Introduction
“The Odyssey” is one of the famous and classic poems of the ancient Greek poet Homer, familiar to every thinking person. The book’s plot is built around the main character – Odysseus, the king of Ithaca. He is clever, innovative, and resourceful, and these character traits help the man overcome various difficulties and obstacles in his challenging and long journey home to his family. Before a reader, the hero also appears in different roles, but, he still longs to return home and sincerely suffers for fallen friends. An analysis of the episode “Odysseus kills Antinous” from Book 22, lines 1-43 will be presented in this essay.
Analysis
Intro
The text presented in this paper is a fragment from the poem “The Odyssey” named “Odysseus kills Antinous” by Homer. In this passage, Odysseus kills Antinous and reveals himself to those present. Immediately after such bloodthirsty phenomena, the surrounding people fall into panic and horror, saying threats and curses at the main character. Odysseus is not shocked by what happened because he is angry at them for ruining his house all these years and forcing Penelope to marry. The house owner rejects an attempt to resolve the issue peacefully, and eventually, all the suitors are defeated.
Undoubtedly, the most noticeable moment in the passage is mood. Obsession, excitement, and anxiety gradually increase in this scene, smoothly flowing into panic, stress, fear, and confusion. Many negative emotions are mixed, overlapping, and complementing together, gradually reaching their peak. For example, the “grooms” are stunned and amazed not only by the arrival of the owner of the house but also by the cruel act of Odysseus. Moreover, several language devices immediately help fully “disclose” such unpleasant emotional feelings and convey them to a reader. In this case, literary devices reveal the creative thought of the author and indicate the connection between things that at first glance have nothing in common. The techniques correctly used by Homer in the poem are organically interwoven into the episode and create the overall taste of the work, like skillfully selected spices for the main dish.
First device
One of the most essential and significant devices identified at the beginning of Book 22 is foreshadowing. This technique expresses panic and fear in the episode by focusing on “providing evidence and clues” of those terrible moments that will happen in the future. For instance, there is a great example of foreshadowing in a specific passage: “and slaughter the last thing on the suitor’s mind…” (Homer 603). Therefore, an attentive reader would immediately notice the “fine line of the narrative,” which the author wanted to hint at unequivocally. In another phrase spoken by the hero, one can trace the further outcome of events: “now all your necks are in the noose —your doom is sealed!” (Homer 605). Thus, this creates tension, reinforcing a reader’s interest in a very non-standard presentation of thought.
Second device
The second and no less critical device of the author is personification. It represents the endowment of inanimate objects and natural phenomena and forces with human properties. For example, emotion suddenly acquired physical, human elements: “terror gripped them all, blanched their faces white” (Homer 605). In the other example, in conversation with other people present, Odysseus angrily says: “you bled my house to death” (Homer 605). Once Odysseus breathed life into his home, filling it with family joy and happiness. At the same time, other “husbands,” in the absence of the owner, destroyed the house, stopped breathing, and suspended all vital organs’ work.
Conclusion
“The Odyssey” is a great example of the author’s manifestation of brilliant ideas, high skill, and creative abilities. The poem has a rather complex and thoughtful structure, endowed with various literary elements. The detail of descriptions characteristic of “The Odyssey” is especially evident in such frequently used poetic techniques as foreshadowing and personification. Thus, the episode analyzed above from the book demonstrates a high abundance of the author’s inclusions and artistic techniques.
Works Cited
Homer. The Odyssey. Penguin Classics, 1996.