Tears In The Odyssey

Just as when Telemachus cries for the first time, Odysseus’ first tears reveal his connection to the Trojan War. Like Menelaus, Alcinous does not ask for him to state his identity, due to hospitality, and instead diverts the other guests’ attention. During this first song, Odysseus disguises his tears with his cloak, in order to be respectful to his host, but also because he is not ready to announce his identity. However, when the bard sings the next story, Odysseus cries freely.. This leads Odysseus to his first step in recovery, in which he is publicly revealed to his host. Alcinous has probably already suspected his name, due to the contrast of tears in response to the two songs. In the first song the bard sings, Odysseus cries tears of memory, for his dead comrades, as well as his past

Odysseus, just like the woman, has to live with the losses and the suffering of the war, while his dead comrades, like the widow’s husband, do not. In this instance, the woman is representative of all the women in the Trojan War who lost their husbands due to Odysseus’ wrath. He does not cry for his own glory, but rather he empathizes with the widow, and therefore, identifies with all of his victims. Alcinous, through this similarity between Odysseus’ tears and the tears of the female victims of war, is able to see that Odysseus’ connection to the Trojan War is one filled with the pain of losses and guilt, but also the pain of having to carry these memories. These two aspects of pain can only coexist in a person if his identity is the Odysseus being portrayed in these songs. Odysseus cries freely because he has seen his own self from the eyes of his victim, and thus, has begun his own sort of recovery, which leads to him being ready to reveal his