Still disguised as a beggar, Odysseus receives a blow from Antinous. Contrary to his character so far, Odysseus does not react with passion. Instead, he remained, “silent, his mind churning with thoughts of bloody work” (17.513). As you noted, Odysseus normally gives in to his impulse so his silence here suggests that he has already begun the work of removing the suitors. That work, which expects to be bloody, requires him to toil. The violent image of churning also supports his gory mission. His thought don’t merely mull, they churn, like a machine in which many moving cogs and wheels intermesh or like boiling water in an overflowing pot.
While Odysseus remains calm in the face of abuse from suitors, Penelope loses some of her reserved. When Telemachus issues a “lusty sneeze,” Penelope is “seized with laughter” (17.604). The laughter counters Penelope’s usual reserve. That she is “seized” suggests that someone or something else controls her, like a seizure. Her laughter erupts out of her control. She then gives voice to her own bloody thoughts, hoping that among the suitors, “not a single man escape his sudden doom!” (17.609).
Antinous also loses control by throwing a stool at the beggar, Odysseus. He does so in the heat of the moment, but even his fellow suitors understand the risk he takes. They remind him, “gods do take on the look of strangers” (17.537). Though Odysseus is not a god, he has the backing of the gods, and he is not as he seems to Antinous. The main suitor would do well to heed the advice of his fellows, though even if he did, the gentlest treatment of Odysseus would not save him form his “sudden doom.”
Indeed, Homer underscores the coming trouble for the suitors by ending Book 17, “The day was over. Dusk was falling fast” (17.677). The day of constant partying at Odysseus’ expense, the day of celebration and hope for future power in
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