A lot of Odysseus's actions/personality traits are chalked up to craftiness or cleverness. While he is an obviously intelligent man, I'm dubious as to whether that's all he is. He reminds me more of a pathological liar.
It's not that he occasionally lies about his identity to keep himself safe. It's that, whenever he runs into someone he doesn't know or hasn't seen for a while, he crafts the most elaborate and unbelievably credible stories about who he actually is, often for now discernible reason. I'm not sure if that was simply the custom then - to describe your life story in paragraphs-long detail to someone you've just met - but to read now, it just sounds ridiculous. He even gives one of these stories to his father.
Most of the time the stories aren't even similar to his own personal journey (if I remember correctly). I think Odysseus might have a problem more serious than homesickness.
PS: I commented on Mary Kate's blog.
Interesting for sure. I would also point out that the amount of deceit in this book seems to be significant, but it is not just Odysseus. Everyone in the book seems to be deceiving someone sometime.
ReplyDelete