Haha, I know it took a while (I was in a weird headspace for a bit with respect to being able to read stuff) but I have been excited about this! And even more now that I'm actually reading it :D
as opposed to an adaptation/retelling for kids (where the story was told in a linear fashion, i.e. we were following Odysseus from Troy and the Telemachus and Penelope sections didn‘t come until the last fourth or so
Yes, this! I've read retellings just like this, where you got Odysseus's various adventures with Circe and the Cyclops and so on, and then Telemachus and Penelope were at the end. So that was very surprising to me :)
as a true son of Odysseus, he should be able to kick out the suitors and/or deal with them on his lonesome, instead of being essentially still treated as a child by both the suitors and his mother.
Ahhhh that makes a lot of sense.
in the Odyssey, Aigisthus is still seen as the primary killer and Clytemnestra his helper, whereas by the time Aischylus, Sophocles and Euripides sharpen their pen some centuries later, Clytemnestra is the primary killer and Aigisthus just her loverboy, err, loverman sidekick.
Ah right, I remember you said that now! I had temporarily forgotten while reading, but I have read at least synopses of Sophocles and Euripides, so I definitely had in my head that Clytemnestra was the primary killer instead of someone who was just carried along by Aegisthus (though I couldn't remember at the time of reading whether I'd picked that up from modernist feminist retellings -- thinking of Marion Zimmer Bradley's Firebrand here (I know, I know) -- or from retellings that were closer to ancient source material). Anyway, I guess Odysseus should feel lucky that he had Penelope in his corner...
Either way, the reason why this keeps being brought up AGAIN AND AGAIN in this epic, I guess, is that this is the nightmare scenario all the men are afraid of and why Penelope‘s behavior is contrasted with - „their“ woman has found someone else, and instead of being welcomed, they‘re literally stabbed and replaced. (It‘s extremely patriarchal of course, since the lot of the Achaean warriors at Troy all kept sleeping with (or to call it what it is, raping) enslaved captives.)
Also. Dude. It's been literally TWENTY YEARS. (I guess only ten for Clytemnestra, but that's still a very long time!) I think the men would have moved on by then, even if they hadn't been raping the captives! looking at you too, Aeneas
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as opposed to an adaptation/retelling for kids (where the story was told in a linear fashion, i.e. we were following Odysseus from Troy and the Telemachus and Penelope sections didn‘t come until the last fourth or so
Yes, this! I've read retellings just like this, where you got Odysseus's various adventures with Circe and the Cyclops and so on, and then Telemachus and Penelope were at the end. So that was very surprising to me :)
as a true son of Odysseus, he should be able to kick out the suitors and/or deal with them on his lonesome, instead of being essentially still treated as a child by both the suitors and his mother.
Ahhhh that makes a lot of sense.
in the Odyssey, Aigisthus is still seen as the primary killer and Clytemnestra his helper, whereas by the time Aischylus, Sophocles and Euripides sharpen their pen some centuries later, Clytemnestra is the primary killer and Aigisthus just her loverboy, err, loverman sidekick.
Ah right, I remember you said that now! I had temporarily forgotten while reading, but I have read at least synopses of Sophocles and Euripides, so I definitely had in my head that Clytemnestra was the primary killer instead of someone who was just carried along by Aegisthus (though I couldn't remember at the time of reading whether I'd picked that up from modernist feminist retellings -- thinking of Marion Zimmer Bradley's Firebrand here (I know, I know) -- or from retellings that were closer to ancient source material). Anyway, I guess Odysseus should feel lucky that he had Penelope in his corner...
Either way, the reason why this keeps being brought up AGAIN AND AGAIN in this epic, I guess, is that this is the nightmare scenario all the men are afraid of and why Penelope‘s behavior is contrasted with - „their“ woman has found someone else, and instead of being welcomed, they‘re literally stabbed and replaced. (It‘s extremely patriarchal of course, since the lot of the Achaean warriors at Troy all kept sleeping with (or to call it what it is, raping) enslaved captives.)
Also. Dude. It's been literally TWENTY YEARS. (I guess only ten for Clytemnestra, but that's still a very long time!) I think the men would have moved on by then, even if they hadn't been raping the captives!
looking at you too, Aeneas