Antithesis and Framing in the Odyssey
Certain parts of the Odyssey, especially Books IX-XII which deal with adventures, seem to show
conscious scenic antithesis and framing patterns. In this aspect the adventures are elegantly done,
grouped as they are around the supreme adventure, the journey to the land of the dead. This
central episode, with its retrospect upon the whole heroic tradition in the ghosts of Ajax,
Achilles, Agamemnon, and Heracles, and its mysterious prospect of peace at last and death from
the sea in the prophecy of Teiresias, is carefully framed, first by the two Elpenor episodes, and
then by the two scenes with Circe. For the rest, the poet summarizes two out of every three
adventures rather briefly, and dramatizes one at greater length, so that the pattern of Odysseus'
narrative is as follows:
Ciconians
Lotus Eaters
CYCLOPS
Aeolus
Laestrygonians
CIRCE
Elpenor
THE JOURNEY TO THE DEAD
Elpenor
CIRCE
Sirens
Scylla and Charybdis
CATTLE OF THE SUN
Scylla and Charybdis
Calypso
Calypso, of course, is dramatized in her own right in Book V, but not in the narrative of the hero.
This material been used for many years by Professor Tom Sienkewicz in his courses at Howard University and at Monmouth College in Monmouth, Illinois. If you have any questions, you may contact him at toms@monm.edu.