Telemachy in the Odyssey

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Why does Homer start the Odyssey with the Telemachy? The Telemachy is the first 4 books of the Odyssey that follow the life of Telemachus, Odysseus’ son. Homer starts the Odyssey with the Telemachy for many different reasons. Firstly, he could have started the odyssey with the Telemachy to show how Odysseus’s’ absence affected others. Odysseus has been gone for 19 years now and people are missing him. Everyone Telemachus visits and meets seems to know about his father and speaks of him very highly, he is described as ‘Godlike Odysseus’ although he wasn’t a God but he had godlike qualities. Telemachus is lacks a fatherly figure and cries at the talk of his father. He has ‘an overwhelming desire to weep’ this is used to show how his absence can affect Telemachus and people around him. Another reason would be to show how Penelope is loyal to Odysseus while he’s away for so long, it shows how the women were loyal to their men if they loved him. It makes the audience/reader wonder whether Odysseus will be loyal while he is away. She could’ve be mischievous but she isn’t because this was expected of her to her be loyal, however Agamemnon’s wife was not faithful when he was away and killed Agamemnon, this story is shown to show the reader Penelope is a good character and Odysseus must be special and the love of her life if she’s been so loyal. You can see how Odysseus is the head of the house (Kyrios) and should control Xenia but because he is not in the home, the suitors take control. Another reason would be to show display crime and punishment. One example of this would be how the suitors will be punished for their crimes. We see how Menelaus is not happy with the suitor’s behavior, he calls the suitors ‘cowards’ and this shows that he is disgraced with them and will be taking action. This gives the story suspense, which makes the story more interesting as

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