Book nineteen bring, brings things to a
head for us. We've seen Odysseus and Penelope coming
together in our last discussion. Prior discussions we've talked about
Odysseus giving his lie to Penelope, then having his scar spotted by Eurycleia.
And now, as a kind of coup de gras to what happens in Book nineteen, Penelope drops
some things on Odysseus. She goes ahead and tells him her dream.
Book twenty, that's going to follow this as loaded with divine signs, each of which
is confirming that Odysseus is about to come or is already here.
The dream of Penelope that was perhaps the most elaborate and most carefully wrought
of all of these divine signs, suggesting that Odysseus is indeed really here.
And, it's, it's in a, in an almost, move of vertiginous ingenuity.
Homer has Odysseus involved in his own self-revelation to Penelope but through
his own disguise. Let's keep an eye on how all these moving
parts moving parts work. But, before we do, I'd like to introduce
another universal law. What's been happening in these secret
codes of knowledge back and forth with Odysseus and Athena, and then Odysseus and
Telemachus, and the, the special messages that they send one another is that they,
we have some proprietary knowledge. Knowledge that not everybody knows, but
only a select few know. This is secrecy and it's worked to great a
great degree in this part of the story. I'm going to actually lay down a universal
law here that secrecy creates intimacy. This is universal law number six, I
believe, and like all universal laws, is pretty much universal.
Guaranteed to be true. You can use it in, who knows someday maybe
we'll publish you know, a book on, laws of universe according to Greek mythology.
Structures universal laws. Universal law number six, secrecy creates
intimacy. Proprietary knowledge makes people feel
closer together. And there's a corollary to this universal
law which says, that if you want to flirt with someone, tell them you had a dream
about them. However, this corollary should only be
used with extreme caution, it has a very high degree of difficulty.
If you just walk up to someone and say, hey, I had a dream about you, they might
think, you know, that's kind of creepy. It's a little bit too intimate.
Don't, you know, too much information. Please don't go on.
But, you can see what Penelope does with this particular corollary in this part.
And, and works out okay for her. Remember, the back and forth that's been
happening, the two of them are quiet in a, in a quiet conversation in the firelight.
There some serving maids around the edges. But, the two of them have their own sort
of private audience. They're having conversations back and
forth. He's told his lies to her, she's ordered
the foot washing Eurycleia has spotted the scar.
Penelope in all this seems like she's sensed something's going on but she never
says and Homer, Homer never says it. And so, she knew it was Odysseus but
there's stuff that's been happening in Book nineteen.
And Penelope's not unobservant. So, the she is sitting on a chair emulated
with ivory, we learn at page 392. Odysseus is looking at her with eyes made
of horn, we hear on page 397. Eyes made of horn.
Now, Penelope says, okay stranger, you can sleep we'll, we'll put a bed down for you.
I wanna take care of you like you are a guest.
Not regal bed but we're you know, kinda take care of you.
This is an indication from Penelope that, you know, even though you are a stranger,
I want to treat you a little better. I'm interested in you, is kind of what
that message is. And, she says, but you know, before I do,
I want you to help me because I recently had this dream and I need you, stranger,
to help me interpret the dream. She tells him that an eagle comes down and
kills a bunch of birds that had been feeding in a trough at her house.
She's upset at the violence and the, and the and the carnage.
And then, the eagle flies over to her, as if to reassure her, and says, I am
Odysseus. I am here in order to set your house
right. And all is going to be well because I'm
back. And then, the eagle flies away.
She then says to this stranger, stranger, I want you to be the interpreter of my
dream. Now, functionally, what she's asking to
Oddy, asking Odysseus, when she asks him that, she wants him to be the interpreter
of her dream. Well, her dream already has one of those.
It already has an interpreter. The eagle interprets the dream.
So, when she asks Odysseus to be the interpreter, she's also simultaneously
asking him to please, be the eagle. She's asking Odysseus, then, not only to
be the interpreter of her dream, but also, by the language of her dream itself, to be
Odysseus. She's asking the stranger to be Odysseus.
At this point, Odysseus kind of starts to almost be at a loss for words, which is
kind of interesting to see. I mean, Odysseus, the great talker, is
never at a loss for words. And says, well, my goodness, interpreting
this. It looks like the eagle kind of got it,
and it seems like Odysseus is back. And it seems like he's about to kill all
these suitors. So, yeah.
That kinda seems like what the dream means to me.
At which point, Penelope does one of her wonderful things, oh, you know stranger,
you might be right. But, you never know.
Dreams are often times just flitting fantasies, they don't mean anything.
Sometimes they're true, sometimes they're false.
Those that are true come out of a gate of horn, those that are false come out of a
gate of ivory. Well, earlier in Book nineteen, we've been
told Penelope is sitting on a chair inlaid with ivory.
She is associated with the gate of false dreams.
Homer had, tells us that Odysseus is looking at her with eyes made of horn
associating him with the god, gate of true dreams.
Now, what's happening with those associations is very subtle.
And I could only suggest, I don't know for sure, but it seems to me that Homer is
making a suggestion in associating Penelope with the gate of false dreams
that what she's really telling him here is a story to carry on what she's already
been doing in Book nineteen, to test. To test.
Let me tell you this dream, let's see what you make of it.
And in looking at his reaction, he's going to then, she's going to then learn
something about who this person is. It could be that Penelope's dream is
something she's just made up in order to test Odysseus.
And when Homer has her sitting on a chair inlaid with ivory, associating with false
dreams, it could be that that's what's happening.
And when Homer has Odysseus associated with horn, it could be that he's now
speaking the truth saying, yeah, Odysseus really is coming to set things right.
Very subtle things I wouldn't necessarily make a big case out of it.
But, it seems to me that the dream is a world that is packed with hidden meanings.
I've made stretches into a number of those different layers of metadata that might be
built in here. The, what we know for sure is that
Penelope claims to Odysseus that she had a dream, that Odysseus is here and he's come
and set her house right. She's asking him whether, what he thinks
about that, and whether he thinks that might be true.
He's saying, yes, indeed. It's true.
From here, Book twenty will lay down the signs that show that the rest of this show
in many other ways that this message is corroborated by other divine signs which
will lead us to the doorstep of the Book 21 and a lot of changes about to take
place in the house of Penelope and