Robert Hasul

October 15, 1997

AP English IV

 

The Odyssey: Theme of Discretion in Concealing and Revealing

The difference between a wise and a foolish decision is often found in discerning when to conceal and when to reveal. This discretion in concealing and revealing is a major theme within The Odyssey. There is a proper time to deceive and a proper time to tell the truth; thus, it is crucial that one act accordingly. This importance is exemplified in Odysseus’ life. When he is discreet in his timing, he achieves his goal. One example of this is the Trojan War. While the other men in the horse want to expose themselves when they hear their wives’ voices being mimicked by Helen, Odysseus forces them to stay hidden within the horse (Book IV, lines 306-311). Because of this discernment and self-control, the Trojan War is won. However, when he is careless in his timing, troubles follow. In the situation with Polyphemus, Odysseus makes an improper decision. He gives his name to Polyphemus as he is leaving the island of the Cyclopes. Although his crew urges him to stop taunting Polyphemus, he does not listen because of his pride in his skill of deception (Book IX, lines 519-552). As a result of this foolishness and pride, his return home is full of hardships and his companions die. Timing of concealment and revelation has such significant consequences because disguise is a powerful tool that needs to be handled carefully. From Books XIII to XXII, Odysseus uses it against the people of Ithaca to plan his revenge. In Book XIX, Homer employs the story of the scar and uses various literary techniques to highlight again on the power of disguise and importance of Odysseus’ maintaining his disguise until the opportune time.

By beginning the story of the scar in the middle of a sentence, Homer hides the story within the text of The Odyssey and shows the audience the need for Odysseus to remain incognito. The recognition scene and the introduction to the story are found within the same sentence as represented in the text, "But when she bared her lord’s leg, bending near, she knew the groove at once. An old wound a boar’s white tusk inflicted, on Parnassos years ago. He had gone hunting there…" (Book XIX, lines 458-462). Because of this combination within a sentence, the story of the scar is structurally indistinguishable from the recognition scene. Although the story exists, it is inconspicuous. Since the hidden story is about a scar particular to Odysseus, the identity of Odysseus is also kept concealed within the text. Thus, Homer hides the story to stress the need to maintain Odysseus’ disguise as a beggar.

Another literary technique that Homer uses to conceal the story of Odysseus’ identity is repetition. The repetition found in the recognition scene (Book XIX) is like a mirror image. The recognition scene is followed by introduction to the hunting incident, which finishes with an introduction to the hunting incident followed by the recognition scene. To better visualize this, the text takes on the mathematical format: (…recognition scene][scar story][recognition scene…). The brackets in the model indicate separation and are mirrored on each side so that the story of the scar can be slipped in more casually. The first green bracket occurs at lines 458-459, "But when she bared her lord’s leg, bending near, she knew the groove at once." The gold bracket that comes directly after it begins with lines 460-463, "An old wound a boar’s white tusk inflicted, on Parnassos years ago." The scar story is told and then ends with its opening in lines 540-541, "…recalling how the boar’s white tusk caught him when he was hunting on Parnassos." The recognition scene then picks up from where it left off in line 542, "This was the scar the old nurse recognized." This is not repeated because Eurycleia identifies her master, forgets, and re-identifies him. Rather, this mirrored narrative structure allows Homer to successfully leave the recognition scene uninterrupted. Homer is able to leave the main path of the story with the flashback and resume the main path again by going around in a circle. One result of this flow is the concealment of the story within the text. Another result is that the audience goes through an uninterrupted flow of time in which it returns to the same place where it had left it. The audience who has privileged information is led to identify with characters in the story who do not have that knowledge. Thus, Homer’s use of repetition conceals the story and leads the audience back to the recognition scene with characters who do not see through the disguise.

Odysseus’ identity is not only hidden within the structure of the text. It is also concealed within the event of the recognition scene that the text describes to stress the importance of disguise and timing. Penelope, the servants, and suitors miss Eurycleia’s discovery of Odysseus’ identity. Penelope is present right before and right after this scene but not during because the goddess Athena has dazed her with her powers. Eurycleia’s effort to attract Penelope’s attention fails. The people in the house do not hear the bronze bowl clang, and they do not observe Eurycleia’s spilling water when she tips the basin. Also, no one observes Odysseus’ restraining of Eurycleia by grabbing her throat. Although these events merit attention, they are unnoticed. Homer does not allow any other character to recognize Odysseus because it is not the proper time for him to be revealed.

Homer stresses the importance of disguise by his use of imagery in the boar’s lair from the hunting story. He describes the lair as impenetrable because wind, sunshine, nor rain could pass through the bush into the lair. This thick bush is associated with Odysseus’ disguise. As the bush covers the lair, the disguise covers Odysseus. As the bush is impenetrable, Odysseus’ deception fools everyone except Eurycleia. His own wife does not recognize him through the beggar’s clothing. The servants who are very loyal to him cannot penetrate to the real identity of the beggar. By using imagery, Homer shows the effectiveness of a disguise.

Homer uses the boar and his nest to answer why it is not time for Odysseus to disclose himself and also why disguise is important. Remaining hidden when the story is told is important because disguise allows the disguised to gain an upper hand in knowledge, to plan, and to prepare. In the boar hunt, the boar hears the sound of his pursuers’ feet from his woodlair that wind, sun, and rain cannot penetrate. From here, he could study his enemies although for a brief time. He knows the sound of their footsteps, and he knows that they are close. He also prepares to fight by bristling his razorback and positioning his body. Because of the concealment, he learns, plans, and prepares; thus, he is quicker to strike than young Odysseus. Before Odysseus stabs with his spear, the boar strikes with his claws and wounds Odysseus. In the encounter with the boar, young Odysseus does not yet realize the advantages of disguise. However, by the time Odysseus encounters the suitors, he has learned the necessity of concealment to study his enemies and his situation while preparing for and formulating a fitting revenge. As a beggar Odysseus learns about the suitors and servants, but the suitors do not know anything about him. Odysseus has the upper hand in knowledge. He prepares by hiding the arms and enlisting the help of his loyal servants. Without the suitors knowing, he plans to kill them. Through concealment, he kills Antinous even before the suitors realize who he is. He also kills Eurymachus before being stabbed by him with a spear. The boar is the first to strike in Odysseus’ childhood, but Odysseus strikes first in his adulthood against his enemies because he learns to use the powerful tool of disguise.

Odysseus not only learns to use deception to his advantage, but he also learns to discern the right time to reveal. Homer conveys this message by comparing the young, immature Odysseus with the older, mature Odysseus. Homer compares the two characters by inserting the story of Odysseus’ youth in his adulthood. In the boar hunt, Odysseus’ impatience is seen clearly as he walked too close to the hounds. He is the first to reach the boar, and randomly stabs at the beast in a vain attempt to kill it. In his impatience to kill, he is not prepared for the boar’s strike and is hurt deeply. The wound is so deep that it scars him for life. In contrast to his youth, Odysseus in his adulthood waits for the right moment to reveal his identity and kill the suitors. Although he wants to take revenge, he suffers the physical and verbal abuse of the suitors and the servants. He controls his desire to kill the suitors, and he prepares for the battle to come. Although Odysseus faces danger in both cases, he reacts differently. In his youth he did not wait for the right moments, but in his adulthood he waits until the opportune time. While the recklessness of his youth resulted in a scar, the discernment in his adulthood results in a victory. By comparing Odysseus in two different stages of his life, Homer emphasizes the importance of discretion in revealing.

Homer also associates Odysseus with the boar in many ways to foreshadow the moment of revelation. One method that Homer employs to associate Odysseus and the boar is by shifting focus during the boar hunt. At first the spotlight is on Odysseus and the sons of Autolykos, and then the spotlight shifts to the boar. He places much detailed emphasis on boar’s lair, his awareness of danger, and his decision to face danger. Since the main character is Odysseus, the audience would expect Homer to focus on Odysseus and his actions and thoughts. By shifting to the boar, Homer is relating the mature Odysseus to the boar. The description of the boar’s lair is similar to Odysseus’ nest in the land of the Phaiakians before he arrived on his home island, Ithaka, to face his enemies. The boar’s lair is "…in a green thicket proof against the wind or sun’s blaze, fine soever the needling sunlight, impervious too to any rain, so dense that cover was, heaped up with fallen leaves" (Book XIX, lines 513-516). In the end of Book V, Homer describes Odysseus’ sleeping place as "...a thicket proof against the stinging wind or Sun’s blaze, fine soever the needling sunlight; nor could a downpour wet it through, so dense those plants were interwoven…Odysseus’ heart laughed when he saw his leaf-bed, and down he lay, heaping more leaves above him" (lines 503-512). Odysseus’ situation at his home is much like the boar’s. As the boar goes up against many dogs and many men, Odysseus faces suitors, servants, and the people of Ithaca. The boar has a lair that is impenetrable but has been found by dogs. Odysseus has a disguise that no one has been able to discover yet, but Eurycleia has recognized him. As the dogs found the scent of the boar, Eurycleia has recognized the scar. As the dogs can smell beyond the impenetrable thicket, Eurycleia has seen through Odysseus’ disguise. Even his own wife, Penelope, has not been able to do that. Through identification in the above ways, Homer tells what Odysseus must do and what is to come. As the hounds brought danger, Eurycleia’s recognition is a sign of danger to come. The scene that is yet to come is the boar’s facing his pursuers and not being a victim in the hands of his pursuers. This parallelism serves as an omen for what is to come later. Homer signals to the audience that the proper time will come very soon when Odysseus too must reveal his true identity and face the suitors.

Homer highlights the importance of concealment and revelation numerous times with structure, context, imagery, comparison, and foreshadowing. This major theme in The Odyssey is stressed in various ways within the boundaries of the hunting scene. By Homer’s art of story telling, the audience, like Odysseus, learns to discern from past experience when to conceal and reveal personal information.