“…as a woman weeps, her arms flung round her darling husband,
a man who fell in battle, fighting for town and townsmen,
trying to beat the day of doom from home and children.
Seeing the man go down, dying, gasping for breath,
she clings for dear life, screams and shrills –
but the victors, just behind her,
digging spear-butts into her back and shoulders,
drag her off in hard bondage, yoked to hard labor, pain,
and the most heartbreaking torment wastes her cheeks.
So from Odysseus’ eyes ran tears of heartbreak now.” Book VIII, lines 588-597
There is no doubt about it – Odysseus, like the current Speaker of the House, is a crier. On several occasions thus far, several important occasions within the story, the reader finds Odysseus sobbing, grieving painfully for all the world to see. This goes against his image as a man “like the god of war” (Bk. VIII, 580). Here, Odysseus is feminized, compared to a woman who has just lost her husband in battle. Loss of a spouse is certainly a reason for immense grief, but Odysseus’ reputation would indicate that he would not mourn like some fragile woman, but fight, destroy those who had taken something so dear from him!
Homer’s portrayal of a more sensitive, effeminate man does not match up with what the reader knows of Odysseus so far. His friends and family herald his bravery and courage, and the bard’s song presents him as a god-like man. Perhaps this feminization of Odysseus is simply an insight into another side of the great man’s personality – Odysseus as a fair, emotionally driven man. However, generally, “deft” (521), “tactful” (459) and “wily” (191) are not used to describe men easily swung by pathos and emotional appeal. To be wily is to be cunning and logical in analysis of situations. These traits do not mix together simply.
Another potential outcome of this simile is to show a lack of control over Odysseus’ emotions. He hears his tale of victory from the bard, and breaks down, sobbing uncontrollably. At Calypso’s island, Odysseus spends countless hours bemoaning his fate, unable to deal with the situation and come up with an appropriate plan. Menelaus speaks confidently of the horrors Odysseus would unleash upon the suitors were informed of his domestic happenings, and during the celebration of his arrival in Phaeacia, he explodes at Broadsea for insulting his abilities. To accomplish his great deeds, Odysseus often refers to needing to “wake his fighting spirit”. Without it, he is just an ordinary man with exceptional muscle mass and a gifted tongue. Odysseus does not know how to be in control of himself when things go wrong, when he is either threatened or when he is at a loss. This disability appears to be what he is most famous for, these blind rages that lead to great feats. Yet they also lead him to great fits of misery.
The language used helps bring about a sense of hopelessness and despair. Words like “weeps,” “torment,” and “waste”, combined with phrases like “clings for dear life,” and “drag her off in hard bondage” are chosen to maximize emotional impact on the reader. The asyndeton used in the simile provides the desperate, rushing feeling that such a situation would create, a battle to keep something while being forcible dragged away. The words rush together; they get harsher as the soldiers arrive to drag the woman off. The patterning is part of the impact of the scene, and the impact is why the simile is included. Homer could have just as easily said, “Odysseus sobbed hard and long, wringing his body of water, lost in his loss,” and gotten the same point across, that Odysseus was extremely upset by the song of his conquests in Troy. By using the simile, and the twists that the simile employs, Homer is able to create an atmosphere of loss equal to that of Odysseus, thus allowing the reader to feel more closely Odysseus’ pain. In bringing the reader to the same emotional place as Odysseus, Homer can manipulate the reader’s feelings towards Odysseus, to make him a more likeable protagonist. It can be viewed to some extent as an appeal to pity.
