Paper Topic:

The Odyssey

Telemachus is Odysseus 's son he is a baby when Odysseus sets out for Troy . At the point where the Odyssey begins , ten years after the Trojan War ended , Telemachus is about twenty and is sharing his missing father 's house on the island of Ithaca with his mother Penelope and with a crowd of boisterous young men "the Suitors , whose aim is to persuade Penelope to accept her husband 's disappearance as final and to marry one of them

The goddess Athena disguised as a Taphian chieftain named Mentes , visits Telemachus

to urge him to search for news of his father . Next morning Telemachus calls an assembly of citizens of Ithaca and demands a ship and crew . Thus we see that Telemachus loved his father and only needed motivation to set him on the path of finding his father . Accompanied by Athena who is now disguised as his friend Mentor . Telemachus departs for the Greek mainland and the household of Nestor . From there , Telemachus rides overland , accompanied by Nestor 's son , to Sparta , where he finds Menelaus and Helen , now reconciled . He is told that they returned to Greece after a long voyage by way of Egypt there , on the magical island of Pharos , Menelaus encountered the old sea-god Proteus , who told him that Odysseus is a captive of the mysterious goddess Calypso

Meanwhile Telemachus sails home from Sparta , evading an ambush set by the suitors . By this we note that Telemachus had acquired wisdom from his adventures and was able to outsmart his enemies . Telemachus disembarks on the coast of Ithaca and makes for Eumaeus 's hut . When Telemachus meets his father , Odysseus identifies himself only to Telemachus as his father and they determine that the suitors must be killed . Telemachus gets home first . Accompanied by Eumaeus , Odysseus now returns to his own house , still disguised as a beggar

The housekeeper , Eurycleia , discovers Odysseus 's identity when he undresses for a bath and reveals an old thigh wound he swears her to secrecy . Next day , at Athena 's prompting , Penelope maneuvers the suitors into competing for her hand with an archery competition using Odysseus 's bow . Odysseus also takes part in the competition and he alone is strong enough to string the bow and therefore wins . Immediately he turns his arrows on the suitors , and all are killed . Odysseus and Telemachus kill twelve of their household maids , who had slept with the suitors they mutilate and kill the goatherd Melanthius , who had mocked and abused Odysseus . Now at last Odysseus identifies himself to Penelope . She is hesitant , but accepts him when he correctly describes to her the bed he built for her when they married

Next day he and Telemachus visit the country farm of his old father Laertes , who likewise accepts his identity only when Odysseus correctly describes the orchard that Laertes once gave him

Thus Telemachus 's adventure is comes to an end as he fulfills his duty as a son and finally finds his father...

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