Examples Of Telemachus Loyalty In The Odyssey

Telemachus’ loyalty

“The Essential Odyssey”, A story about Odysseus and his journey to get home after the war and to save his family from the suitors who have invaded his home. The author uses loyalty as a common theme throughout the book, but the strongest showing of loyalty is Telemachus and his loyalty to his family. A clear example of loyalty is in the character Telemachus, the son of Godlike Odyessus and Penelope. He is smart, selfless, and a skilled strategist, but the most common trait he shows in this book is loyalty. Although he is not a strong warrior, he finds other ways to protect his family through his courage and intellect. He protects his mother from suitors seeking out Odysseus and helping his father back home to reclaim his

He is set on defending his mother from the suitors, whom he believes are invading his father’s home. Telemachus seeks his father out and as he finds him he informs him how the suitors are controlling their home and how his mother is being manipulated." Whether my mother is still in our house, Or someone else has married her by now, And Odysseus’ bed, with no one to sleep in it, Has become a nest of spider webs. (book 16, Line 36-9)”This quote shows how Odysseus is aware of the torment his mother and their family has faced from the invasion of the suitors and that he has had to defend her his whole life from them and even though he is unable to fight very well he is still wanting to defend his mother. “ Suitors of my mother-you arrogant pigs, But in the morning we will sit in the meeting ground, So that I can tell all of you in broad daylight To get out of my house. (book 1 line 389,392-3) " This quote shows how Telemachus doesn’t fear the suitors and this finally sparks his mission to get rid of the suitors and to bring his father back home to his mother and to help him fight off the

Telemachus’ second example of loyalty is to his father, Odysseus. His loyalty to his father extends greater than just him; it extends to his legacy as a whole and how Telemachus thinks he is the answer to helping save his mother. And since the beginning, he wants to know the truth of his father’s fate. And this sends him on his journey to find his father and bring him home. This quote is Telemachus coming to Menelaus for answers on his father and he is seeking truth on his father’s fate. And so I am at your knees. Tell me How my father, Odysseus, met his end, whether you saw it with your own eyes, Or heard about it from someone else, Some wanderer. He was born in sorrow, More than any man on earth. And do not, out of pity, spare me the truth, but tell me whatever you have seen, whatever you know. I beseech you, if my father, noble Odysseus, Ever fulfilled a promise he made to you In the lands of Troy, where the Achaeans suffered, Remember it now, and tell me the truth. Book 4 lines (344-55)” This shows how Telemachus wants the truth and he is pleading Menelaus to tell him the truth through his eyes not the truth through story which is showing how Telemachus seeks a different story and his efforts is showing his loyalty to his father and the hope that he is alive and he can return to his home and fight off the