Unit 4
  English 201: 
  Masterpieces of Western Literature
Introduction Background .Explication Questions Review

Review:

The ODY imagines a new world.  Power is still recognized as indispensible.  However, after the tragic destruction of the powerful in The Iliad, the commitment to power is not so unconditional or absolute.  In ancient China there was an early recognition that power (Dao, the Way of things) is manifest in 2 related ways: yang (male, aggressive) & yin (female, passive).  One always implies or entails the other.  There is also a recognition that a kind of recursiveness occurs so that when one polarity is pursued or pushed too far it produces its opposite.  The Greek world never developed an outlook this systematic.  Nonetheless, the ODY does suggest that power must be "married" to beauty in order not to become self-destructive.

In the openining of The Iliad you were introducted to great men: AK, AG & others.  In the opening of the ODY you are introduced to boys, women & wanton, corrupt stay-at-home young men.  The women characters are the most interesting.  Surprisingly ancient Greek literature & drama presented many female characters, even though the authors & actors were, with few exceptions, male.

You should know:

You should recognize TEL's dilemma in the beginning.  Perhaps we should not say that he is too female (yin).  He has dike & a clear moral vision but no power to actualize it.  He addresses the Ithakian assembly seeking to shame them:
2.49  My distinguished father
         who ruled among you once, mild as a father

When such family gratitude is lacking, what can you do?  TEL says,
2.65  Expel them, yes, if I only had the power
        the whole thing's out of hand, insufferable.
        Where is your indignation [dike]?  Where is your shame?

Power does not exactly serve (moral) beauty here, but TEL is certainly a different young man than PAT or Paris.

You should remember that Nestor's house is a model for the polis that seems too austere, too formal, too much like living in church.  MEN's mansion is too opulent.  If the world of the Iliad illustrated the problems with uncondtional commitment to power, MEN's house illustrates the opposite: an unconditional commitment to beauty (yin) that bleeds away yang power & with it any ability to do anything other than adore beauty.

We are not yet ready to work out a chart or hierarchy of feminine characters.  But you already see the poles sketched out in the characters of Athena & Penelope on one side, & Helen on the other.  It is not simply that men are nasty, violent & bad; while women are beautiful & good.  Helen slays far more men than AK.  She is far more dangerous & deadly.  Beauty is as dangerous as violence.  Eurykleia's motives are motherly, but if she succeeds in smothering TEL, tucking him safe in bed, it will be tragic.  TEL will remain a boy without an identity; a kind of parallel to MEN whose identity is largely defined by his wife.  Hoping to escape the failed world of The Iliad, we cannot simply give the world over to women for 2 reasons.  Like men, women come in all moral shades.  Eurykleia will ruin the world with the best of motherly intentions.  Helen & her sister Klytemnestra simply enjoy domination.  Penelope & Athena are far different.  Secondly, uncritically reorienting the polis in the direction of women & female values cannot be done unilaterally.  The world is still first & foremost a manifestation of power that must be respected at the cost of survival.

This is the end of unit 4.  Next week you will work through unit 5.   See you then.