Penelope and Odysseus: ACT I - The Magnificent Three
Penelope Faces Down Antinous. Telemachus Searches for His Father. Odysseus' Wonderfully Humane Character Gets Him into, then out of, Two Catch-22s.
Penelope and Odysseus (A True Story?)
By Ernest D. Lieberman
Copyright 2009 (Registered with the U.S. Copyright Office)
All rights reserved
To My Wife, Christine Summerson
Prologue
BARD
Many a legend is based on some kernel of fact.
In the Iliad, Homer told of pride and folly in a great war between Greeks and Trojans over 3,000 years ago.
Homer's Odyssey tells of one man's desperate homecoming from that war, and of the woman who fought to save him.
Ruins of a city of the right time and place as Troy have indeed been found.
Could Penelope and Odysseus have been as real as Troy?
ACT I. The Magnificent Three
Scene 1 Penelope Besieged
Scenes 2 - 3 Telemachus in Search of
Scenes 4 - 9 Odysseus Asks for Passage Home
ACT I Scene 1
Penelope Besieged
(Note to reader: Eight actors play 42 characters. To aid theatre companies in staging the play, the actor playing each lesser character is identified by gender and age. For example: ARETE - Female45. Full lists of characters and of characters per actor can be found in a post in this PAO substack section, or via this link: lists of characters and actors.)
(Set: A great room. The back of the stage is lined with tools of war: spears, shields, swords, body armor. There is a fireplace.
Penelope's bedroom must be open or shut to the audience and to the great room. For example, on one side of the stage is a single bed with a screen separating it from the rest of the stage, or perhaps her bedroom is set in the back wall. The screen has a window with slatted blinds or some other device so that Penelope in the bedroom can look into the great room, and listen into it, but not be seen. Bed and window can be screened off while onstage, or removed entirely offstage, as needed. There also must be indications of a door, so Penelope can move from bedroom to great room.
Better and truer to the original, if possible, a second level is built for the bedroom and window, with stairs between the two floors.
Preferably, and true to the original, a loom or distaff is visible, at which Penelope may work to pass time.
Opening: Penelope is sleeping in her bed. Full light is on her, then light on her dims but never goes out, while the great room starts dark and then gradually lightens. Odysseus-Male20 and Penelope-Female18 face Priest-Male50 in the great room.)
PRIEST - Male 50
Do you, Penelope, take Odysseus...
(Fade out, fade in. Odysseus-Male20 and Penelope-Female18 are dancing. Both face in the same direction. He stands beside her (slightly behind), to her left. She stands with her arms partially uplifted vertically, palms facing forward, fingers pointing up, hands roughly at head height. His arms are partially uplifted and shifted to his right, so his left hand reaches in front of him to hold her left hand; his right hand reaches behind her to hold her right hand. This position allows fully joined, independent, and parallel movements.
The dance is an hasapico, a traditional Greek dance. It is not hard to do. (Instructions in note at end.) The dance: Man and woman move lightly—flow—as one, each erect, equal, independent and joined, loving it. It symbolizes their relationship, a living dance that they choreograph in real time, spontaneous, dynamic, adaptive, and thrilling.
The music: a traditional hasapico, painful yet sweet, as is their ongoing love in enforced separation, with bouzouki instruments preferable. I have as model a band labeled "hasapico" from the original sound track to the movie "Never on Sunday." (It follows Melina Mercouri's vocal of the song Never on Sunday, and is track 2, side 2, on the LP, 1 minute 47 seconds.)
[Note: From now on, Penelope is played by Female45, Odysseus by Male50, and Telemachus by Male20. Antinous is understood to be played by Male6, Eurymachus by Male7, and Amphinomus by Male 8.]
Gradually, raucous, discordant shouts and bangs intrude, and the great room grows dark.
Penelope wakes with a smile, but there comes over her face a painful question, as in "what is wrong?" Then the face shows recognition of her plight and the body slumps, for a brief moment, as in "oh, I know." She looks out into the great room. Then Penelope and bed are shut off from view, whether off stage or behind screen or door.
Onstage: The great room is illuminated, with Antinous, Eurymachus, Amphinomus, rest of cast as unnamed suitors.)
EURYMACHUS
Antinous, you think Penelope must choose you because you're strongest, but I happen to know she likes my greater all-around prowess in the athletic games.
AMPHINOMUS
Now just wait a minute, you two. None of us may be as strong as you, Antinous, or athletic as you, Eurymachus, but I happen to know that she likes my gentle spirit.
SUITORS - Rest of cast, rotating
Well, Amphinomus, I know she likes my manners!
My fortune telling!
My dancing!
My singing!
My poetry!
My maturity!
My family!
My carpentry!
My animal husbandry!
My strong chin!
SUITORS - Rest of cast, rotating (Continued)
My fine leg!
My land!
My moneeeeeey!
Besides, as long as she dallies, we get to carouse all day, and have fun with her women, at her expense, day after day! Even if she does choose you, if she waits much longer, you'll have nothing left! Like today is all gone. Sweet dreams Antinous.
(Fade out, in. Onstage: Penelope is sleeping in her chambers. Antinous enters the great room and pounds on the door to Penelope's bedroom.)
PENELOPE
Who is it?
ANTINOUS
Antinous.
(Penelope dresses in formal (body obscuring) robe and veil, then admits Antinous and faces him. She has a kind of great beauty, not necessarily in face or figure, but in spirit and carriage, showing grace, dignity, purpose, intelligence, and courage: regal mastery, but exquisite vulnerability too. Melantho-Female18 joins the scene and watches avidly.)
ANTINOUS
Penelope! Why are you sending messages to all the suitors? Encouraging their vain hopes! Eating up your house's wealth, your son's legacy, your own dowry! Are you so vain that you must see 108 men lusting for you, day after day, year after year?
It's been 20 YEARS since Odysseus LEFT YOU to go to war, and he NEVER CAME BACK. You should have remarried long ago. Telemachus is now a man and should have inherited his father's estate. I came to court you four years ago. Other suitors soon followed. You never told us to go away, yet you never picked a new husband.
You tricked us. You asked us to let you weave a memorial shroud for your father-in-law. Old Laertes was frail and looked to die. As it is customary for the lady of a great house to weave a tapestry telling the family history, we agreed. We are sensitive men; you touched our hearts.
You wove the shroud by day in front of us, but you undid it by night, and Laertes never did die. What a heavy work you gave yourself! Day and night! Three years, going on four, until your maids told us and we forced you to finish the shroud.
For what did you labor? For nothing! Odysseus will never return. If he's not dead or broken, he probably has a much younger woman, with new children to care for. He'll never come back to you.
Send the others away and marry me, as you must in the end, for I am strongest here. I would become king, you would become an active queen again, go out in the sun, visit, receive guests, party. Instead, you lock yourself up here, in the dark halls of the past.
PENELOPE
Madman! Wicked, vile creature. Odysseus was good to you when you were a boy. He saved your father's life when enemies were hot for his blood. But you—I have just learned!—You plot to kill Telemachus at sea before he returns from his search for news of his father. And I know of the threats, in open assembly, to kill Odysseus if he returns and seeks to throw out you and the rest of the suitors.
ANTINOUS
No one has designs to kill your son. Or, if they do, I could stop them, if I were your husband.
As for Odysseus, he has been gone too long. You should have remarried years ago. Odysseus would have lost you then. He has no right to you now. And if he did return and shed blood, he would face the outrage of the community and pay for his crimes. Much more likely, he'd see that he had no chance against the mass of suitors, 108 men in their prime. He would slink away to seek his fortune elsewhere. As if he'd find it.
He devised the great wooden horse the Achaeans hid in to topple Troy, he led the charge when the soldiers poured out of that great horse, and what did it get him? Does any of all those warriors who came home from Troy take up your cause, in repayment to him? Not one.
Do the people love him? They remember their own dead who didn't come back—600 men from our small islands—and the heavy taxes levied to feed the soldiers. As for this island, our own assembly will not support you. Only Halitherses and Mentor spoke up for Telemachus in his call to oust us. And they shut up when we threatened them. Humpf. Graybeards, useless in a fight!
Marry me, Now!
PENELOPE
Odysseus—my love!—long gone!—was the bravest and best of the Achaeans, famous throughout our people for his resourcefulness. He never missed a chance to learn about himself and the world, and he always built on what he learned. He was true to himself, true to life, and true to true people, who loved him for it. If he still lives and finds good people, he will return.
I will give him every chance to find me waiting for him, if he comes. Every chance. He knows that. He knows me, as well as I know him.
You will never understand. Full of nothing but yourself, you master nothing. No one will stand with you in a fight. Your greed will turn to fear against a strong foe...not that Odysseus alone could defeat all the suitors....
But you try me now, you tear me anew, with your plot to kill Telemachus. God grant he comes home alive! I wish he had never gone. As for marrying you? Never!
ANTINOUS
(Close and threatening)
And who could stop me from taking you, marrying you, this very night?
PENELOPE
(Quietly, forcefully. As she says "cut out," she looks down deliberately to his midsection, then back up to his face.)
One word from me, and a hundred men would be only too glad to cut outone rival, especiallyone so strong as you!
ANTINOUS
I should kill you now and be done with you.
PENELOPE
Can you kill all my maids too? Look, there they are. Your loud banging has roused them, thirty two in all.
ANTINOUS
Don't be so sure of your maids. WE have our ways with them.
PENELOPE
As if I didn't know! Twelve of them sleep with suitors, spy on me, but if just one maid runs to the suitors—one loyal to me or loyal to one of your rivals—you will be food for crows, no sacred burials. Nothing will be left of you, if you dare do ANYTHING to me.
(Antinous, stifling murderous fury, silently backs and exits.)
Telemachus! Will I ever see you again?!
End of Act I Scene 1
Act I Scene 2
Telemachus In Search Of
(Onstage: Banquet table, Menelaus-Male50. Enter Eteoneus-Male7.)
ETEONEUS - Male 7
Menelaus, my lord, two young men have come, strangers, but judging by their build, carriage, and clothing, I should think they are sons of heroes or kings. Do I send them away, or invite them to our wedding feast?
MENELAUS - Male 50
Rudeness to visitors, Eteoneus? You know better than that! The Gods themselves travel in disguise. They do not take kindly to being turned away. How could we ourselves have gotten home, if strangers had not given us shelter? Take care of their horses, let them bathe, then have them join us.
(Exit Eteoneus-Male7. Fade out, in. Enter Telemachus, still boyish at 20, not entirely sure of himself. Also enter Peisistratus-Male8, more mature in demeanor.)
MENELAUS - Male 50
Welcome, young travelers, please, come join our feast, enjoy your fill. In time, at leisure, we’ll hear your names and families, your purpose in coming, likely of interest to us, well-built and clothed as you are.
(They sit at the banquet table.)
TELEMACHUS
(Whispers)
Peisistratus, this dazzling palace, I've never seen anything like it: the echoing hall, shining as bright as day, with bronze, gold, silver, and ivory! Like the court of Zeus, I should think, on Mt. Olympus.
MENELAUS - Male 50
(Overhears Telemachus.)
Young guest, neither I nor any man should be compared to Zeus. I may have more than most men, or not, but how much it cost me! Seven years at sea—Cyprus, Phoenicia, Egypt, Arabia, and Libya too—after we left Troy.
Fair winds started us westward toward home, but then they turned foul. Our little ships, each with a crew of fifty men, oars and a sail, were puny against the gales and giant seas that drove us south, and farther south, and still farther south, until we landed, finally, in Egypt, weak and depleted, in despair of the time we would need to restore our strength, to re-cross that great waste of open ocean.
I made my fortune in sea traffic in those lands, but meanwhile my brother Agamemnon was murdered—murdered in his own home—when he returned from the war. His queen and her lover lay in wait, caught him unawares, cut him down.
All this, and all the other dead: Set in motion, when my own wife, divine Helen, ran off with Paris to Troy and took her treasures with her.
So what are these costly things to me compared to what, and whom, I lost? Surely you heard my story from your parents, whoever they are.
I would gladly give up two thirds of what I gained if those who died, for my sake, at Troy, could be alive, now, and at home! But, no, they...died, died for me, and I grieve for them. Sometimes I...sob, sometimes I...give way to the torment, as if I could purge the pain once and for all by letting it all pour out, but that way lies madness, and I stop before it drowns me.
But I cannot forget, and I miss one man, Odysseus, more than all the others. I cannot eat or sleep when I think of him. No man risked so much and worked so hard (for me) and gained so little. Yet I cannot mourn at his grave. I do not know if he is alive or dead. How they must miss him, even now, his old father, his wife Penelope, and Telemachus, a newborn babe when he left.
(Telemachus weeps. Menelaus-Male50 shows recognition, and confusion about how to proceed. Meanwhile, Female18-Maid and Maid-Bard-Maid enter with a lounge chair and footstool, then both exit. Helen-Female45 enters and reclines on lounge and stool.)
HELEN - Female 45
Menelaus, my lord, who is this young man? He looks so much like Odysseus. I must say, he must be Telemachus, the baby Odysseus left behind, when he went with you, to bring back the reckless creature that I was.
MENELAUS - Male 50
Helen, my dear, I see it as well as you. His hands and feet, the shape of his head, his hair, the look in his eyes. And when I lamented, just now, on all that Odysseus had done, and suffered, for years, for me, the boy could not contain himself, but wept, and tried to hide it with his cloak.
PEISISTRATUS - Male 8
Lord Menelaus, Lady Helen, I am Peisistratus, Nestor's son. This is indeed Telemachus, as you were keen to see, but he is shy and respectful, and not inclined to boast of his paternity, lest he appear to take credit for what he has not earned. I might add that my old father remarked on the wonderful likeness too, how much his voice resembled his father's.
MENELAUS - Male 50
[Author’s note: The following passage was written in October-November, 1999.]
Odysseus’s son! You are my treasured guest. I loved your father like a brother, or more, for all that he did for me. But we held him in the highest regard even before the war.
To persuade him to join us, Agamemnon and I fought through big seas and high winds, one solid month in our ships, to reach Ithaca. We wanted him for his mastery in all matters of contention, though he could bring only 600 men to the field, where, later, 50,000 men would fight on each side.
But first we tried to avert that war. He went with me to Troy to argue for Helen's return. How risky that was! He captivated the Trojan lords when he spoke—he had no peer as an orator—but one lord there, hoping for rewards from Paris, harangued them to kill us on the spot—us, peaceful emissaries, in a just cause! They overruled him, then, but he nearly got his wish later.
On the verge of the great battle, in the ninth year of the war, the armies arrayed on the open field, marching towards each other, yards apart, Paris jumped up and proposed single combat between him and me, the winner to get Helen and her treasure, the two sides to part in peace, averting bloody slaughter. His brother, great Hector, and his father, King Priam, swore sacred oaths to honor the pact. Well, I drove Paris from the field—he fled. But the Trojans took him back, protected him, and sent an arrow flying that nearly killed me—during the truce—and reneged on their oaths to return Helen and all her wealth. The fools.
To harbor a home-wrecker and thief, to break sacred oaths and attempt cowardly murders, to risk all those lives to indulge one son among many of a king, to indulge their own pride in holding Helen. Men who had otherwise done no wrong put themselves in mortal wrong by making common cause with villainy.
Your father understood. We had to fight. That evil threatened us all. Throughout the war he stood at the forefront of battle, took on the most dangerous and difficult missions, provided the wisest council, was forever inventing new tricks and teaching our troops to fight better.
What treasures I would have given him had he come home alive! The heavenly gods must have had some very great action at work that far outweighed mere human worth, to keep him from ever coming home.
(All weep.)
HELEN - Female 45
My lord, sons of heroes, good and ill come to every man and woman, as Zeus designs. Here and now, we have shed relieving tears. Let's return to the feast, and enjoy some stories.
Telemachus, I was very fond of your father, even when I was in Troy. I recall one time he had given himself a terrible beating, put on beggar's rags, and come into Troy to spy for the Achaeans. No one recognized him, but I did. I called him over, questioned him, parried words, but I couldn't shake his story. Eventually I took him home, gave him bath and new clothes, swore a long oath not to betray him until he returned to his camp. For I dreamed, by then, of returning home, felt shame in giving way to my passions, inflamed though they were by Aphrodite. I longed for my homeland, my daughter, and my most admirable dear husband, true in heart and mind.
MENELAUS - Male 50
Well told, my dear. In all my life, I never met a man who equaled him for cool, constant courage in hot battle.
Here is what he had the self-possession to do, when we waited, inside the hollow horse, our best men. All of a sudden you came by, no doubt possessed by some god to work mischief on us, and Deiphobus, that dandy brother of Paris, was with you.
Three times you walked round the great horse, patted everywhere, called out our names, and made each name in turn sound like the voice of that hero's wife. Diomedes and I heard you clearly. We longed to cry out, or jump out then and there. Odysseus checked us, and everyone kept quiet, except Anticlus. He started to call out to you, but Odysseus grabbed his mouth and kept it shut until you walked away, saving all our lives.
My, my, it's getting late. Tomorrow, Telemachus, we'll talk about why you came here.
End Act I Scene 2
Act I Scene 3
(Telemachus is sleeping on a fluffy rug. Enter Menelaus-Male50.)
MENELAUS - Male 50
Wake up, son. Now tell me, be clear, why are you here? It's a long way from Ithaca to Sparta, high seas and brigands on land and water. Why have you come?
TELEMACHUS
I came, sir, to learn if you had news of my father. Wild, reckless suitors besiege my house, 108 of them in all. When they first appeared, they behaved well, were courteous, respectful, afraid of what the community would say, but soon they began to commit small offenses, then went on to greater outrages, as good people kept silent and no one stopped them. Now they know no bounds. They consume our stocks, work our servants to the bone, abuse our women...going on four years now. Mother cannot risk spurning them, for fear of being left defenseless, yet she hates the thought of marrying any one of them.
MENELAUS - Male 50
I had no idea! You poor boy, and your mother! Would that Odysseus returns and kills the lot of them! But, you never knew your father.
His courage was not simple animal passion, not stubborn, not foolish, not bloodthirsty. He looked at life clearly, saw more power in building than destroying, and worked to make that power his own. He learned and mastered everything in life that came his way, or tried to. And he worked to bring out the best in the people around him, for he knew the great power people have when they obey god's laws, while he stood ever against those who would be cruel or destructive. This, character, made him the ablest, and, through his abilities, the bravest and best of men.
Let me tell you what the Old Man of the Sea, Proteus—who is infallible—told me about your father.
I was stuck in Egypt, becalmed twenty days off the mouth of the Nile, my men starving. A nymph there took pity on me, told me to find her father, Proteus, in his cavern, and grab hold of him while he slept. I was to hang on, and not let go, though he would change into many fearsome shapes—fire, lion, flood, serpent—until he took his original form and promised to answer all my questions. I did as she advised. I focused on what my hands could feel beneath the illusions, and I won through. About your father: Proteus told me that Odysseus is stranded alone on a desert isle and has no means of faring home.
I'm sorry, that's all I can do. I only just recently returned home myself and cannot get my people to take on another war. I hope this story, of your father being alive, helps your mother keep her suitors at bay.
But you can stay with us as long as you like. You can tour my towns. Each lord in my kingdom will give you precious gifts, and I will add to your bounty, so you may go home and show the people there the high regard we have for you and your father.
TELEMACHUS
My lord, I could linger in your rich hall for months, so great is its beauty. I am honored to receive your gifts, so generous and kind you are, but the crowd I left behind still feeds at my house. I must return to defend my interests.
End of Act I, Scene 3
Act I Scene 4
(Onstage: Odysseus, with a handmade raft. Forty-five to 50 years old, he has, ideally, a "build" like a decathlon champion, in top shape for his age, or perhaps an Olympic discus thrower, who is more massive but requires high leg dexterity and quickness to whirl the discus, less massive than a shot-putter.)
ODYSSEUS
Great Zeus, almighty, hear my prayer. When I sailed from Troy you sent storm after storm, for months, destroying my squadron, sinking my ship. I was lucky to survive, catching hold of the mast and riding it until I floated onto this island. That was nine years ago.
This island is beautiful, and dangerous. It played tricks on me that would have kept me here forever. But now I have built a raft and head out again on the open sea.
Great Zeus, Grant me safe passage home.
End Act I Scene 4
Act I Scene 5
Odysseus and Nausicaa At the River
(Lusty girls' yells offstage. Odysseus wakes, under cover of bushes and leaves.)
ODYSSEUS
People! What kind? Uncivilized? Or god-fearing folk who welcome travelers? Well, nothing to do now but go and find out. Dear God, grant me pity and hospitality in this land.
(Young women's shouts offstage. A ball comes flying onto the stage. Enter Nausicaa-Female18 chasing the ball. Odysseus emerges, covering private areas with leafy branch. Shouts of fright from offstage. Nausicaa-Female18 holds her ground.)
ODYSSEUS
O, Wondrous, Beautiful Princess. Please. Are you a goddess or mortal? If goddess, you must be Artemis, daughter of great Zeus...your form, your stature, your face and carriage. If you are mortal, never have I seen man or woman so faultless in feature and grace. Thrice blest be your father and mother, and all your family, to see you, day after day, delightful in their lives. "A joy to behold" the people must think when they see you at the dance. But most blest of all must be the man who marries you and lives to revel in your beauty every day of his life. I am lost in awe. Yet I am desperate.
I have been stranded for years on a distant island. Only now could I escape, by a raft I built—not strong enough! It broke up after 17 days of storms and big seas. I floated on a piece of the raft for two more days and barely got ashore, last night, after being driven on the rocks. There was a time when I commanded men at arms and held sway among lords. But gods play with men as we play with toys.
Oh gracious princess, pity me! Show me the way to town, spare me a bit of cloth, and may Heaven grant you your fondest wish: a grand estate, fine marriage, and fruitful concord with your husband—the most desirable thing in all the world.
NAUSICAA - Female 18
I see nothing wrong with what you said here, stranger, or how you said it. You appear to be a civilized man, in distress, poor fellow. You know that Zeus metes out good or ill as he wishes—a lot of each, it seems, for you, and you have borne it—but here and now you will find clothing and other comforts a poor traveler may reasonably expect. My maids and I have nearly finished washing my family's garments in the river. We are called Phaeacians. I am Nausicaa, daughter of King Alcinous, ruler of this island, Scheria.
(Nausicaa-Female18 turns to her maids, off stage.)
My friends, don't be afraid. Only a fool would try to hurt us, and this man is no fool, nor has he the strength to chase us. Poor travelers come from Zeus. We should treat them kindly. Give him food and drink, take him to the stream where he may wash, out of the wind, and give him garments from our newly washed clothes to wear.
ODYSSEUS
Mistress, thank you for your kindness, but only this I ask. Let me wash off the brine, and rub on oil, in private. I should blush to be watched by proper young maidens.
(Male50 exits. Fade out, in; or, some device to kill time; such as, Nausicaa retrieves the ball and tosses it off stage to her (unseen) maids, who throw it back to her. Male 50-Odysseus reenters cleaned and dressed in fine clothing of the style and fabric of the princess's, then sits off to the side. She regards him for a while, then talks to her maids.)
NAUSICAA - Female 18
My friends, when first we saw this man, he was well-mannered, and spoke with good sense, but looked beaten down, a sorry sight. Yet here he looks, all cleaned up, like a god. His face, carriage, and poise are magically transformed. Now I think Zeus in heaven favors this man and brought him to our land for a purpose. If only my future husband could look as fine, and be content to remain on our island!
(To Odysseus)
Friend, it's getting late, time to return to town, where I will bring you before my father, whose wisdom, people say, is inspired by the gods.
On second thought, you seem to be a fellow of good sense. A maid could be shamed, scandalized—ruined—if she were seen in the company of a man outside of polite society. So follow just behind where I lead until we arrive at a grove of poplars. Wait there until we have had time to get into town. Then enter town, ask for the house of Alcinous, find my mother in it, and embrace her knees. She will be spinning yarn or working her loom at the fire in the grand hall, or else sitting beside Father at the banquet table tonight, hosting the lords of Phaeacia. She is loved by everyone, and respected. Lords in quarrels go to her for fair, sound judgment. If Queen Arete finds you worthy, you may get passage home, wherever that is.
End Act I Scene 5
Act I Scene 6
(Set: Alcinous-Male8 sits between Arete-Female45 and Laodamas-Male20 at a banquet table, amid noises of people in banquet. To the side sits Echeneus-Male7. A fireplace is visible. Odysseus enters, goes to Arete-Female45, kneels and touches her knees. The room hushes.)
ODYSSEUS
Gracious Lady Arete, Queen of Scheria, May the gods bless you, may they bless your king, and bless all this company, to the next generation and generations to come! Mercy for a man in distress, thrown on your shores. Please, help me return home, far away that it is. My separation from it has been long and painful, more than I can bear.
(Odysseus goes to the fireplace, sits among the ashes. Stunned silence.)
ECHENEUS - Male 7
(A distinguished elder, male.)
Alcinous, a stranger left to sit in ashes? We must be more courteous. Worthy supplicants, as this man appears to be, have the protection of Zeus. He should be treated with kindness. We all await your word.
(Alcinous-Male8 calmly goes over, takes Odysseus by the hand, leads him to the table.)
ALCINOUS - Male 8
Laodamas, my son, if you would, give up your seat to this stranger so he may sit beside me. Sir, share our feast. There will be time enough later to address your request.
(Laodamas-Male20 moves over. Odysseus sits, begins to eat. Fade out, in. The hall is quiet. Alcinous-Male8, Arete-Female45, and Odysseus remain.)
ARETE - Female 45
Stranger. Your appearance begs a question. You are not a native of this land, yet you wear fine clothing, which I recognize. I made it myself, with my own hands. This explains why no one took notice as you approached us, but, how did you get these clothes in the first place?
ODYSSEUS
Oh wise and renowned Queen, the whole story would take far too long to get to the answer you want, which is that a gale broke up my poor craft and I fished up on your shores. Your daughter found me and gave me these clothes. An admirable young woman, and most proper with me, much more mature than one would expect from one so young.
ALCINOUS - Male 8
I am sorry, Sir, I cannot agree. My daughter went wrong in not taking charge of you and bringing you here herself. I'm displeased with her conduct. It was her duty.
ODYSSEUS
Oh, great king and heroic lord, please do not be angry with her on my account. Her behavior was above reproach. She did tell me to go with her, but I could not. A man accompanying young maidens is fraught with peril. If seen, I feared you might be offended at my presumption, or at the damage I might do to your daughter's reputation. Kings can get offended so easily.
ALCINOUS - Male 8
No offense taken, sir. We are a rich land at peace. Honor and respect prevail here. The thing of which you worried is small. But here is something not small.
You risked your life when you separated yourself from my daughter's protection, you being in desperate shape...to protect my daughter. And just now, you risked insulting me, by suggesting I might be small-minded, again to protect my daughter—this time, protect her from my displeasure. And I could see, it came quickly and naturally, no artifice to it, for you couldn't anticipate my displeasure at my daughter's action—and yet, what you say almost surely couldn't have happened just quite exactly as you described it.
If you were a poor, broken-down shipwreck survivor, my daughter would certainly have taken you into town. She would not have taken "no" for an answer. I think I can guess her feelings in this, and what actually happened. Listen closely.
Now that I see your inner decency, your self-possession, your almost godlike appearance, if my daughter is willing, as I think she may be, for I guess she saw the same...if Zeus, Athena, and Apollo approve, I would be happy for you to marry my daughter and become my son-in-law, if you were content to spend the rest of your life here. I would give you lands and precious gifts, and all would pay you their high respect, as to a rightful member of the royal family. If not, we will outfit a ship to take you home, no matter how far, after our athletic games and festivities tomorrow.
(In the above, after "if not," a shrug and drop in tone, dismissively. When finished, Alcinous-Male8 watches closely. At the offer of marriage, Arete stiffened, looked sharply at Alcinous, said nothing.)
ODYSSEUS
Great Zeus, may all that Alcinous says come true. May blessings fall on him for all his years, for all his generations to come, if I could return to my homeland and walk its shores.
(Surprised, partly frowning, Alcinous looks sharply at Odysseus. Arete relaxes.)
End Act I Scene 6
Act I Scene 7
Odysseus at the Games
(Odysseus is seated next to Alcinous-Male8 and Arete-Female45. Laodamas-Male20 and Euryalus-Male6 approach Odysseus.)
LAODAMAS- Male 20
Sir, if it please, you look no stranger to the games. Neck, arms, chest, legs, altogether the bulk and proportions of a former champion. Gray hair aside, you have the body of a much younger man. If your hard times at sea haven't taken too much out of you, would you care to compete and show us your mettle?
ODYSSEUS
Young prince Laodamas, your manner is kind and I appreciate your interest, but this is a most unwelcome challenge. I want nothing but to get home. I have suffered many years trying. I sit here, now, as a beggar only, asking your king and people to return me to my homeland.
EURYALUS - Male 6
Could it be, friend, that you are not a sporting man, that you are soft beneath the bulk, and you lack the skills that your muscles pretend to proclaim? Or are you afraid of wrestling or boxing? You might get hurt.
ODYSSEUS
Have I offended you in some way, friend, that you talk to me this way? Think of a man with no athletic ability whose speech is so beautiful, self-assured, respectful, and sensible, that people gather, just to hear. They heed him in assembly, treat him with respect wherever he goes. You are a fine looking fellow, but this graceless, baseless challenge proclaims you a fool, or an idiot. As a young man I competed with the best men of my time, and I often wore the winner's laurels, but many years of war, and the sea, have taken their toll. Nevertheless, you angered me and I will answer you.
(Odysseus gets up, picks up a rock, and hurls it off stage.)
A CALL FROM OFF STAGE
The stranger's discus wins, far beyond the rest, and it was the heaviest.
ODYSSEUS
Next! Bring on the games. Young men, you will find it hard to compete with me! I draw the line only with Prince Laodamas. I am his guest. I would be the fool, or idiot, to challenge my host far from home. I’d be cutting myself off at the knees.
ALCINOUS - Male 8
Friend, we find no offense in this—in you. You were crudely insulted, doubly offended, as our guest, and in our festival. You showed your merit. No one could deny it! This young man offended you. He will make amends, with a precious gift, and be happy to give it! Please, now, put away your anger. We too have skills, at song and dance. Turn your mind to happier thoughts. Come, Phaeacians, show our guest what we can do!
(Fade out, in.)
ODYSSEUS
King Alcinous, leader of your people, you promised wondrous dancing, and they kept your promise. I am lifted and carried away with their skill and grace—the sheer beauty of it!
ALCINOUS - Male 8
(Swelling with satisfaction)
Noblemen! Leaders of our realm! Our guest seems keenly observant, of superior judgment. Let us show our appreciation. Among you, twelve rank highest, and I make thirteen. Let each of us give him a clean cloak and tunic, and a treasury bar of our best gold. Then let us dress for the evening and meet at the palace, where we will honor the gods, feast, and learn our guest's identity.
End Act I Scene 7
Act I Scene 8
Nausicaa Approaches Odysseus
(Nausicaa-Female18 onstage, waiting alertly. She is elegantly dressed and made up, showing her beautiful figure and face most affectingly, without being in any way loose or lewd. Odysseus enters. She approaches and addresses him directly, with self-possession. Neither lewd nor prude nor lowering herself—to the contrary, elevating herself—she shows with high attire, erect posture, direct gaze, and firm voice that he is her interest, and she is worth his interest: a powerful negotiating offer.)
NAUSICAA - Female 18
One moment, good sir, if you please. Before you go to the feast in the great hall, allow me to wish you my personal farewell, away from the crowd. Father holds you in high regard. You triumphed at the games. Soon our ships will carry you safely to your home, as you have told us is your wish. When you breath again the air of your homeland, and enjoy the love of family and friends, remember, when you go to bed, who found and rescued you.
ODYSSEUS
Princess Nausicaa, daughter of great Alcinous, may Zeus almighty grant my prayer. Return me to my homeland! Should that come to pass, I will remember you, first among my prayers, as to a goddess, all the days of my life. You saved and delivered me!
(Exit Nausicaa-Female18.)
Now what do I do? When Nausicaa met me, she said, to me, that she wished to marry a man just like me.
Then Alcinous actually offered her to me, after just a few words, but on condition that three separate gods approve—no small thing—if all he imagines about me and Nausicaa prove true.
He is no fool. He could see the potential but wanted solid proof. He started right there with that shocking offer of marriage, so much, too much, so soon, too soon. He was testing my reaction, to see if I had formed designs, how I handled myself. Would I be elated or jump at his offer eagerly, like a shyster or fool? Would I be too surprised, or beg off too modestly, as if I felt unworthy, denigrating myself. Either way, I would disprove his high opinion of me, without which I might never get home.
And Queen Arete, whose good opinion I must win, said nothing but looked shocked at Alcinous's offer, then relaxed when I wished for passage home.
Now Nausicaa meets me dressed in all her finery, looking directly at me: a purposeful meeting, a powerful offer. She's more than just willing, and she's worth it.
If I refuse her, well, hell hath no Furie...and the rest of them might think me unworthy for refusing her. Either way, I don't get passage home. I could be discarded and die here a scorned beggar. If I accept, they won't take me anywhere. If I diminish their esteem for me some other way, they will lose interest in me, and I don't get home. If I raise their esteem for me still further, they will hold on to me all the more. I might never get away.
And what man would refuse? A beautiful princess desiring me, her father willing to indulge her, in a rich and happy land with no enemies...while the return is fraught with peril: Penelope could be dead or remarried, the estate broken up, or in the hands of Penelope's new husband, or ruled by a son who might not like losing his place to a man he never knew. Meanwhile, the community has moved on and may even hate me for all the men who never came back. And what if not all the Phaeacians are as honorable as Alcinous seems to be? What if the captain of their ship sells me into slavery? What if the ship just founders in a storm—don't I know that story!
Well, diminishing myself in their eyes would be disastrous, for weakness invites attack. Best to focus on what I can do, build their esteem for me every way I can.
First thing then is to get their poet, Demodocus, to sing of the great wooden horse Odysseus invented and how he led the charge out of it to sack Troy. If I give him the tastiest cut of meat from my portion at tonight's feast and shower honors on him and his profession, he might be favorably inclined to sing what I request.
End Act I Scene 8
Act I Scene 9
Odysseus Tells His Story
(Seated at a banquet table: Odysseus, Alcinous-Male8, Arete-Female45.)
ALCINOUS - Male 8
Hear me, peers and counselors of the Phaeacians. We have eaten and enjoyed entertainment. We have readied the ship to carry our guest home. It is loaded with the gifts we pledged and gave gladly, for any sensible person knows it is fitting and proper to treat a worthy supplicant like a brother.
Now, in return, friend, reveal your identity. What is your name, your family, where do you come from? What of your travels? What have you seen? It is only right that you tell us.
ODYSSEUS
Noble Alcinous, light of your land, what beauty it is to hear your matchless poet, Demodocus, play his harp and sing such songs as we hold dear. I am grateful to share the fruits of your bountiful land. I am warmed to the heart to receive the love of your lords and Phaeacians assembled here. This can come only from a people who are truly at peace. May it ever be so!
My name, to begin, is Odysseus. As you have heard from Demodocus, I am known for subtlety and cleverness in all human dealings. Fame of my exploits has spread far and wide, among all known peoples.
My home is on mountainous Ithaca, whose hills train hardy youths. No place on Earth is more precious to me, though Calypso, beautiful goddess, desired me to marry her and forget home, and Circe, the beguiling witch, used every charm she had to enchain me.
I was compelled to lie with them and make divine love with them—a man cannot disobey the immortals—but I never gave them my willing heart, and I never stopped yearning to return home. What can compare with the land of your youth? Your own parents and friends? Nothing, no matter how far you roam.
You heard of my exploits at Troy. What happened after that? I left with 12 ships...
(Fade out, in)
Lotus eaters...
(Fade out, in)
The Cyclops closed the mouth of the cave with a rock so huge that we could not have moved it if we had had ten times the number of men doing it. Then he grabbed one of my men in his hand and ate him on the spot. We were trapped; even if we killed the giant in his sleep, we would die there, unable to move that massive rock...
(Fade out, in)
The sun never rose high in the sky, but stayed close to the horizon at night, setting only briefly, so nights were short and bathed in twilight. My squadron anchored close in by the steep cliffs of a narrow bay, which went deep inland, but I anchored farther out, fearing what could fall from those cliffs—a wise move, it turned out, for giant cannibals, who lived in that place, sent huge boulders crashing down on my fleet, and speared my men for gruesome meals. My ship alone escaped by rowing fast and hard away.
When next we made harbor, I sent out men to scout the land, but only one returned, terrified. The rest had been transformed into animals by a beautiful witch, Circe. I went, alone, to get my men back, but Hermes, sent by Zeus, met me on the way, to give me antidote to Circe's magic. I used it, and she failed to transform me, but then she tried a different charm. She demanded I share her divine bed, make love to that enchanting goddess, before she would free my men and reveal to me what course I should plot to get home. I did as she demanded, but first I made her swear a solemn oath to work no more mischief on us, lest I lose all hope of ever again seeing the land of my youth.
We stayed a year, detained first by our exhaustion, then by winter storms. When summer came round again, we had regained our strength with feasts of roasts and wine. The wind and sea turned fair, and we departed, with Circe's clear guidance in my mind for our course home. It took us first to the Home of Death, where I saw that great runner,
(Achilles-Male6 comes forward. Odysseus gets up and approaches him.)
Odysseus
Prince Achilles, greatest of all Achaeans, we regarded you as a god while you were alive. You must rank high here. Surely this must comfort you in death?
ACHILLES - Male 6
Odysseus, master of all things mortal, what brings you here, and how? A far greater feat still would be to get back home alive!
I want no talk of glory in death, Odysseus. All is hollow here. I would rather work as a lowly plowhand on some rock-strewn farm, and eat the poor food of that station, than be lord and master of all the empty dead.
Mother told me, when I was a boy, that I would have to choose: Fight—and die—at Troy, and be glorified forever, or leave Troy and enjoy a long life at peace, but be forgotten. After nine years at war, I chose home, for I longed to marry a maid of agreeable mind, take the pleasure of my large estate, and enjoy the bounty of a rich kingdom, but my stubborn pride and anger at Agamemnon, for slighting me, undid me.
When I withdrew from combat but stayed on at Troy, to prove that the Achaeans needed me more than they needed him, I achieved only to send my dear Patroclus to his death. I later died in combat, but pride, greed, and the army of follies that attend them did the killing...killed countless other Achaeans and Trojans in that great madness.
What did I gain from glory? Luxuries are not essential to a good life, or they can be gotten with hard work, but a man cannot regain his life once he loses it. No riches or glory won at war can compare with a life well lived, among people who love you, and you care for.
(Looking at him, Odysseus weeps, and reaches with his arms toward him. Achilles-Male6 tries to stretch his arms toward him, but he cannot do more than struggle to raise them a little. The two men remain apart, Achilles-Male6 departs.)
ODYSSEUS
Now I talked with other souls of the ghostly dead. I wanted to know...
(Fade out, in.)
Ajax
(Fade out, in.)
The labors of Sisyphus
(Fade out, in.)
Every time Tantalus reached for the food and drink that surrounded him, they floated just away, beyond his fingertips...
(Fade out, in.)
Leaving the Home of Death, our course took us past the Sirens, whose singing calls men irresistibly—and. draws them to their deaths. Forewarned by Circe, I put wax in my men's ears so they would not hear the deadly calls, but I had them strap me to the mast with unplugged ears so I could hear. I wanted to know....
(Fade out, in.)
Caught between Scylla and Charybdis...
(Fate out, in.)
My ship was sunk in a storm by a lightning bolt, all my shipmates lost. I caught on the keel and floated for nine days, landing on Ogygia island, where Calypso, Atlas's beautiful daughter, lives. She took me in, fed and clothed me, made love to me, and used divine powers to entice me to stay, stay happily with her, forever, as an immortal.
At night I lay with her as she required, but I never gave her my willing heart. I spent my days on the rocks, by the seashore, watching the horizon, aching for home, eyes wet with tears. This, going on eight years, then came a change, forced on her by Zeus, she said, but I distrusted her.
(Calypso-Female18, a beautiful young woman, comes forward, lights on the two of them.)
ODYSSEUS
Suddenly, you let me leave? You tell me to build a raft? But you won't help? Ships built for the open sea can't cross the wide expanse of ocean that separates me from home. I won't do as you say, unless you first swear a great oath to make no mischief on me.
CALYPSO - Female 18
(Smiles, answers sweetly, caressing him)
I would not do that to you. I'm not some mortal woman who will promise to respect and obey you, and then to betray you. Even so, you distrust me. I offered you immortality, and you distrusted me. Now I offer you freedom, and you distrust me. Very well. Great Zeus, may I be banished to the underworld and never see light again if I work any harm on Odysseus. Satisfied? Yes?
Oh, you wouldn't be so happy to go if you saw the misery awaiting you. You would remain, and enjoy a god's pleasures, with me, forever, rather than suffer rough seas, only to find an aged wife, or one who has remarried, your estate ruled by another man, or by a son who resents your return. Dead, they think you. Dead, they want you.
Is your wife that beautiful? That enchanting. Can a goddess, I, not surpass her in everything?
ODYSSEUS
Divine Beauty, there is no comparison. My modest Penelope cannot be compared to you, as mortal to goddess, but I am human, and I need to go home. If fate sends me hardship, I'll face it. To go home, or die trying.
(Exit Calypso-Female18. Odysseus returns to his seat.)
She allowed me to build a raft. She gave me directions to keep the constellation, the Bear, that never sinks below the horizon, on my left as I sailed. I set forth. After 19 days of gales, my poor craft broke up and I landed on your shores. The rest, you know.
ARETE - Female 45
Phaeacians, guests of the King and myself, what do you think of this man now? His outer looks, his inner command? He is my guest, but you all share that honor. Do not be in a great hurry to send him away, or miserly in gifts for one in such great need.
ECHENEUS - Male 7
Friends, our wise queen has hit the mark. Our land is rich; the man, worthy. We await the decision of King Alcinous.
ALCINOUS - Male 8
(Voice rings out.)
Let it be done, by royal order, which I alone command! Our guest would return home, but I hope he can bear to remain here one more day, so we may honor him with our most precious gifts, and he may remember us all the days of his life in his homeland. Let those of high rank give their part, and I, most of all, for I am king here.
ODYSSEUS
King Alcinous, if you were to need a year to load gifts and supplies for sea, I should be content. Not everyone honors prowess and beauty, of mind and body, as you and your noble people do. Far better that I return with the substance of wealth. For if a man is gone just one year, he doesn't know what he will meet on his return. Here I've been gone twenty years, and I've been worn out by 19 days at sea. Arriving alone and empty-handed could mean my doom.
ALCINOUS - Male 8
Regarding that, Odysseus: The earth is full of con men and swindlers who tell vile lies and pry wealth out of gullible fools. Nothing you told us can be confirmed, but we can exercise adult judgment.
Your modesty and directness are of a depth that swindlers do not know. You told of the Argive troubles and your own misfortunes as our own Demodocus would tell, rich in the detail and feeling of a great poet.
Can you tell us more? I could listen to you for as long as you have story to tell. Who else did you meet in the House of Death? Hercules? Oedipus? Orion?
(Fade out, fade in. Alcinous-Male8 is occupied with Laodamas-Male20 and Nausicaa-Female18, who talks (silently) with animation and keeps looking at Odysseus. Arete-Female45 talks to Odysseus, apart from the other three.)
ARETE - Female 45
Odysseus, a word. Unlike the others, I was worried that you would not leave. To marry an older man is not a problem; but Nausicaa should marry a man of means and high position in our land, neither of which you have. Even with our gifts, you would not have a base of your own. You could not protect her if palace politics shifted, as they so often do.
So your story and its effect pleased me beyond measure. How graciously you compared my daughter to two goddesses, then quietly took your wife out of the picture, leaving Nausicaa preeminent. Then you changed the subject from a woman's desirability to the appeal of home, the one thing we cannot give you. Nausicaa was not spurned, no one here was dishonored; just the opposite.
Yet one can never return to the land and time of one's youth. That home is gone forever. But when a man and a woman, join, in marriage, and in life...May God, bless your return, to her.
Farewell, Odysseus. Meeting and hosting you has been my great honor and pleasure, as were the rich gifts we gave you. You freed yourself from a trap here in real life more difficult, though less dire, than the trap in the story you told of the Cyclops. But now, Look! My daughter is loathe to see you go. Don't stop to tell any more tales. Go. Go as fast as you can. Go before your magic fades and the trap swings shut again. Go.
End of Scene 9
End of Act I
For Act II, click here.