Homer's Odyssey, Book 4

“Why has my child left me?... Why did he go? Must he, too, be forgotten?”

Art: Jean-Jacques Lagrenée, Helen Recognizing Telemachus, Son of Odysseus. 1795.

Book 4 is jam-packed with action and twists and turns, as each storyline (or thread, if we want to lean into a weaving metaphor) converges before we finally meet Odysseus. Much like a thrilling movie today, the book cuts back and forth from Telemachus to his mother, and Odysseus’s home. The pace is accelerating. First, Telemachus and Pisistratus are received nobly by Menelaus and Helen of Sparta. This gives us a chance to go back to where it all began: Troy, and even before that, Helen’s abduction by Paris. Now, we find her at home once again with her husband, condemning the foolish choices she made under the sway of Aphrodite. It’s enough to wonder if the whole war wasn’t an entire waste and madness, spurred on solely by the envy and rivalry of three goddesses vying to be the most beautiful. (If you’re not familiar with the golden apple of discord, marked “for the fairest,” look up the Judgment of Paris.) This encounter offers us the opportunity to hear first-hand how Odysseus tricked the Trojans with the great horse, securing the Greek victory. We also learn from Menelaus that he himself was trapped on an island until he managed to capture the Old Man of the Sea and learn why he was delayed. Proteus reveals it’s because he failed to make sacrifices to Zeus before the final leg of his homeward journey, and that he must sail back to Egypt immediately. But Menelaus gets one other piece of information from the all-seeing god: Odysseus is indeed alive, trapped on Calypso’s island. It’s the confirmation Telemachus needs, and exactly what hoped to learn when he set sail. The stage is set. We cut back to Odysseus’s palace in Ithaca, where the suitors realize that Telemachus isn’t off somewhere with the sheep and goats, but has sailed for news of his father. They agree to set sail and lay in wait for him, to murder him upon his return—a sort of twisted and perverted echo to the Orestes story we’ve heard mentioned a few times. This time, the would-be fathers in law wait to murder the son and true heir. This is the second thread of the book. When Penelope learns from the old nurse that Telemachus has indeed set sail, and that she helped provision his ship and was sworn to secrecy, but that the suitors now seek to murder him, she is overcome with grief. Poor Penelope is bereft now of both her husband and son, with no recourse but her own wit to save her from the suitors. This is the third thread. To comfort her, Athena sends a phantom in the semblance of Iphtime to visit. The goddess hasn’t forgotten Penelope either. This is the fourth thread. But note how Pallas doesn’t give Penelope confirmation that Odysseus is still alive. The journey home isn’t over yet. It’s just beginning. Each thread, wound tightly with the others, is left dangling in suspense as Book 4 ends. A true cliffhanger. It’s time to meet Odysseus.