Similarities Between Odysseus And Telemachus

Both Odysseus and Telemachus, the father and son duo, showcase their individual characterization and journey through stages of deep paralysis as well as a period of recuperation and learning from model kingdoms in Greece.

In order to grow and become solid leaders for Ithaca, both Odysseus and Telemachus must have moments of feeling paralyzed and dysfunctional so that they are able to learn how to deal with their situations. For Telemachus, his struggle was at home where he found himself surrounded by suitors who cared only about winning the hand of his mother, Penelope, and thus led to Telemachus’s “heart {to be} obsessed with grief,” (133). This poor nineteen-year-old boy grew up with no father figure and now finds himself to be surrounded

Telemachus has no clue how to rise up against these men and show authority, and so, he is unable to help the constant aberration Penelope is facing. Being paralyzed in his relation with the suitors, Telemachus’s heart, still mourning the absence of his father, Odysseus, cannot handle the pressure or opposition surrounding him. Even across Greece, Telemachus’s father, the Great Odysseus, faces the same paralysis as “off he {sits}… wrenching… gazing…” (91). Held captive by the nymph Calypso, Odysseus is unable to return home to the land of sunny Ithaca, his loyal wife, or his son he barely knows. This suffocating grief of not being permitted the one thing he so dearly desires causes the once brave leader to be reduced to a man, weeping in a corner, gazing longingly and hopelessly at the horizon towards a land which he might never see again. The fire in the eyes of Odysseus have

When he visits the kingdom of wise Nestor, the king remarks to Telemachus, “how tall and handsome… you {are} now… be brave… so men will… sing your praises,” (226). Although helpless back in Ithaca, Telemachus is met with the observance of his bravery to travel so far in search of answers about his father’s whereabouts. Serving the purpose of a father-like figure to Telemachus, King Nestor showcases an encouragement to the youth of Greece about leadership and legacy that had never before been introduced to the nineteen-year-old. This causes Telemachus to think and realize that maybe he would have the character in him to be brave, to stand tall against the suitors, and to be the leader his father once was. Now moving towards a better self, Odysseus, like his son, “stood, gazing at all this bounty {of King Alcinous}”, (156). This formerly brave king, now a shell of what he once was, must learn, like his son, to see the hope and treasure that being a shepherd king does for a city-state. The once dull eyes of Odysseus are now found to be gazing, in awe and amazement, at something greater than he. A prosperous and kind King Alcinous is able to demonstrate the value of caring for the people of his kingdom and the fruit he can reap because of it, an approach Odysseus never thought of