The cyclops Polyphemus traps Odysseus and his men in a cave, behind an enormous rock. Instead, Odysseus hatches a plan. While the cyclops is out with his sheep, Odysseus sharpens a piece of wood into a stake and hardens it in the fire. In the morning, the cyclops must let his sheep out to graze. Poseidon is more powerful than Athena, and he has a higher rank amongst the gods. He does everything he can to prevent Odysseus from returning home.
Odysseus wants revenge on the suitors. They have wasted a lot of his wealth, by living at his expense during his absence. More importantly, by taking advantage of his absence, the suitors have insulted Odysseus and damaged his reputation.
Odysseus lives by the heroic code of kleos , or fame, which values reputation above everything else. The suitors make things worse for themselves by mistreating Odysseus when he arrives at his palace disguised as a beggar. In the world of The Odyssey , hosts have an obligation to treat their guests well. Whenever he can, Odysseus punishes hosts who break this rule. Penelope has not seen her husband for many years. She tests Odysseus by ordering her servant Eurycleia to move their marriage bed.
Odysseus gets angry. He explains that he built their bedroom around an ancient olive tree, and used the top of the tree to make their bedpost. He is angry because he believes Penelope must have replaced this bed with a movable one. His anger, and the fact that he knows the story of the bed, proves his identity.
He offers to tax the people to pay back everything and adds that he and the other suitors will contribute plenty of their own possessions as well.
Odysseus, however, is interested in only one kind of repayment. Eurymachus sees that he must fight or die and calls his fellow suitors to arms. He barely mounts a charge before the king's arrow rips through his chest and into his liver. Even the relatively good must die.
Amphinomus charges. Although he is the queen's favorite and the one suitor whom Odysseus earlier tried to persuade to leave, he is killed by Telemachus. Because of his military expertise, the early battle goes well for Odysseus.
He has caught the enemy by surprise, cut off escape, destroyed its leadership, and caused confusion. Telemachus fetches armor for the king and himself as well as the two loyal herdsmen. The suitors have only the swords that they wear. However, the sinister goatherd Melanthius complicates matters. Familiar with the castle, he retrieves a dozen spears and armor to match from the storeroom whose door Telemachus has carelessly left ajar.
Odysseus sees the danger but resists panic. His faithful herdsmen cut off Melanthius' second trip and hang him live by the rafters. At this crucial point in the battle, as Odysseus agonizes, Athena appears in the form of Mentor. The king recognizes his true mentor, the goddess, and takes heart as she reminds him that these are not Trojans that he faces.
These are only the suitors. He fights on with renewed vigor. The king's faithful servant can't resist asking Ctesippus how he likes his mockery now Odysseus dispenses justice harshly but not without mercy.
Leodes pleads that he was only the suitors' priest, but Odysseus knows that he was the first to try to string the bow and win Penelope. Odysseus decapitates him with one swipe, the head softly bouncing in the dust. Antinous, however, shockingly insults the queen, whom he obviously wants to marry for mainly political reasons. Penelope, he says, has misguided the suitors for nearly four years now, leading on each man with hints and promises but choosing no one.
Antinous demands that Telemachus must send his mother back to her father's home so that the old man might choose a husband for her. The story of the loom symbolizes the queen's cunning as well as the suitors' density. For three full years, Penelope worked at weaving a shroud for her father-in-law's eventual funeral.
She claimed that she would make a decision as soon as the shroud was finished. By day, the renowned weaver worked on a great loom in the royal halls. At night, she secretly unraveled what she had done, amazingly deceiving the young suitors who apparently were too slow of wit or too drunk to discover the ruse.
The plot failed only when one of Penelope's servants betrayed her and told the suitors what was happening. Despite the insults, Telemachus remains calm and counters the leading suitor with logic.
He argues that Penelope's father and the public at large would condemn him if he kicked his own mother out of her home. The gods would never tolerate such behavior. Besides, Icarius, the queen's father, lives much too far away. Speaking like an experienced veteran, the prince builds to a passionate peroration, again demanding that the suitors leave.
He sarcastically suggests that they might stay if the food and drink are so much better at the royal house of Odysseus; but if they do, he will call on Zeus for vengeance. As if on cue, the king of gods sends eagles as an omen.
Eurymachus, the other leading suitor, is not convinced. Although he later will prove to be a sly manipulator when cornered, here, Eurymachus has no fear and insolently dismisses omens, Odysseus, and the prince. He and the suitors will do whatever they want. It is for others to adjust to them.
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