Power and Freedom

Power and Freedom

1. Opposites

   • Slavery
   • Imprisonment
     • Odysseus on Calypso's Island
       • '..His eyes were wet with weeping, as they always were. Life with its sweetness was ebbing away in the tears he shed for his lost home...... the days found him sitting on the rocks or sands, torturing himself with tears...' Book 5, line 151-156.

2. Husband and Wife

   • Penelope and Odysseus
     • Odysseus has the power, as a man, over his wife.
       • Odysseus is able to sleep with other women and not be reprimanded, whereas Penelope must stay chaste.
         • When Odysseus arrived home he did not want Penelope to know until after he had a chance to make sure she had been chaste.

3. Zeus

   • Power over the other Gods.
     • E.G. Zeus has the power to command Calypso to free Odysseus
       • "...when Zeus, who bears the aegis, makes up his mind, it is impossible for any other god to thwart him or evade his will." Hermes, book 5, line 102-104

4. Mother and Son

   • Penelope and Telemachus
     • Telemachus has power over his mother as the 'man of the house' while his father is away.
       • ".. Go to your quarters now and attend to your own work, the loom and the spindle, and tell the servants to get with theirs. Making decisions must be men's concern, and mine in particular, for I am master in this house." Telemachus, Book 1, line 354-359.

5. By Hamish, Catherine and Jeiarne

   • Teamwork!