The importance of clever characters in book XIX of The Odyssey.
Odysseus is repeatedly described as being wily and astute. In Book XIX, other characters come into their own as similarly wily and astute. Identify them, and explain the importance of (and need for) such cleverness at this point in the story. .
In book XIX of The Odyssey, Penelope, Euricleia, and Telemachus are clever or do things that are very smart. In book XIX of The Odyssey, the main characters are Odysseus, Telemachus, Penelope, Euricleia, the suitors, and the maids. .
In book XIX of The Odyssey, Athena inspires Odysseus, Telemachus, Penelope, and Euricleia to plot just revenge on the suitors for abusing hospitality and offendingf the gods. .
Telemachus cleverly devises a way for Odysseus to move the weapons out of the hall without being seen. .
" 'Nurse, come now, keep the women in their rooms until I've laid away my father's arms within the storeroom, out of reach of soot. For many years these weapons were neglected' Telemachus' reply was tactful, wise. This stranger here can serve for that: a man who gets his daily quart of grain from me must earn it, though he comes from far-off lands. ".
Penelope doesn't want to marry any of the suitors because she still hopes that Odysseus is alive. She decides to delay the suitors as long as she can. She tells the suitors that she cannot marry until she has woven a funeral shroud for Odysseus' father, Laértës, who is very old and will die soon. She delays the suitors three years before?'some??? of her maids betray her. She expresses her desperation to the beggar, who she doesn't know is Odysseus. .
"While the suitors seek a wedding, I weave schemes. 'Young men, since bright Odysseus is now dead, be patient; though you're keen to marry me, wait till this cloth is done, so that no thread unravels. This is lord Laértës' shroud- the robe he'll wear when dark death strikes him down' So I would weave that mighty web by day; but then by night, by torchlight, I undid what I had done.
