A visual of the Greek hero Odysseus attacking the suitors who are trying to seduce his wife
Now Odysseus, having been in disguise as a strange wanderer, had found in his way into Eumaeus' hut. Eumaeus, being the hospitable man and servant of a fine person such as Odysseus, has given this fine stranger a place to stay and eat in warmth and comfort. Eumaeus has explained to the stranger the story of his master, the great hero Odysseus and his strange disappearance after the Fall of Troy, as well as the situation that his illustrious wife, Penelope, has been approached by a horde of suitors who refuse to leave their palace until she has chosen one of them to be her new husband. After all of this, Telemachus, the son of Odysseus, enters the hut of Eumaeus and greets the stranger kindly, much like how Odysseus had hoped he had been raised. After going outside to get some air, Athena reveals Odysseus' true appearance to Telemachus, a tender moment for the two. They hatch a plan to rid their palace of suitors and return Ithaca to greatness and glory. The very next morning, at the begging and persistence of the suitors, Penelope states that anyone that can string Odysseus' bow and fire a bolt through 12 axe heads can be her husband and rule Ithaca with her. They all try and inevitably fail. Simultaneously, Eumaeus and Telemachus have taken the wandering stranger to the palace to carry out their vengeful plot. As all of the men have failed, they decide to wait until tomorrow to sacrifice to Apollo, the God of Archery, in order to stand a chance of stringing it. The stranger approaches the bow and easily strings and breaks all 12 axe heads in a single motion; however, the plan has stopped there. Odysseus' true form has been revealed by Athena for all to see and the suitors are terrified. Odysseus takes a look around and realizes that violence is not the answer, and that his absence has been a great strain on his family unit, and his kingdom as a whole. Odysseus puts down the bow and says the following: "I am very sorry for what I have almost done to you. You all are just here to find love and restore Ithaca to its former glory, while I have abandoned it for 10 long years. Please do better than me, and make good on my longing promises." And with that, Odysseus literally walks away from Ithaca and sails away for the final time.
Author's Note: I am a huge fan of Greek mythology in general, so I wanted to be able to pay homage to the original story, but then I had a funny idea that I couldn't stop chuckling about, so this story was really the result of that ridiculous idea! I hope it wasn't too horrible to read!
Bibliography: The Odyssey by Homer (translated by Tony Kline in 2000). http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/myth-folklore-unit-homers-odyssey.html
The end of your story made me laugh. If that had been how the Odyssey really ended I would have been so exasperated. All that work for nothing!
ReplyDeleteOne thing you might do to help the flow of your story is to break it up into more paragraphs. It was difficult to keep track of my place in such a big paragraph. When you are introducing the characters, such as Penelope, you might want to give more of a background. For people who haven't read it, they wouldn't know who she is, or why she is having to ward off so many suitors. A few sentences about how she is Odysseus wife and she has been plagued with men who want to marry her and take over Odysseus' kingdom since her husband left would suffice.
Other than that, I think your story was really good and I liked the way you changed the ending.
Hi Chase,
ReplyDeleteI love your story. The ending made me laugh out loud literally! It built up and up and then bam, "he walked away". My only suggestion is to include more in the author's note about the original story and how you changed it. I read the Odyssey in high school, so I remember enough to be able to put it together! Good job though!
Hey Chase,
ReplyDeleteReally interesting take on this classic myth. I’m a huge fan of Greek mythology myself and I found your choice to change his reaction to the suitors really surprising! Personally, I’m fond of him taking revenge, but I can see why you made the change you did. Best of luck as you move forward with this semester!!
Best,
- JD
Hi Chase!
ReplyDeleteI liked this story a lot it was fun! I read Odysseus a long time ago so I don't fully remember what happens in it, but I liked the archery competition they all competed in. Odysseus was so sneaky in just entering into the contest. I do wish you had broken the story up into paragraphs as it was kind of hard to read as one big chunk.