The Odyssey Modern Scholarship

"unwilling sex slave"

"He also benefits from Athene's sexless wisdom and Penelope's wifely stoicism"

"the Sirens form a chain of women...who, with their power to charm and seduce, threaten the hero's all-important homecoming to Ithaca"

"Odysseus can be seen as both an admirable hero and despicable villain"

"including honesty so sparingly wrapped up in tricks and lies"

"such a man does not throw away his life for glory"

"his need for cunning is enforced by his own recklessness"

The Odyssey makes "the household...rather than the battlefield the centre of its world"

"The Odyssey, however, gives prominence even to slaves and beggars"

"Orestes returned to kil his father's usurper Aeghistus: so should Telemachus kill the suitors?"

"the suitors are terrible guests and clearly violate the code of xenia"

"the gods take on the role of moral agents"

"the gods have supreme power but are not omnipotent...men have free will and are responsible for their actions"

"Odysseus acts as the god's agent in his massacre of the suitors"

"Odysseus is no puppet"

"the fidelity of Odysseus' wife is crucial to the story"

"she is as much the heroine of the poem as Odysseus is the hero"

"the only character in the entire poem who can outwit him in wisdom and cunning is his wife"