Character Of Telemakhus In Homer's Odyssey

In the aftermath of Odysseus’ departure for the Trojan war and his misfortune at sea, Telemakhus has grown into a young man and Penelope has fallen into depression. Both mother and son have lamented Odysseus’ absence and apparent death for years; to make matters worse, all of Ithaka’s eligible men have flocked to Odysseus’ home to eat his livestock and court his wife. However, the anguish in Telemakhus’ heart is soon addressed by the goddess Athena, who comes in the form of a weary traveler to assure Telemakhus that Oddyseus is not dead. As Athena guides Telemakhus in his confrontations and travels, it becomes apparent that Telemakhus is a brave and intelligent (albeit young and inexperienced) boy. When Athena descends from Mount Olympos in the form of a traveler, she does so to help Telemakhus confront stronger and more influential men. At the beginning of The Odyssey, Telemakhus is sitting …show more content…
Despite the positive qualities that Telemakhus possesses, he is significantly limited by his youth. He is unable to fight back against the acquisition of his father’s land and livestock, he holds no honorable standing amongst the people of Ithaka, and he has yet to develop the shrewd judgement of his father that may have allowed him to manage the problem of the suitors. Aside from the qualities that would have allowed him to undermine or defeat the suitors that inhabited his father’s home, he also lacked the necessary skills to even garner information about his father before Athena visited him. Athena “put a new spirit in him” (Book 1, Line 370) that inspired him to look for his father, and “lavished on him a sunlit grace” which helped him follow through with her plan. The fact of the matter is that Telemakhus, though well intentioned, was simply too limited by his youth and inexperience to be effective without the assistance of