Trickster and Hero: Two Characters in the Oral and Written Traditions of the World

6. The Odyssey

 6 The Odyssey The Foundation of Epic: Injecting the Trickster into the Hero In The Odyssey, the cycle of tales is obvious, along with the patterning of those tales. And the historical background of the Trojan War and other events remains at the forefront of the epic. Homer clearly and emphatically works the trickster into this patterned mixture of history and tale. Odysseus is a trickster: consider the Trojan horse, the experience with Polyphemus, Odysseus’s arrival home in disguise. Odysseus is a hero: we hear his heroic story in his own words (hence the elaborate flashbacks, not told in the third person but as first-person reminiscences by Odysseus). Why tell the story in the first person? Why break the linearity of the story, for the lengthy flashback? The reason is heroic self-revelation. The stories are told by the characters themselves, at home by the participants, Odysseus by himself, etc. There is a rich interaction of past and present; we keep moving from the moment of the past (Odysseus’s adventures) to the moment of the present (Penelope’s plight), so that the play with linearity heightens the question of heroism, of Odysseus’s heroism. Even with the flashback, we know the bearson tale, we know the monomyth, so even though the storyteller takes liberties with the flashbacks, we place events into their proper sequence. But why break the linearity? The trickster energy and the developing hero: these occur simultaneously. The basic story: it moves from Troy to Odysseus’s wife besieged by suitors, with a son who is unable to do anything about it. Myth: the gods take sides, especially Athena and Poseidon. Tale: the monomythic move to the nadir, to The Odyssey  Tiresias in the underworld where Odysseus learns his fate, death. The underworld : the dead he meets there; it is a grim place, without hope. Any hope is to be achieved on the earth. Is there heroism in Hades? There is a progressive movement of the hero to the point that his friends are gone, his ships destroyed, and, at home, his wife is under siege. He moves to the lowest point, and learns that death is to be his destiny. But he returns and plays out his role of hero, destroying his wife’s suitors and recovering his wife and son. Telemachus is the microcosm of Odysseus: he is the future, and there is hope in that. The sense of loss: Odysseus’s glory days, the sense of gain; his free will, doing what he wishes to do. Odysseus is his own bard: he is the one who tells his story. He uses his trickster energy; this is his transformation, to move to Ithaca, to move to heroism, even with the images of the heroes of the past in Hades. Achilles wishes to be back on the earth. In the end, it may not be so much about free will as to make use of possibilities within one’s life, which is also the conclusion of Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh’s trip to the nadir, Utnapishtim, and Odysseus’s trip to the nadir, Tiresias: the epics and the epic heroes are the same. Odysseus A Movement to a Union with Penelope Key Characters: Odysseus and Penelope The Basic Movement: Bringing Odysseus and Penelope together as one The Mechanics of the Movement: Myth: the gods Tale: Polyphemus, Circe, etc., the suitors (keep Odysseus and Penelope apart) (pattern) Commentary: Odysseus’s sense of identity Trickster, the Engine of the Movement: Odysseus’ trickery Disguise: Odysseus as the old man Hero: Odysseus (move to union with wife, his other side) Physical Strength of the Hero: struggle with Polyphemus, Circe, etc., and with his exploits at Troy in the background Frailty of the Hero: age; a sense of loss A Diminished Nature: his age, his name, his home New Possibilities: moving beyond these, a rebirth Definition of Hero: a character who, in his movement to oneness with the woman he loves, reveals the possibilities of triumph over human infirmity (age, frailty, etc.) In “The Bearson,”29 an oral tale, there is an incipient Odysseus (this summary is based on one hundred variants of the story in twenty languages). There is an extraordinary birth: a woman meets a bear in the forest, is taken to his cave, and she bears a son to him. The mother and son escape from the bear’s den and return to the human...