Emakhos's House As A Result Of Odysseus example essay topic

Maturation of Tel " emakhos through The Odyssey The Odyssey is a great work in which many characters are developed through the ongoing trials and tribulations each of the characters face. To me, the most noteworthy character development within the epic is that of Tel " emakhos, Odysseus's son. Tel " emakhos is developed from the very beginning of the poem, when he is a shy boy simply walking in the shadows of his heroic father right up until the end where he is considered to be just as courageous. Tel " emakhos has grown up a mommy's boy without a father figure in a house that has been overrun by Suitors who infringe on the expectations of hospitality. The Suitors have moved into Tel " emakhos's house as a result of Odysseus not returning from Troy. Their feeling is that they have the right to stay in the palace as long as they wait for the day when Penelope will decide which man will be her next husband.

The Suitors, however, are rude, disruptive and eat Penelope and Tel " emakhos out of house and home by slaughtering their cattle and sheep even though they belong to Odysseus. Tel " emakhos, young and na " ive, does not have the initiative or skill to deal with the Suitors and pretty much just sits back allowing his house to be pillaged. With the inspiration of Orestes as well as the help of the goddess Athena, Tel " emakhos readies himself for a journey in search of his father as well as to make a name for himself. Timid, shy, and unknowing of his role in the kingdom, Tel " emakhos finally realizes that in order to preserve his estate he must grow up and fill his father's shoes. With Zeus's permission, Athena went to Tel " emakhos and "she put a new spirit in him, a new dream of his father" (1: 370) by instructing him to tell the suitors to "go scattering to their homes" (323) and then to "get a sound craft afloat with twenty oars and go abroad for news of your lost father" (326). Tel " emakhos's speech to the Suitors at the end of Book 1 is the turning point, a sign of his awakening manhood, and his growth from "a boy, daydreaming", (145) to the courageous clearheaded man expected of Odysseus's son.

Accompanied by a crew of close and dependent sailors, Tel " emakhos's journeys to Pylos and Sparta in search of news about his father. Along the way Tel " emakhos learns about Odysseus's heroic past from father substitutes, Nestor and Me nel " aos, men who fought with Odysseus at Troy. He learns who he is supposed to be and how he is supposed to act by learning about his father through stories of his father's courageousness while at war with the Trojans. Through Tel " emakhos's own odyssey he becomes more assertive, learns the responsibilities of being a prince and, most importantly, learns of his father's whereabouts and that he is slowly making his way home to Ithaka. Now unafraid of standing up to his potential, Tel " emakhos is able to prove he is capable of being a strong person who is willing to uphold his father's honor. He returns home to Ithaka and, by avoiding an ambush set up by the Suitors to kill him, shows his newfound maturity and the skills expected of him being the son of a war hero.

With Odysseus's unexpected return to Ithaka, he and Tel " emakhos secretly conspire to overthrow the Suitors and to avenge all of them with death for their lack of respect towards Penelope and Odysseus's estate. Together finally after twenty years, Tel " emakhos and Odysseus make a perfect father son team who one by one kill off the Suitors. It is important that Odysseus and Tel " emakhos work together to achieve this seemingly impossible feat because it is the culmination of Tel " emakhos's maturation into a real war hero's son. No longer shy and timid, Tel " emakhos has grown into his father's shoes and is willing to stand up and fight for himself and his family. Athena's statement in Book 2 while speaking with Tel " emakhos is fitting not only there as a prophecy but also as a conclusion to his maturation; "The son is rare who measures with his father, and one in a thousand is a better man" (2: 292-93). By the end of The Odyssey Tel " emakhos cannot necessarily claim to be a better man, but one who measures with his father, a vast change from the shy boy who at first did nothing to prevent his house from being ruined by the Suitors.