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Who Is Telemachus Grief In The Odyssey

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The foolish boy sleeps; and a wise man awakens. During Telemachus’s journey he grows up into someone that is wise and resembles his father. Telemachus, a prince who did nothing but whine and complain wakes up with the help from the goddess Pallas Athena, Athena gives Telemachus confidence on his journey. In The Odyssey, Odysseus did not return home to Ithaca after the Trojan war, leaving Ithaca kingless. Back home in Ithaca Odysseus’s wife Penelope and son Telemachus grief his misery.

Most of the gods and goddess wanted Odysseus home to his family and planned a journey for him. When Athena first arrives in Ithaca, the first person she meets is Telemachus: “First by far to see her was prince Telemachus, sitting among the suitors,heart obsessed with grief” (Homer I, 132-133). Telemachus’s heart is obsessed with grief because his city lost a king and his father never returned home. Suitors had filled the pallas where Penelope, Odysseus’s wife and Telemachus. The suitors occupy the pallas because Penelope has to pick a husband to be the next king. Due to hospitality Penelope had to feed the suitors give them a comfortable place to rest and sleep. Telemachus thinks that the suitors are taking advantage of them because they are taking everything in the …show more content…

After Telemachus tells Athena why he is not strong enough: “But the man- if they caught sight of him home in Ithaca, by god, they’d all pray to be faster on their feet

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Athena lays out a plan for Telemachus to discover his father's fate, beckoning him to take on the challenge. After this, Telemachus is worried about what will happen to his mother when left alone with the suitors. He is reluctant to take the quest, as "he weighted in his mind the course Athena charted." (1.444) Telemachus' mentor is Athena. In addition

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Thoughtful Telemachus felt that he could never live up to his father’s name, until an opportunity arose: a journey to rescue Odysseus. This is a feat that will help Telemachus become worthy of the name of “Odysseus’s true son” in Homer’s “The Odyssey.” After the hero has been missing for many years, evil men are plotting to take over Telemachus’ home, and Odysseus is the only hope to save their town of Ithaca. Telemachus’ journey to rescue him was necessary because he gains confidence, it gives him a taste of heroism, and helps him establish important relationships. To start with, the Telemachia is very important for Telemachus because it gives him a similar confidence as to what the Great Odysseus had.

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1194 Words | 5 Pages

When Odysseus was arriving home Athena sets out to Sparta to tell Telemachus about his father's arrival, as well as the awful plan the suitors were planing for him. When she arrived in Sparta she finds Telemachus talking with his friend which is the son of Nestor. Athena tells Telemachus that he must go back home because the suitors were trying to persuade his mother to marry one of them, but something she did not tell him was that his father was home. She also warns him about how the suitors were trying to ambush and kill him. She tells him to avoid going the regular path that he would normally go through because some suitors were “staying in the strait of Ithaca”, ready to attack him (114).

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555 Words | 3 Pages

In the novel, The Odyssey translated by Robert Fitzgerald, Telemachus gives a speech to Ithaca. He argues to the suitors about disrespecting his father Odysseus’ home even though they think Odysseus is dead and will never come home. Courageously, from the heart, Telemachus goes up against the suitors to state control over the key social practices of marriage hospitality. Telemachus’ speech was effective because it showed pathos, logos, and ethos. Telemachus looks and acts the part of his father, astonishing those who presumably knew him as a boy.

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932 Words | 4 Pages

Meanwhile, back in Ithaca, the suitors are irritating to seduce Odysseus’s faithful wife, Queen Penelope, in marriage because the entire kingdom considers that Odysseus has died in the war. Odysseus’s son Telemachus is now a grown man he is helpless, but he has a perception that Odysseus

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1524 Words | 7 Pages

273-275). This shows Telemachus being weak, because he has lost all hope for his father and his return and he also holds belief that his father, Odysseus is dead. This proves that Telemachus is still a boy in the beginning because, he is showing weakness by giving up and believing that Odysseus is dead and will never return. Another example of Telemachus being weak in the beginning is that he continues to lose hope and doubt his father 's return to Ithaca. Telemachus says, “Eurymachus, clearly my father 's journey home is lost forever/

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1318 Words | 6 Pages

Before Athena appearing as a Mentor, Homer shows Telémakhos as a shy boy who is having difficulties to live up to his father’s legendary reputation. He is shown as detached, lost and confused. Rather than taking an action, Telémakhos kept on complaining about the suitors’ manipulation of Xenia. In order to reach manhood, Athena calls him to action through making him undergo a journey. This journey, through Homer’s words, is not only meant to pave the way for him to mature by the time Odysseus is back, but also to save him from the suitor’s plot to kill him.

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Athena disguises herself and reveals to Telemachus that his father is alive but tells him to sail in search of more information, “Do you hear me: As a goddess, yesterday/ you came to us, command me to sail/ across the shadowed sea, that I might learn/ about my long-gone father’s coming home” (32). Athena has Telemachus best interest at heart and by commanding him to find his father she played a big role in helping him shape himself and grow into the man he was destined to be. He takes Athenas’ advice and finally comes to the realization that he needs to stand up to the suitors, “Throughout all those years/ when I was still a boy, you suitors squandered/ the riches that were mine. But I am grown;/ and listening to the words of others, I/ can understand…” (33). Telemachus then sets off to find more information on his father and his possible whereabouts “I’ll come fetch what you’ve prepared.

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She instructs him to “sail in quest of news of your long-lost father.” (86). Using her disguise, Athena reaches Telemachus and offers him wisdom. Telemachus takes this advice to heart and sets out to find his father. By offering this information about Odysseus, Athena inspires Telemachus.

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1474 Words | 6 Pages

At the end of the story, it is evident that, the character of Telemachus is fully developed. He is no longer the young powerless and weak boy who his mother’s suitors took advantage of in his father’s absence. At the end of the text, he depicts a character with great change after leaving Ithaca and in his own odyssey; he was able to prove his worth. Telemachus is a character who undergoes constant transformation and development throughout The Odyssey. His expedition was an initiation into the heroic world of his father, and a voyage that managed to endow him with the familiarity and essential virtues needed to become a future monarch.

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1181 Words | 5 Pages

In order to be a good mother, Penelope would have had to given Telemachus the experience

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776 Words | 4 Pages

The Odyssey is a well known epic that brings the reader through the tale of how Odysseus and his family reunited. Odysseus spent twenty years away from his son, Telemachus, and his wife, Penelope. He was away for ten years at Troy and spent the other ten years on his journey back to his native land, Ithaca. Within the epic, author Homer reveals characters of gods and goddesses throughout the poem who impacted the families journey. One importantly, was the goddess of wisdom and war, Athena.

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948 Words | 4 Pages

As Athena assists him, he listens attentively and becomes driven in his actions. Telemachus first visits King Nestor. The first stop did not give Telemachus the answer he was looking for, but being the new eager and strived person Telemachus has become, he continues his journey by going to see Menelaus. Telemachus insists Menelaus to be truthful and exclaims, “Spare me no part of kindness’ sake; be harsh; but put the scene before me as you saw it” (Homer IV. 351-352).

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749 Words | 3 Pages

In Homer’s epic, “The Odyssey” he illustrates to the readers a compelling love between Odysseus, the King of Ithaca and his wife Queen Penelope. The couple is separated because of the Trojan War when Odysseus leads his men into battle. Prior to Odysseus’ departure, he communicates to Penelope that if he doesn’t return to Ithaca within 10 years or if he should parish; then she should find another man to marry, become King and raise their infant son, Telemachus. Penelope is distraught at the very thought of him not returning, but gently replies that she will wait upon his return or until Telemachus grows a beard before remarrying. The author takes us on Odysseus’ journey back to Ithaca, but no matter the situation he encompasses, Penelope

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402 Words | 2 Pages

Telemachus learns and appreciates the ways of his father, and so decides to follow the story of Orestes, and kill the suitors to take back his father’s home (3.52). Lastly, in book 4, Telemachus visits Menelaus in Sparta. In this part of the journey, we learn more details of the Trojan War, and also that Odysseus is still alive but captured by Calypso (4.71). Menelaus continues, talking of tales about Odysseus’ bravery and cunningness, educating Telemachus about the heroism is father had, which he believes he should also

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