Monday, 7 August 2017

Is there an epic simile in Book 4 of Homer's The Odyssey?

There
is an epictoward the end of Book IV of , on lines 790€“794. It describes
Penelope lamenting the fate of her son after she hears about the suitors' plan to ambush
Telemachus on his return:

And even as a lion is seized
with fear and broods amid a throng of men, when they draw their crafty ring about him, so was
she pondering when sweet sleep came upon him.

is
comparing Penelope's fears for her son's well-being to a lion being chased by hunters, and the
fear it has when it knows it could be captured and killed at any moment. Her emotions are so
riled up that she feels like something bad is closing in on her and her son, like a hunter
stalking its prey. This could also directly reference the fact that Telemachus is about to head
into the suitors' trapif we compare Telemachus to the lion and the suitors to the
hunters.

It's also worth noting that Penelope calls her husband, Odysseus,
"lion-hearted"another tie-in to this simile and the rest of the epic.

No comments:

Post a Comment

In 1984, is Julia a spy? Please provide specific examples from the book. My teacher says that he knows of 17 pieces of evidence which proves that Julia...

There is some evidence to suggest thatwas a spy throughout 's classic novel . Julia portrays herself as a loyal admirer of Big ...