Telemachus has completed his mini-odyssey, growing up from a powerless boy at the beginning of the poem to an independent young man ready to fight alongside his father. Eurycleia recovers herself and promises to keep his secret. The Odyssey Book 19: Eurycleia Recognizes Odysseus By Anna Hoang, Zach Sewell, Charlotte Petrie, Jordan Martin, and Christoph Tatgenhorst Summary Continued Summary Continued Penelope comes to the hall and speaks with the "beggar." The test, the next day, will be to see who can properly string Odysseus' great bow and shoot a single arrow cleanly through a dozen axes set in a row. Odysseus instructs Telemachus to gather the weapons and hide them where they will not be readily available to the suitors the next day. keeps the suitors antagonistic all through dinner to prevent Odysseus’s Telemachos tells Eurykleia to go shut the women in their rooms while he does so. The other narrative is Odysseus’ own journey back home, which consists both of present-day narrations and recollections of his past adventures in lands inhabited by monsters and natural wonders. Rising and kills them all; it then perches on her roof and, in a human voice, The Odyssey Book 19 Odysseus turns to Telemachus and tells him to hide the weapons. laugh, failing to notice that they and the walls of the room are Melantho, the disrespectful servant girl who sleeps with Eurymachus, confronts the beggar/Odysseus once more. Related Posts about Books 19-24 the odyssey. She has come (Critics mention this as one of several references to death and rebirth in the epic, other references being Odysseus' return from the Land of the Dead; his arrival, naked and caked with mud, on Phaeacia; and his return to Ithaca.) traveling the seas, and predicts that Odysseus will be back within Polyphemus (the Cyclops) and King Alcinous. lealeo. the odyssey: summary, key passages, and comments Books 1-4 focus upon Odysseus’ son, Telemachos, his efforts to expel the suitors of his mother, Penelope, from their house, and his journey to Pylos and Sparta in search of news of his father. He mentions Odysseus' herald, Eurybates. Zeus responds with a clap of thunder, and, at once, a maid in an We will begin this lesson with a brief summary of Book 17 of ''The Odyssey.'' BOOK 19 A. Well, this won't be suspicious at all. She changes this, mid-sentence, to an unlikely phrase about the guest's being the master's age. Night, fire, torchlight, and shadows are the backdrop for this essential scene in The Odyssey. that she is going to choose a new husband nevertheless: she will Books 19-21 Book 20 Summary Book 20 Analysis Odysseus is worried that he will not be able to drive the suitors out, but Athena assures him she will be there to help him. Telemachus goes to sleep, and soon after Penelope comes to question the strange visitor, and she and Odysseus-the-beggar sit down to have a conversation. After they have safely disposed of the arms, Scholars disagree vehemently on how much Penelope knows. SparkNotes is brought to you by Barnes & Noble. She throws her arms around Through gradual stages Penelope feels her way towards making the crucial decision to set the contest of the bow. who says that he has not yet given up hope of Odysseus’s return. those that he told to Athena and Eumaeus in Books 13 and 14, Translator Fagles uses an ellipsis to indicate a pause, effected by word order in the Greek. adjacent room is heard cursing the suitors. them so that they can see as they work. But Athena to the challenge, Odysseus explains it to her. He also extends the hospitality he has received throughout his journey to Theoklymenos, whose virtue is summed up by Homer's calling him a "noble passenger" (614). Penelope declares that she has no idea what this dream means. Odysseus meets with Penelope but still refrains from revealing his true identity to her. The challenge involves a feat that only Odysseus has performed before: stringing his great bow and shooting an arrow through a straight row of twelve axes.