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Telemachus in the Odyssey

Discusses the development of Telemachus during books I-IV of The Odyssey.


Telemachus dominates the first four books of The Odyssey. A character who is himself unsure whether he belongs with boys or men, he has the weight of expectation upon his shoulders. It is only with the divine intervention of Athene that he raises himself to his rightful position within his own home, as his mother Penelope entertains potential husbands. During the first four books, we see the transition of a teenager lounging around the family home into a young man beginning to assert himself amongst his mother?s suitors. He leads a ship in search of his father to Pylos and Sparta, meeting with Nestor, Menelaus and Helen. All this time, he lives in the shadow of his resourceful and long-suffering father Odysseus.

It is Athene who ventures to Ithaca to encourage Telemachus into manhood. Disguised as an old family friend, she gives Telemachus the encouragement necessary for him to hold his shoulders back and go in search of the truth about Odysseus. From Telemachus? point of view, he does not have a relationship with Athene as such as she appears as Mentes and Mentor. Both figures that command Telemachus? respect, Athene is responsible for setting Telemachus up and guiding him on the beginning of his journey. Even upon his arrival in Pylos, Telemachus has a touch of cold feet, dithering as he disembarks his ship. Athene reassures him, saying ?where your own intelligence fails, a god will inspire you. For I think the gods have blessed both your birth and your progress to manhood.?.

Having grown up in a home without a father, we could expect Telemachus to have a strong bond with his mother. The evidence in the first four books of The Odyssey is somewhat to the contrary. There is conflict between Telemachus and Penelope on two levels, primarily relating to the presence of the Suitors in his house and secondly as to whom is in charge of the family home. As the young man who has come of age, it is Telemachus who should make the decisions. Prompted by Athene, Telemachus? dissatisfaction with the presence of the Suitors takes on a practical form: ??I propose that we all take our places in assembly, so that I can announce my demand that you quit my palace.?. In line 354 of book one, we read of the first time that Telemachus takes the upper hand with his mother, sending her to her own rooms. His decision to depart Ithaca without consulting his mother, although divinely encouraged, signifies some development from boy-about-house to a young traveller rejecting the maternal atmosphere of his family home.

We are left in little doubt as regards the relationship between Telemachus and his mother?s Suitors. They have extended the tradition of xenia to farcical limits, stunting Telemachus? growth into the position of alpha male. They hold power over his home and island, being both strong in number and the sons of the members of the Assembly. Although Odysseus left instructions that Penelope should remarry when Telemachus came of age, he did surely not mean for his land to be taken over by the massed ranks of privileged young Ithacans. Telemachus does not change his view of the suitors, but changes his approach to the problem. Instead of self-pity, he instructs them to leave, with all the authority (in their eyes) of a ten year-old rejecting Mum?s New Boyfriend. Their indignation is reflected in later plans to assassinate Telemachus.

As the first of his father?s friends whom he visits, Nestor signifies a turning point in Telemachus? development. Telemachus deals now with his father?s contemporaries, man to man. This change from boy- to manhood is one of the stepping stones that Athene guides him to. He learns nothing of his father from Nestor, and is instead treated to a wild goosechase of a yarn about the other Greek warriors. By meeting with Nestor, Telemachus develops some confidence of his own, as opposed to that which is instilled in him by Pallas Athene.

The second port of call on Telemachus? journey is the palace of Menelaus and Helen in Lacedaemon. Here he is treated to greater details of Odysseus? exploits in Troy, and informed by Menelaus that his father was seen last by Proteus on the island inhabited by the Nymph Calypso. Menelaus remarks upon his style of speech, which we were earlier told Telemachus would be granted with. The question here is whether Telemachus has himself developed as a man or through being guided by Athene.

Telemachus, having never met his father, is reliant upon the recollections of others for any image of the long-suffering Odysseus. We might well understand if Telemachus resented his father for being absent, but Telemachus realises that like everyone, Odysseus is at the mercy of the gods. He has a relationship with a mental image of a resourceful and long-suffering Odysseus, and in books one through four he makes only a slight progression from the myth to the man.

It is with this difference in mind that we approach the development of Telemachus during the first four books of The Odyssey. Up to Telemachus? arrival at the home of Nestor, he is under the divine influence of Pallas Athene. All his ?decisions? up until then could be attributed to Athene. Certainly, by the time he meets with Menelaus and Helen, he begins to act for himself, if such a thing is indeed possible. He is very much the tool of both Homer and the gods, and is developed for ends which he desires without being sure why.






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