Odyssey, The Iii: The Central Themes

[Music] The Odyssey is an epic poem A Tale of heroic conflict but it is not a tale with one single theme running all through it from beginning to end it's a story with three different themes skillfully interwoven and all three based on one Central moral truth two of the themes are realistic they're about recognizable people in situations which exist today just as they existed 3,000 years ago one of these is the theme of the soldier Odus returning home the second tus give me the bow the mighty king is the theme of the young boy tmus growing up to become a man but the third theme is not realistic it is fantastic the wanderings of aysus among witches and ghosts Giants and monsters happen beyond the fron teers of real life now in all three themes one great moral truth is worked out it's this even against terrible odds intelligence will win if it is combined with bravery and determination courage plus cleverness cannot be beaten it's not enough to be brave without Brains it's not enough to be clever without guts both are necessary both brains and bravery telemus develops them both adicus has them both in his last battle Odus faces the most fearful odds and wins but before this terrible struggle with the suitors he shows his heroism in a more difficult Way by letting himself be humbled dressed as a miserable beggar he takes insults and abuse in his own own house and While others sleep warmly indoors he has to lie down outside wrapped in his cloak at this point even Homer ridicules his hero as aysus lies there brooding on his revenge Homer says and so his heart obeyed him well and was steadfast unflinchingly but he lay tossing side to side just as a man beside a hearty blazing fire holds out a huge Sausage full of fat and blood turning it back and forward eager to have it grilled so now Odus turned this way and that of all the similes and the Odyssey this is the most trivial Homer wants even us to laugh at the untypical hero rolling back and forward sleeplessly like a grilling sausage there is an old Greek saying God helps those who help themselves the God who helps a disuse is Athena Palace Athena she's the personification of wisdom and so she naturally sides with the clever hero just so in the Bible God helps those who prove themselves worth helping when Joshua at the head of the Israelite Army is invading the promised land the Bible says the Lord delivered the enemy into Joshua's hands in the Bible God favors strong men and gives them greater strength in The Odyssey Athena favors an intell intelligent man and gives him greater wisdom even when without knowing who she is he tells her a lie she admires him and favors him for it I come from the aisle of creit far across the sea I did a murder there now I am an outlaw only a master of cunning only a genius at Deception could out do you in tricker only the Devil Himself you indefatigable cheat not even now not not even in your own home will you tell the truth no what you really love is complicated deceit come now abandon these evasions you and I are experts you are best of all Mortal men at plots and plans and storytelling I am craftiest of all the gods you did not know me Palace Athena daughter of Zeus true goddess you are difficult to recognize and yet I remember well how gracious you were to me now lady weave a cunning plan for my revenge and stand beside me breathing Valor into my soul as once when we destroyed the glittering crown of Troy if now you will support me with such energy my graye goddess I can fight 300 men the First theme in the Ary then is one which has been developed time and time again since Homer the return of the soldier a lonely man coming home after long absence and struggling to throw Interlopers out of his house and recapture the love of his family the second theme also is common in Western literature the problem of a boy growing into man Ood young telemus if he is to become a real man has to break away from his mother and assert himself against the sutors who have invaded his home he has to find his father and prove that he is a worthy son it's Athena goddess of wisdom who helps him to grow up she gives him guidance but it is telemus himself who makes the effort at first he is in despair lost my father is lost to sight and knowledge leaving tears and anguish to me I have a life of Misery the noblemen and princes of the neighbor islands are paying Court to my mother wasting my household she will neither refuse their vile offers nor yet bring the thing to an end meanwhile they devour my home greedily and one day soon they will destroy me too for boy you surely need Odus but let me tell you what your strategy should be come [Applause] [Music] Jo tomorrow I sit out for Sparta and for pyos fill me 12 jars of wine and 20 of flow and keep this secret I shall come for them this evening after my mother leaves the hall and goes to rest oh why my boy what ever made you think of such a plan how could you dream of traveling abroad an only son and so much loved now stay with us Comfort yourself my dear God is behind my plan but swear you will not reveal this to my mother and th prompted by Athena telemus sets out on his travels the second stage of his education to meet older more experienced men and learn how to behave the final stage in telemus development as shown by Homer is to face opposition fearlessly even at the risk of his life Telus now is the time to face the battle the final test of Manliness and excellence and learn how not to bring disgrace upon your fathers whose strength and courage are renowned throughout the world watch me dear father now and you shall see my courage brings no dishonor on the house of Brave adicus now at last telemus is a man like his father modern critics make a great deal out of his search for a disuse they treat it as a symbol of a universal experience they say that every young man growing up has to search for his father and find him sometimes this means recognizing that his father is not a tyrant who wants to repress him but a wise and friendly companion who wants to guide him sometimes it means breaking away from his mother and deciding to model himself on a map rather than remaining a protected child but there's an interesting point here none of the Greek and Roman critics who knew the Odyssey so well ever suggested that telemus search for his father had a symbolic meaning does this mean that a symbolic interpretation is wrong what about the third theme of The Odyssey the theme of the wanderings of adicus his adventures with cannibal Giants Enchanted islands and supernatural beings all the stories in this section are exciting in every one of them odius shows the same courage and resource still they are not at all like ordinary life what are we to think of them I have a suggestion you must have noticed how much trickery and disguising and downright lying there is in the Odyssey in the other homeric story The Iliad practically everyone speaks the truth straight out but adicus in the Odyssey is one of the most remarkable Liars of all time now tell me truly answer all my questions straight who are you and your home and family where are they sort of ship and sers brought you oversee to itha I'm sure you did not come on foot right I shall answer all your questions truly my story is a long one though I'll cut it short Incas that spacious Island I was born and reared the son of a Rich Man cast a hakes but illegitimate after he died my brother split up his his property and left me a poor pittance so I became a pirates roaming the wide [Laughter] Seas enter stranger later disguised as a beggar odius even tells an elaborate lie to his own wife Penelope now stranger answer me this question first of all who are you and your home and parents where are they my lady very wise and beautiful are you and famous far and wide and much beloved too I beg you do not ask about my home and family lest I should break down and weep for remembering them I also have my sorrows since I lost my husband but tell me who you are come where was your birthplace you were not born of rocks and trees as in the prophet well I shall tell you deeply though it Grieves me far off in creets there is a rich and famous city called kosis there King Minos ruled in days of old his son dualon was my father I am called ethon once long ago I saw Odus there he was my guest at nosus I remember yet he wore a crimson cloak double with a gold clasp showing a Hound that clutched a dappled Thorn still struggling [Music] inventions Tall Tales fictions in fact the whole Odyssey glorifies one side of the Greek character which is played down in The Iliad the Greeks were clever they admired an ingenious tricker now what do you think are we supposed to believe or all the stories of this tells now for 9 days a northern Tempest drove us on across wild Seas we reached a landfall on the 10th among the Lotus Eaters who get food from flowers I sent three crewmen out on a reconnaissance the Lotus Eaters did not try to kill the men but gave them Lotus fruits sweet as honey in Savor when once they tasted that they quite forgot their mission and wished to stay forever with the Lotus Eaters feeding on Lotus fruit and quite forgetting home they wept when I arrested them and took them back to the ship and tied them up and threw them in the hold wonderful stories these but are we supposed to believe them remember odius has no witnesses to prove or disprove what he says now we sailed up the narrow channel sick with fear to Port was the monster Siller to starbored cibus with fearful Roars she sucked the salt SE water down and belched it seething up again as high as the cliffs as often as she sucked the salt sea water in the boiling depths were all revealed the cags around roared horribly and down below in the abyss Dark Earth and sand were seen my men were Panic stricken and while they watched caribdis waiting for their Doom the monster Siller snatched six of my Sailors up out of the ship I saw their arms and legs struggling within her clutch I heard them calling me I watched them ring while the monster lifted them and then deviled them all within her cave screaming and stretching out their hands to me in agony of all my trials and afflictions on the sea that was the grimmest sight and the most pitiful can we be sure that uus was not inventing all these stories like his fake autobiographies in Hell among the Dand I saw King Tantalus condemned to stand in a lake the water lapped at his chin he thirsted for it madly but could never drink whenever he bent down his head in eagerness the water ebed away to nothing leaving only the dark Earth around his feet miraculously parched above his head grew lofty trees heavy with fruit pears apples figs and olives and sweet pomegranates whenever he stretched up his hand to grasp the fruit a gust of wind would carry them away up to the sky perhaps all the tales told by adicus were one gigantic confidence trick then there was Copus enduring punishment pushing a monstrous rock upill with all his might with every muscle strain he heed it up and up laboriously struggling but when he was just about to reach the summit gravity turned it back and down with a rush and a roar the ruthless Rock rebounded if it was not a confidence trick played by aisus it is certainly won by Homer himself long before his time folk tales had been circulating around the world he took a wide selection of these attached them to the name and personality of a real hero adicus and made the Odyssey I believe he was the first man who deliberately made up a long story to give artistic pleasure to his Heroes if so the odssey is the first real extant piece of fiction in our world the an of all our novels and stories and romantic Tales of Adventure it's a masterpiece of plot but a plot alone will not make a great book Homer is tremendously skillful at exploring the mysteries of human nature The Odyssey is particularly good at characterizing different types of women there is for example a Charming young princess n who gives clothes and food to uus when he is Shipwrecked on her father's Island there is the lovely witch CI who tries to turn a disuse into an animal as she has already turned some of his crewman she fails then there's a glimpse of that exquisite beauty who started the whole thing the Trojan War the wanderings and all the disasters and near disasters Helen of Troy and best of all the women there's the faithful wife Penelope who in her own way is as clever and brave as her husband but the characters of the men are even better done than the women and there are more of them the tough brutal suitors Nestor wisest of the Greek Kings the king of the fans Yus who in spite of being a slave keeping pigs is Noble at heart and utterly loyal to uus and best of all young telemus and his father aisus is a really complicated character after he solves all the problems of getting back to itha and reconquering his home what do you think will happen will he settle down and live happily ever after can he settle down does he not personify the passionate love of roaming and exploration which is fixed in most men's Hearts three great poets thought he did the English poet Lord Tennyson imagined odisio thoughts just before he set sail once again I cannot rest from travel I will drink life to the leaves I am become a name much have I seen and known cities of men and manners climates councils governments and drunk Delight of battle with my peers far on the ringing plain of wind detroy yet all experience is an arch where through gleams the untraveled world whose margin Fades forever and forever when I move it is not too late to seek a newer world my purpose holds to sail be Beyond The Sunset and the bars of all the Western Stars until I die 500 years before Tennison the medieval Italian poet Dante writing his vision of Hell saw use there among the Damned he was tormented in flame for inventing the wooden horse and his soul speaking with a tongue of living fire told Dante that he had found it impossible to settle down he had set out once again and sailed into the Atlantic Ocean we turned our back upon the morning star and flew with OES for wings towards the West five times the moon had risen five times set when right ahead there loomed a mountain dark and distant our world has no higher Peak we cheered to see it then wept with Terror a hurcan roared out and struck our bow Whirled around the ship in the sea three times and then the prow plunged down another took command and so at last the sea closed over us and the light was gone in our own time the poet of modern Greece Nikos Kazan sakis wrote a still stranger sequel to The Adventures of adicus its theme is the same as that of Dante but its model is the exact opposite to push on into the unknown is not the damnation but the salvation of man now was Homer's a disuse like this would he go off again we have not yet passed through the Last Frontier of all our troubles I must suffer many more tyresius the prophet's ghost foretold it all that day when I went down into the house of death he ordered me to visit many lands and cities walking and carrying with me the AE of a ship until I reached a country where they did not know the sea and never heard of ships or saw an AE and when I met a man who saw the AE on my shoulder and said was a winnowing fan for threshing grain then at last I could fix the ore in the ground and sacrifice and pray to posidon Lord of the sea and then I can come home and pray to the gods and West among my people calm and happy this is my fate l [Music]