Book 11

What a difference a day makes. You need yesterday to stretch out your atrophied brain, and today you were as limber as ever. You spent some time talking about Odysseus’ conversation with Achilles in which each character claimed the other had a better existence. Odysseus argues that “there’s not a man in the world more blest than you” (11.548). He may be merely being polite, but he acknowledges the glory and esteem bestowed upon Achilles. Achilles, however, counters somewhat bitterly, “’No winning words about death to me, shining Odysseus!/By god, I’d rather slave on earth for another man” (11.555-6). Death, then, to Achilles is worse than being a slave, working for another person’s wealth. He would rather be “a dirt-poor farmer” than to be a king “over all the breathless dead” (11.557-8). Though you did well to notice the disagreement, I would like you to also look at the words. Look especially at evocative images like “dirt-poor” and “breathless dead.” They add so much to the poetry, but as of yet, you are not comfortable with such analysis.

You also spent some time looking at the implications of Agamemnon’s speech. His gruesome experience at the hands of wife and her lover (notice he doesn’t mention his lover or his sacrificial killing of their daughter, Iphigenia) leads him to argue that Clytemnestra “bathes in shame/not only herself but the whole breed of womankind” (490-1). You quickly understood the implications of this claim for Odysseus, who still seeks his way back to his wife. However, her too, you missed an opportunity to examine the connotations of words, like “bathes” and “breed.”

Indeed, though Agamemnon acknowledges Penelope’s loyalty, he counsels Odysseus to be suspicious of her. On the one hand he tells Odysseus, “Not that you…will be murdered by your wife,/She’s much too steady, her feelings run to deep” (11.503-4). On the other he recommends that when Odysseus arrives in Ithaca he do so “in secret,” adding “the time for trusting women’s gone forever!” (11.517-18). I like that you noticed this contradiction and immediately became curious about whether Odysseus will follow Agamemnon’s advice. However, you also missed a very subtle metaphor. Agamemnon compares Penelope to a deep body of water, one that has a steady current because of its depth and is unlikely to be altered in its course by trivial events.