The Odyssey

Initial Situation

The residents of Odysseus’s great hall are being eaten out of house and home by parasitic suitors who have no sense of propriety. Telemachos, Odysseus’s son, has yet to prove his manhood. As for Odysseus himself, he is being held prisoner on the island of the nymph Kalypso – but nobody back in Ithaka knows that.

Conflict

The conflict stage begins when we finally see change from what has, for seven years or so, been the status quo. Much of this change has to do with divine intervention; Zeus sends his messenger to force Kalypso into letting Odysseus leave and Athene convinces Telemachos to go on his trip seeking news of his father. The conflict, then, is in Odysseus’s struggle to return home and in Telemachos’s search for his dad.

Complication

OK, so we all know Odysseus going straight home just isn’t in the cards. As it happens, Poseidon whips up one more big storm to drive Odysseus onto the coast of the Phaiakians. In their court, he tells of all his adventures up to this point. Of course, the “complications” he tells about happened before the main epic begins – but, interestingly, Homer presents them at the time of the classic complication stage. In the meantime, Telemachos has been asking all the main Greek heroes, but hasn’t been able to find his dad.

Climax

When Odysseus arrives home, it represents the culmination of the initial phase of the story, in which he was wandering around looking for home. It will all be downhill from here. Have you ever tried running downhill? You think skiers have it easy? That’s right, the homestretch is where you’re likely to break your neck. As a result, the climax of the Odyssey only prepares us for the next stage…

Suspense

This section of Homer’s poem has all the classic elements of suspense. First of all, there’s the underlying danger of Odysseus entering the palace, which is full of a whole bunch of suitors who have been acting like he’s dead, and would to keep things that way – permanently. Then, of course, there are the many close-calls, where it looks like Odysseus is going to be revealed – like when Theoklymenos prophesies that he has returned; when Argos the dog recognizes him; when Odysseus talks to Penelope face-to-face; and when Eurykleia recognizes Odysseus’s scar while giving him a foot-bath. The suspense reaches its highest level when Penelope proclaims the contest to the suitors: whoever can string Odysseus’s bow and shoot an arrow through twelve axe heads can have her hand in marriage. Uh-oh, who’s it gonna be?

Denouement

By stringing the bow, winning the arrow-shooting contest, and killing the suitors (with a little help from Telemachos, Eumaios, Philoitios, and the goddess Athene), Odysseus takes care of the major problem facing him on the home front. That night, he goes to sleep with Penelope in their bed; the dramatic resolution is signaled by the fact that they tell stories about what has happened since they last saw each other.

Conclusion

Fearing retribution from the families of the suitors, Odysseus and Telemachos go to the countryside to see Laertes. Odysseus and Laertes have a tearful reunion. When the families of the suitors come, Odysseus, Laertes, and Telemachos, along with some guys who work on Laertes’s farm, arm for battle and face them down. They kill a few of them, but then Athene shouts out from the heavens and Zeus thunders. Everyone turns green with fear – and decides to let bygones be bygones. This ties up the last loose-end before Odysseus can…set off on his next journey (as prophesied by Teiresias in Book XI).