Odyssey Questions

Please answer the following questions based on your plot knowledge of the Odyssey.

1. How does the episode with the tapestry characterized Penelope? What is the significance of this characterization?

2. What is the importance on the story of the suitors demanding that Penelope choose one of them to marry?

3. What point of view is Homer using in the first section of the Odyssey prior to the flashback? Why is this an appropriate choice for him at this point in the story?

4. How does the episode of the Lotus Eaters characterize Odysseus?

5. In contrast to the book version where Odysseus stays on Circe's island willingly, in the 1990s movie version she tricks him not only into staying on the island but in "getting to know her better". Why do you think this change was made? How does it affect the characterization of Odysseus?

6. Speculate: How does one of Odysseus' men persuade all of the others to eat the cattle of the sun god Helios even when they know that doing so will bring about their destruction at the hands of the gods? What could he possibly say to them?

Due Friday

You are reading the two versions of the Iliad and deciding which translation you like better. Your assignment is to write a paragraph that explains which version you think is better and use a quotation from each to support why one is better than the other. Your paragraph should demonstrate proper quotation incorporation and sufficient elaboration of evidence after each quotation.

Resource are available below:

Iliad Document

Quotation information