last books of The Odyssey Homer tells us how Odysseus restores his relationships with his friends and relatives at Ithaca. Perhaps one of the most revealing of these restoration episodes is Odysseus' re-encounter with his son, Telemachus. This re-encounter serves three main purposes. First, it serves to portray Telemachus' likeness to his father in the virtues of prudence, humility, patience, and planning. Secondly, it is Odysseus' chance to teach his son to be as great a ruler as Odysseus himself is. Lastly, Homer uses this re-encounter to emphasize the importance of a family structure to a society. To be able to understand the impact that this meeting had on Odysseus it is necessary to see that Telemachus has grown since his first appearances in the poem and obviously since his last contact with his father; Odysseus left Telemachus as an infant now their relationship is a man to man relationship rather than a man to child relationship.
...sniveling coward who would faint at the sight of blood, or worse yet, a traitor who would warn the suitors of Odysseus' plans. Apparently, Odysseus believes that since Telemachus was his son that was a good enough reason to trust him. (jackhdavid)” This quote shows how that even though Telemachus didn’t know his father, right when he found out who he was, he loved him automatically like if he knew him for years and stood by his side to do anything he needed to make Ithaca better for his family and his people. This father-son relationship is different than any other, they actually spend more time apart than they do together, and it is through distance that they develop respect and love for one another.
In the Odyssey, Telemachus, son of great hero Odysseus, who grows up in the world of greed and disrespect where the suitors take over his palace and court his mother, is one of the most significant character throughout the whole epic. His father, Odysseus, leaving the land Ithaca for 20 years, is the only warrior alive in Trojan war who hasn’t make his return home. During Telemachus’ expedition to search for the news of his father, he is under a process of maturation from the beginning in which he is mere a shadow of his father to the end in which he becomes more and more like him in terms of initiative, sensitivity and socialization.
middle of paper ... ... In Homer’s Odyssey, both Odysseus and his son Telemachus embark on long, difficult journeys; Odysseus trying to return from Troy to his home in Ithaca, escaping Calypso and the island of Ogygia, and Telemachus from Ithaca to Pylos and Sparta in search of his lost father. While The Odyssey tells of the courage both men demonstrate during their respective travels, their quests are the results of the intentions and desires of gods. Odysseus is trapped in exile on Ogygia by the will of Poseidon, whose anger Odysseus attracts when he blinds the Cyclops Polyphemus, son of Poseidon, and by the love of Calypso, who wishes to make Odysseus her husband.