The Debate in Ithaca

The Debate in Ithaca

  Here comes the heat!!! Ohhhh Snap! This is what mainly occurred in Book 2.  Aegyptius the Old and Wise introduced the bravery of Telemachus and notes that there was the first time a meeting was summoned ever since Odysseus left. Then comes the trouble!

   Telemachus starts soft, saying that he sobs the loss of his father and his father's home.  He then blames the Suitors for taking control of his own father's property. He adds more to his part of the debate. He also blames the Suitors for eating his father's oxen and sheep, while they pursuit Penelope, Telemachus' mother.

Antinous, the leader of the Suitors, blames Penelope for all their troubles. He explains how Penelope tricked [the Suitors] by pretending to weave a burial cloth for his father-in-law, Laertes. Every night, she would undo everything so the cloth wouldn't be complete; she didn't consider remarrying, especially to any one of the Suitors. Antinous recommends that if Penelope couldn't make up her mind, then she would have back to her father; he would choose her new husband.

The debate ended in deadlock. Then this happens.

An omen from Zeus, foretelling their deaths if they don't stop their evil actions.

*Telemachus is motivated to find more information about his father, so he asks for a ship and crew; he set sail for Pylos and Sparta.