An Odyssey: A Father, a Son, and an Epic

by Daniel Mendelsohn

All that the poet tells us is that the disguised hero is thrilled to see his wife manipulating the Suitors into giving her presents: …much-suffering, godlike Odysseus exulted since she’d wheedled gifts from them, charmed their hearts with her honeyed words; and meantime he was pondering other deeds. It may not be the reaction we expect, but it is, in fact, wholly in keeping with the poet’s ongoing emphasis on a trait of Odysseus’ that is of paramount importance to the plot of his epic: the hero’s ability to keep his emotions in check in the pursuit of his larger goal. Had he erupted in tears, run toward his wife, he’d have betrayed his disguise and sacrificed the success of his mission. Another theme that this strange scene underscores is that of homophrosynê. For in finagling the gifts out of the Suitors, Penelope displays the same wiles practiced so often by her husband, the man who’d managed to end his sojourn among the Phaeacians loaded down with gifts, he who’d arrived on their island naked, a nobody. However much it may disappoint modern expectations of this fraught encounter, the scene of Odysseus’ first glimpse of his wife reminds us of what has motivated this couple’s actions for so long: they are a perfect match. And now, in Book 19, Odysseus once again manages to remain in Penelope’s presence—much closer, this time, as the two sit talking into the night—without betraying a flicker of emotion. At the moment when the “beggar” describes the brooch Odysseus was wear...