Into the Underworld

1
Into the Underworld

• HUM 2051 Civilization I
• Fall 2010
• Dr. Perdigao
• September 3-8, 2010

2
Storylines

• Storytellers
• Book IV Agamemnons story told by Menelaus,
  Odysseuss own story retoldmodels of memory,
  storytelling within the epic
• Demodocus
• It goes against my grain to repeat a tale told
  once, and told so clearly (355). At the end of
  Book XII, it returns to bards storyfrom
  Odysseus as storyteller from bards accounts,
  back to Calypso and homecoming
• Weavers
• Penelope, Calypso, Circe
• Circe weaving at loomenchanting web (like web of
  deceit in Agamemnon) (320)

3
Centering the Journey

• Circe (Book X)
• Aeaea
• Hermes guidance
• Aeolus
• Bag of Wind
• Laestrygoians, Antiphates
• Eurylochus tries to report what happens to crew
  (320-321), then cautious about staying Odysseus
  impervious to Circes charms You have a mind in
  you no magic can enchant! (322, 365)
• Guides to/in the underworld
• Circe, Tiresias
• Circe tells him what hell undergo next, descent
  into the underworld (326)
• Elpenor (329-330)
• Burialsign of courtesy and propriety
  (Clytaemnestra does not show Agamamenon)
  remember me (330, 78)

4
Deconstructing the Descent

• From Elpenors death to the underworld
• Book XI Descent into underworldhero tires in
  task and is at moment of exhaustion
• Figurative death in descent
• Consults wisdom figures, Tiresias, family members
• As a result of confrontation with wisdom figures,
  goes through rebirth in return with new strength,
  to go back to the quest
• Pattern of whole poem in The Divine Comedy

5
Cast of Characters in the Underworld

• Tiresias
• Odysseuss mother Anticleia
• Women wives of heroes
• Agamemnon (338-340)
• Achilles (340-342)
• Ajax (342)
• Tityus
• Tantalus
• Sisyphus
• Heracles, as ghost
• Desires to see first golden ageTheseus, Jason
  and the Argonauts

6
Framing the Hero

• Joseph Campbells The Hero with One Thousand
  Faces as story of ritual death, rebirth
• separation initiation return
• Rites of passage monomyth
• A hero ventures forth from the world of common
  day into a region of supernatural wonder
  fabulous forces are there encountered and a
  decisive victory is won. The hero comes back
  from this mysterious adventure with the power to
  bestow boons on his fellow man. (30)

7
Stages of Descent

• I. Departure call to adventure, refusal of the
  call, supernatural aid
• II. Initiation round of trials, meeting with the
  goddess, woman as temptress
• III. Return refusal of the return, the magic
  flight, crossing of return threshold, master of
  two worlds, freedom to live

8
Framing the Narrative

• Sirens
• Version of Pandora story, excess, control , like
  Sirensdesire to hear (curiosity) but control
  appliedalso in Book X with the sack of wind,
  then story of flood with six nights, seventh day
  of rest
• As bards themselves, enchanting with story (349)
• Narrating The Iliad?
• Clashing Rocks, Scylla and Charybdis
• Six-headed monster, whirlpool
• between a rock and a hard place (354)
• Helios
• Sun cattlehospitality, respect (reverses Sirens
  episode with his control)