Oh So When Odysseus Refuse To Let Odysseus Die, It's Cool, And Badass, And Easy

Oh so when Odysseus refuse to let Odysseus die, it's cool, and badass, and easy

But when I Calypso....

This is how he lives

odysseus to his men: The real secret to immortality? Not dying. You want to be immortal? Okay, that's easy. Just don't die. That's it. Refuse to die. There you go.

his men: But how-

odysseus ignoring them: "But how", you may ask. Well, easy. Just don't do it. Refuse to. Say "no thanks".

Odysseus really got me cackling and kicking my feet as he killed these suitors.

penelope didn't have to turn the tree bed into a riddle. she could have asked odysseus to prove his identity, to tell her something only he would know — which she actually did a few books earlier, when she asked the beggar to describe odysseus, and odysseus told her about a purple cloak with a particular golden brooch that she fastened herself twenty years ago. when penelope tells telemachus they have signs by which they'll know each other, you sort of expect more of the same. and instead, she decides to trap him. like a bug in a cup.

and it's delightful to me, idk, how odysseus has been trapped and cornered in various way throughout the odyssey, but arguably never so that he has to tell the truth to get out. (with the phaeacians, maybe? the omniscient narrator corroborates some of what he tells them, but do we really know everything?) and in fact he is not trying to get free of penelope. he wants something from her, wants to convince her, wants to be welcomed home, but until this point he's lied to her, revealed himself to other people before her, and been distant with her (though also patient! he doesn't try to strongarm or rush her into accepting him; it's his idea to sleep elsewhere).

except penelope isn't looking for him to be distant and patient. penelope lies in a way that requires odysseus to stop playing along — not only to prove that he knows what odysseus knows, but that he's willing to tell the truth about himself.

Homer:He was a boy She was a girl Can I make it any more obvious? He was a punk She did balletCello What more can I say?

Emo kid! Ody & first cello! Pen

(he is in a band with Dio and she is in the school orchestra)

(he was a punk, she did ballet *singing*)

Priam:it's really cute how you gone deffed us with the power of Friendship and all. But we are Troy, with the Walls bild by GODS Menelaus:you motherfucker you didn't let me finshed, a 1000 ships Priam:dadah, I don't cear, I do not cear

Odysseus: can i marry Penelope? Icarius: what. Odysseus: *sneezes* Icarius: bless you. Odysseus: did you hear that, Penelope? he blessed us! Icarius: ...