To better understand Telemachos, some general background of his life much be given. Odysseus, Telemachos’ father and the main character in The Odyssey, left for the Trojan War when his son was only an infant. The hero is gone for 20 years, and Telemachos is raised without a father. Also, while Odysseus was away undergoing the many trials that are described in The Odyssey, 108 suitors have descended upon his palace at Ithaca. Their aim is to convince Penelope, Odysseus’ wife, that her husband is dead and she must remarry. They also have wild parties every night, eat the livestock and food in the palace, and leave Odysseus’ home in disarray every night. Telemachos does not have the strength or the status to get rid of the powerful suitors. He feels that he cannot help his mother, who has promised that she will remarry once she is done weaving a burial shroud for her father-in-law. Penelope is smart,

if someone picked a fight with me?” (Book 16, lines 80-84)

At this point, the carnage begins. Telemachos and Odysseus, armed with a sword, and a bow, respectively, kill each of the suitors. At Telemachos’ urging, Medon is saved, because he raised Telemachos since he was a child. Then, when all of the suitors have been killed, Odysseus had his female servants clean up all the blood and mangled bodies. After they are done, however, he plans to hang the maids for sleeping with the suitors in his home.

however, and she unravels her weaving every night so she is not yet forced to remarry.

and with a clink and a glitter of keen bronze,

Some topics in this essay:
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