*I know we are finishing reading up the English translation (books 23-24) this week, so if you haven’t finished it yet, I guess my post is a spoiler and you might want to skip over it!*
I finished reading the end of the english translation of the Odyssey prior to the last mid-term and wanted to comment on it over break, but silly me, I didn’t remember my password to the blog when I was at my home computer. So pardon me if my mind is a bit blurry on the details.
I wanted to ask you guys how you felt about the ending of the book. I personally didn’t know how it exactly ended (I knew vaguely that all the suitors died prior to this class, but nothing beyond that). I cannot begrudge the fact that it ended with a bang, which Homer’s audience would have been very appreciative of, seeing as that they endured part of the long voyage hearing about his greatness and they finally got to see it in action.
And I do think I understand in reflection that the suitors had to die in order for Odysseus to rightful gain his place back without the threat of a future upheaval by one of the younger suitors, but what I kind of didn’t get was the fact that Athena had to ask Zeus for advice when all along we (the audience) expected it to work out without question. And I guess I hadn’t imagined all the parents of the suitors getting in an uproar for some odd reason (or to gather so quickly and suddenly); perhaps I thought more of the suitors were from other (farther) parts of the region? And the way it all ended seemed kind of like a comic ending, not that it was funny, but that it all worked out by a kind of deus ex machina intervention by Athena (compelled by Zeus’s advice).
What do you all think about the ending? Was it exactly like you imagined?
I had learned the story of The Odyssey in middle school, and I remembered the part about all the suitors dying and Penelope’s final test for Odysseus, and in my mind that was how the epic should end. So I was a little taken aback by the additional action afterwards. I guess it makes sense, but I am not a fan of the deus ex machina. It always feels to me like the author is copping out, trying to get out of a new issue that he or she has introduced, and with very little detail or explanation about the event. Then again, I don’t know if Homer’s audience could have handled additional books. Regardless of my opinions, it’s a convenient device for him to use to bring the epic to a conclusion of sorts.