What Role Does Telemachus Play In The Odyssey

The Odyssey is a 3,000-year-old epic poem organized into 24 books by the Greek poet Homer. This poem entails the long journey home of Odysseus, the King of Ithaca, after the Trojan War. During Odysseus’ absence, his son Telemachus and his wife Penelope are greatly affected since Odyssey is presumed dead. Throughout Books 1 and 2 of The Odyssey, Telemachus helplessly watches suitors plague his mother and home as Poseidon, the God of the Sea, delays Odysseus’s journey home because he angered him by blinding his son Polyphemus. While Odysseus remains absent, suitors devour his goods and urge Penelope to remarry. As a result, Telemachus decides to hold an assembly with the men of Ithaca, leading to two separate sides with Telemachus versus the

During the assembly, one of the suitors, Antinous, blames Penelope for the suitors' prolonged stay at Telemachus's home. He claims that Penelope has been leading them on for almost four years and provides an anecdote of one of her tricks used to delay the suitors' pursuits. In short, Antinous demands Telemachus to have Penelope marry one of the suitors, or they will all remain and continue to feast away at his father's wealth. However, Telemachus asks, “Antinous, how can I drive my mother from our house against her will, the one who bore me, reared me too?” (Homer 97). Using a rhetorical question, Telemachus portrays the suitors as unjust because it would not be morally correct for him to marry off his mother against her wishes to a stranger when he should take care of her like she had when raising him. Telemachus also fears that Icarius, Penelope's father, would punish him for sending Penelope off to marriage by himself. On the other hand, the opposing side might claim that Telemachus could instead “urge his mother back to her father's house–her kin will arrange the wedding” (Homer 99). This suggestion by the suitor Eurymachus dismisses Telemachus's fear of being chastised by Icarius since the marriage would be in Icarius's hands. However, this argument fails to include the feelings and perspectives of Penelope and Telemachus

As the discussion begins, Telemachus states that he first lost his father, Odysseus, and then uses a hyperbole claiming, "But now this, a worse disaster that soon will grind my house down" (Homer 95). Telemachus exaggerates the suitors’ action with the use of "grind my house down" (Homer 95) since they are not going to actually tear down his house. It emphasizes the severity of how their presence affects his family. Furthermore it stresses how extreme Telemachus's suffering is and portrays the suitors as villains, especially after he claims they were worse than the loss of his father. Secondly, throughout Telemachus's entire argument he uses diction to evoke more emotions that depict the suitors as unjust. Telemachus rambled, "[the suitors] infest our palace day and night, they butcher our cattle, our sheep, our fat goats, feasting themselves sick, swilling our glowing wine as if there's no tomorrow-all of it squandered" (Homer 95). These words express more negative connotations than others and highlight how the suitors disrupt the peace. The term “infest” (Homer 95) shows that the suitors are not staying peacefully at Telemachus’s palace. Instead, they are like parasites or insects causing damage. Next, “butcher” (Homer 95) sounds more violent than if Telemachus only said the suitors ate or killed his cattle, sheep, and goats. When Telemachus also adds “sick” to