Odysseus the Immortal: Part I: Penelope the Queen
Erman Kaplama
Independently Published
2019
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Odysseus's trickster grandfather Autolycus gave the great hero his fateful name, meaning 'the one to be wroth against, hated, lamented and bewailed'. His name was fitting, for throughout his adventures he enjoyed good fortune while bringing bad luck to those he encountered. He made both gods and mortals envy and grieve, and lost his entire crew in the process. Assisted by his loyal guardian Athena, his mastery of the art of trickery helped lucky Odysseus to ravage Troy, escape the clutches of Cyclops, slip away from the Laestrygonian cannibals, resist the famous tricks of Circe, visit the underworld and return to the living. Upon his arrival in Ithaca, Odysseus slayed his wife Penelope's insolent Suitors, the men who resided in his palace during his absence.This play takes place in Ithaca almost a decade after Odysseus's return. During that decade, Poseidon, angered by Zeus's decision to let Odysseus live in peace, sent to Ithaca a major earthquake and malicious plague that killed hundreds. Now, he torments Odysseus with unsettling nightmares. Penelope is also unsettled, and travels by ship to Delphi to consult Pythia the Oracle about what has befallen her city, her house and her husband.In the meantime, Polybus, Oenops and Aegyptius, the bastard sons of three of Penelope's Suitors, decide to avenge the death of their fathers by poisoning Odysseus at Telemachus's wedding to Harmonia, the younger daughter of Menelaus and Helen, conceived right after the two reconciled in Troy. Polybus, the head culprit, devises a plan involving his young pregnant fianc e, Dirce, Penelope's maid. Polybus persuades Aegyptius and Oenops to travel to Persephone's temple in Ephyre to acquire a subtle but strong poison from the Necromancer. The Necromancer summons the Erinyes (known as the Furies) and asks whether he should give them the poison. Aegyptius and Oenops convince the Erinyes, take the poison back to Ithaca, and deliver it to Polybus, who then passes it to Dirce. He tells her to pour the poison into Odysseus's cup of wine at Telemachus's wedding.Written mostly in verse, the tragedy Penelope the Queen is the first play in the Odysseus the Immortal trilogy. It offers an alternative ending to Homer's famous epic, as well as a philosophical and critical perspective on the character of Odysseus as a mythical representation of the modern human condition.
