Lecture 11

Question 1

The Laestrygonians

Answer 1

• goes here after sailing away from Cyclops
• giant cannibals who throw boulders at ships
• Odysseus decides to anchor his ship outside the harbor the Laestrygonians have set up
• shows his worry because of his narrow escape
• clever Odysseus is thinking more about his actions at this point
• after this his is the only ship left

Question 2

Circe’s Island

Answer 2

• turns Odysseus’ men into pigs
• goddess and sorceress
• Odysseus avoids this because Hermes gives him an herb that makes him immune.
• Hermes tells Odysseus he has to draw his sword when she strikes him with her wand and rush at her to intimidate her into asking him into bed. He then has to make her swear not to hurt or trick him.
• stays there for a year before his men talk him into leaving

Question 3

Circe’s intentions

Answer 3

• knows he’s special and invites him into bed probably to “unman” him (unclear whether this means castration or putting a spell on him)
• after they sleep together she changes his men back

Question 4

Before departure from her island

Answer 4

-Says he has to go to the underworld to talk to Tiresias, a prophet from Thebes

Question 5

Katabasis

Answer 5

-hero’s journey to the underworld

Question 6

Feminist Interpretation of Circe

Answer 6

• often associate sorceresses/witches with “great mother” goddesses
• so see a conflict between the male force (Odysseus) vs. great mother and see the male force wins out.
• Odysseus’ advance with his sword is seen as phallic

Question 7

Jungian interpretation

Answer 7

• animus/anima
• feminine and masculine elements inside everyone
• Circe could represent Odysseus’ unbalanced anima exerting itself over the animus
• outside things can throw them out of balance
• could argue that Circe is being too masculine here, her animus and anima are out of balance

Question 8

In the Underworld

Answer 8

• sees many ghosts
• mom
• Achilles
• Agamemnon
• Soldier
• Ajax
• Hercules
• Patroclus
• Tiresias
• Minos judging the dead
• Orion hunting
• Punishments

Question 9

His mom

Answer 9

• Anticlea
• tries to hug her but he can’t
• died because she was so sad Odysseus was still gone and dies of grief

Question 10

Achilles

Answer 10

• talks to Odysseus and says he’d rather be up on earth working hard, than being in the underworld (bottom of the barrel)
• Can’t really tell if his feelings have changed because he wasn’t entirely seeking glory when he went back into battle.
• However, he did make the choice to go and die young and full of glory
• this exchange suggests he would rather have gone home to Troy

Question 11

Agamemnon

Answer 11

-gives him advice to come home secretly in order to test Penelope because he got killed by his own wife Clytemnestra

Question 12

Ajax

Answer 12

• mad at Odysseus and refuses to talk to him because Odysseus won the contest for Achilles armor after he died, beating Ajax.
• Odysseus won the contest for Achilles armor after he died, beating Ajax
• Odysseus convinces the judges that they should put speeches into win the armor thus bending the contest to his whim.
• Totally unfair because Odysseus is definitely the best speaker, he is wise and clever, and Ajax can’t compare

Question 13

Punishments

Answer 13

• Tityos raped Leto; vultures eat liver
• Tantalus: stole ambrosia and nectar; can’t eat or drink
• Sisyphus: various tricks and plots; pushes stone forever

Question 14

Tiresias

Answer 14

-warns hi not to eat the animals on Helios’ island