Epic The Musical Angst - Tumblr Posts
HEY EPIC FANS!!!! ⬇️
(Angst under the cut)
So I was rewatching some clips from Bridgerton (specifically Queen Charlotte) and it made me think about Odysseus and Penelope Growing old. Odysseus’ mind escaping him in his old age. At first it’s just a few moments Penelope notices he’s not entirely there, but as he grows closer to the end, his moments of lucidity are few and far between. He has confabulations of his past, of men in his palace when there are none. Penelope and Telemachus try their best to help him, but rumors quickly spread of the mad king.
One particular instance that seals this suspicion is when Ody mistakes Telemachus for one of Penelope’s old suitors and absolutely flys off the handles. Luckily Telemachus is a strong enough man he can hold his own against his aging father, but it shakes him up. It’s the first time his own father didn’t recognize him.
Though, as his condition progresses, his wife and son learn better how to adjust. For example Pen will sometimes hand Odysseus a baby doll (a trick used on irl dementia patients btw) and tell him to take care of Telemachus for a while, this helps calm the man down temporarily.
More Epic Angst
It’s the middle of the night and shouting can be heard from the king’s chambers.
“Get your wretched hands off of me! I am done enacting your vile fantasies!”
It’s happening again.
“Odysseus, my king, my love, it is I, Penelope.”
But he couldn’t recognize that. Not now anyway.
“You are not! You are not! Cease veiling yourself as my wife you evil witch!”
Despite his wife’s gentle words, he couldn’t see her as he rocked in the fetal position; squinting his eyes shut as if he were a child hiding from an imaginary monster.
“Why must you take joy in tormenting me! I just want to go home! I just want to be home!”
The poor man cried in vain. And all his wife could do was weep. For she could not help her husband escape the prison of his confabulated captor. She could not free him from the prison of his own mind.