Test of the Great Bow, Death in the Palace

THE TEST OF THE GREAT BOW

Penelope tells the suitors that she will marry the one suitor who can string Odysseus’s great bow and then shoot an arrow through twelve ax-helve sockets.

Eumaeus is a swineherd and Odysseus reveals his true identity to him and to the cowherd after he is convinced that they are loyal to him.

Odysseus is making plans and giving orders to the cowherd and to the swineherd to take command of the great hall where the drunken suitors are eating and drinking. The two herders are instructed to keep the women locked in their quarters and for them not to leave their quarters regardless of any noise they may hear coming from the great hall.

Telemachus has taken the suitors’ weapons and locked them outside the great hall.

Still dressed as an old beggar, Odysseus asks if he may participate in the competition of the great bow. Penelope agrees to accept him as a competitor for her hand.

When Odysseus reaches for the bow, Zeus sends a thunderbolt to express his approval.

Chronus is the father of Zeus and is the father of time. There was no time before Chronus. This is where time comes from.
Cronus was told that he would be over thrown by one of his children and so he starting killing his children as they were born from his forehead. Zeus managed to avoid his fate and kill Cronus and assume the throne of the gods.

This is where we get the word chonological, chronology and chronometer which refers to time.

DEATH AT THE PALACE

ANTINOUS is the ringleader of the drunken, insolent and rude suitors.
He strings the arrow and then lets it loose where it whizzes perfectly through the twelve ax-helve socket. The men strangely enough don’t seem to notice. Perhaps they are too drunk? Odysseus then shrugs off his beggar’s clothes, and his son, Telemachus takes his position next to his father at the front of the great hall.

Odysseus pours out a rain of arrows and reaching for the “cruel head” of an arrow for the rudest of the suitors, Antinous who seduced Penelope’s maids, turning them against her, turns the weapon on Antinous. The arrow catches him right in the throat as he is lifting a beautiful golden chalice of wine to his lips.
(“And did he dream of death?” as he lifted the cup to his lips to drink wine that did not belong to him?)

Figurative Language:
Personification:
The cup fell from his SHOCKED HAND: Can a hand be shocked?

Revelry: partying, merry making, having fun

Odysseus’s arrow penetrates his neck and punches all the way through to the quiver (the front of the arrow is sticking out the back of Antinous’s neck and just the quiver is sticking out the front of his neck).

The suitors think it’s a wild, unintended shot and begin looking around for their weapons to kill the annoying old beggar but when they realize their weapons are gone, they can only yell and scream their outrage at the old man.

The rowdy suitors are angry and begin yelling, “Foul! Unfair! You shot the best man!”

Then the suitors become deathly afraid as it slowly dawns on them as to who this old beggar might actually be.

Metaphor: Sickly green fear pulled at their entrails (guts).

Eurymachus, the self appointed speaker for the suitors, steps forward and does what weasels always try to do – weasel out of something by blaming somebody else. In this case, it’s the dead guy – Antinous. He promises that the suitors will give restitution but Odysseus says that they fought their way into his palace, let them fight their way out now.

Trapped in the great hall without their weapons, the suitors are cut down left and right by Odysseus, Telemachus and the two faithful herders.

Athena sends a thundercloud in the shape of her aegis (shield) sailing through the smoky hall where many of the suitors are lying dead or dying in pools of blood. The rest, the few who are still standing, seeing her great shield taking form in a storm cloud in the hall, become mad with fear and try to stampede out the massive doors.

Homeric Simile:
And the suitors, mad with fear, at her great sign, stampeded like stung cattle by a river…” and “after them the attackers wheeled as terrible as falcons….”

After all the suitors are killed, Telemachus then calls the maids from their quarters and orders them to drag the bodies of their lovers outside to be buried in a mass grave and then to clean up the blood stained floor. After the maids are finished with their horrible work, Telemachus then hangs them all – all who were disloyal to their mistress, Penelope.

Hide: skin of an animal.

Reunion of Odysseus and Penelope

THE REUNION OF ODYSSEUS AND PENELOPE

DOES SHE IMMEDIATELY ACCEPT HIM AS HER HUSBAND?
NO.

WHY IS SHE STILL SUSPICIOUS?
SHE HAS KEPT HERSELF GUARDED AND WARY FOR SO MANY YEARS AGAINST THE SUITORS, THAT IT IS DIFFICULT FOR HER TO BE WARM AND ACCEPTING.

PENELOPE REMEMBERS THE FIGHT BETWEEN HER AND TELEMACHUS OVER HER INABILITY TO ACCEPT ODYSSEUS.

ONE MINUTE SHE THINKS HE DOES LOOK LIKE HER HUSBAND, BUT THE NEXT MINUTE ALL SHE SEES IS AN OLD BLOODIED SOLDIER.
SHE THINKS THE GODS MIGHT BE PLAYING A TRICK ON HER.

THE CLEVER PENELOPE DECIDES TO TEST HIM BY TELLING HIM:

TO MOVE THEIR BED OUT OF THE BEDROOM SO THAT HE MIGHT SLEEP ON IT.

ONLY THREE PEOPLE KNOW ABOUT THE BEDROOM AND THE BED. THEY ARE ODYSSEUS WHO BUILT THE BED AND THE BEDROOM; ACTORIS, THE SERVANT, AND OF COURSE, PENELOPE.

WHEN ODYSSEUS FLIES INTO A RAGE, SHE KNOWS THAT HE IS INDEED THE ONE.

HE RAGES THAT HE BUILT THE ROOM AND THE BED AROUND AN OLIVE TREE. THE OLIVE TREE WAS USED AS A BED POST. HE PLANED THE TREE, CUT OFF THE BRANCHES, AND THEN BUILT THE WALLS FROM THE TREE. THEN HE MADE THREE MORE BEDPOSTS LIKE THE OLIVE TREE AND STRETCHED PLIANT OXHIDE BETWEEN THE BEDPOSTS TO MAKE THE BED. HE INLAID SILVER, GOLD AND IVORY IN THE BEDPOSTS. THERE IS NO WAY TO MOVE THE BED WITHOUT DISMANTLING THE BED. ONLY SHE AND ODYSSEUS KNOW THAT.

HOMERIC SIMILE:

NOW FROM HIS BREAST INTO HIS EYES, THE ACHE OF LONGING MOUNTED, AND HE WEPT AT LAST, HIS DEAR WIFE, DEAR AND FAITHFUL, IN HIS ARMS, LONGED FOR AS THE SUN-WARMED EARTH IS LONGED FOR BY A SWIMMER SPENT IN ROUGH WATER WHERE HIS SHIP WENT DOWN….

WHO IS THE SWIMMER? WHO IS THE WARM, LONGED FOR BEACH?

The Test of the Great Bow and Death in the Palace

THE TEST OF THE GREAT BOW

Comprehension Questions:

 Where is Penelope at the beginning of this chapter?

What is she retrieving from her closet?

What does she tell the suitors?

What is Penelope's attitude to the suitors? 

What is the reaction of the cowherd and the swineherd to Penelope's announcement?

What does Odysseus say to the cowherd and the swineherd?

How does he convince them that he is who he says he is?

What does he promise them in return for their help?

Odysseus tells the swineherd two things to do. What are they? Be specific! 

Odysseus tells the cowherd three things to do. What are they?  Be specific!

What is the reaction of the suitors to Odysseus taking the bow to string it?

What is Odysseus compared to as he strings the bow?

What grim joke and code does Odysseus say after he strings the bow?

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE:
Simile:
A bellow like a bull’s vaunt in a meadow
Bellow: a loud, strong roar issuing from the mouth of a cow, a bull, a man or some other type of large animal.
Assonance: repetition of similar vowels
Consonance: repetition of similar consonants
Personification:
Coughing death conveys the powerful and disturbing imagery of a horrible way to die. The arrows are definitely weapons capable of causing suffering and death.
Penelope tells the suitors that who ever can string Odysseus’s bow – that man she will marry. However, only Odysseus is strong enough to string the bow!

Notes!

Cronus – god of time; Cronus was the leader of the Titans, who predated the gods.  Cronus gave birth to the Greek gods whom he destroyed upon their birth for he was told he would be killed by one of his children. Zeus conspired with his mother to kill his father, Cronus, and Zeus became the king of the Greek gods.

Chronological – written in the order of occurrence

Chronology – the order of events in the time of their occurrence

Chronicles – a factual written account of important or historical events in the order of their occurrence.

Reread The Test of the Bow, and find one example of Homeric simile:

Simile:

Line 1089

“Then a rasping sound as those bright doors the key had sprung gave way – a bellow like a bull’s vaunt in a meadow – “

The sound of the key opening a door is like a huge bull’s bellow which gives an indication of how loud and strong the lock is.

Page 939

Line1185 – 1193

Homeric Simile:

But the man skilled in all ways of contending…..and sang a swallow’s note.”

The Homeric simile shows the ease and mastery with which Odysseus strings the arrow.

                        Question: What is Odysseus being compared to in lines 1185 – 1193?

Vocabulary:
Borings: holes drilled into wood by termites, which are small insects that destroy wood by boring or drilling into the wood. 

Smote: (past tense of to smite) to hit or strike

Omen: a sign, which is interpreted to mean that something evil that has been predicted or prophesied is about to happen.

Allusion: reference to other literature or mythology, usually Greek, Roman, biblical or Shakespearean, in a book or story.

Example of allusion: “Crooked minded Cronus” which is a reference to Zeus’ slaying of his father, Cronus, a Titan, in Greek mythology, who was also the father of time.

Death at the Palace

Vagabond: beggar
Embossed: engraved
Wiliest: cleverest (wily) Wily coyote
Revelry: party; loud partying
Amid: in the middle of
Throng: a crowd; a group; a mob
Foe: enemy
Crimson: red
Runnels: streams
Craned: straining one’s neck
Jostled: elbowing each other for room
Shocked hand: personification and synecdoche (part of a whole)
Personification:
Sickly green fear pulled at their entrails
Entrails: intestines
Aegis: a shield or a sign which acts as a protection.
Stampede: when a large crowd of people or herd of cattle traveling in one direction tramples everything in its path.
Read from 1287 to the bottom of the page; then write what happened. There are two examples of similes in the passage and the passage as a whole is rich in imagery.
What are the suitors compared to when they see Athena’s “aegis” (her shield which is her symbol)? “And the suitors mad with fear at her great sign stampeded like stung cattle by a river….” Like is used to compare, which makes this a simile.
What were the attackers compared to as they went after the suitors?
Falcons: hunting birds that are fierce and prey (hunt) on smaller birds. They are large and fierce hunters.
Talons: claws on an animal or bird.
Eyries: eagle or falcon nests built high in the mountains.
Chutes: long funnels or tunnels that travel down. A laundry chute funnels (drops) clothes to the laundry room in the basement.
Veer: to turn sharply.
Cower: to hunch one’s shoulders or curl up in a ball in anticipation of being hit.
Myths: used for entertainment and used to rationalize things the ancients couldn’t explain.

The Beggar and the Faithful Dog

Class Notes on THE BEGGAR and ARGOS, THE DOG

Why would Homer include the story of Argos in The Odyssey?

The dog meant something in the past of Odysseus.

Odysseus’s state is being compared to a dog.

The dog's condition is a symbol of the decay of Ithaca during Odysseus’ absence.

What does this reveal about Odysseus?

He is a softy. He is kind and compassionate but he is capable of controlling his feelings.
Is there any irony?

The dog is the only creature who recognized Odysseus.

We find the dog on a garbage heap waiting to die.

The dog is a symbol of what the suitors want to do with Odysseus and Telemachus.

Reread Eumaeus’ description of the dog. This is ironic because Eumaeus says that the owner of the dog is dead, not realizing that Odysseus, the owner, is standing there listening to him.

Personification: Giving human characteristics to an inanimate object.
Example:
Misery has him (Argos) in its leash.
 Eumaeus’ whole passage is an analogy between the state of Ithaca and the sad state of Argos, the dog.

Create your own personification!
Love held me in his embrace!
The trees danced in the wind.
The machine gun barked in reply.
The Ferrari purred under the gloved hand of its owner.

What do you think about Eumaeus’ statement about servants?

Do you think that slavery demeans humans and the very act of enslavement robs people of their humanity and deprives them of the highest qualities which distinguish us as humans?

Just because one is enslaved does not mean that one is not capable of the highest intellectual achievement.

The quality of a society can be seen by how it treats its weakest, most vulnerable members – children, babies, the old, the poor and the animals.