The Tears of Telemachus in the Odyssey
In this presentation I hope to shed some light on the tears of Telemachus in the Odyssey,
which, unlike the other characters’, have received little attention. He weeps three times, and all
three, I will argue, reflect his relationship to his father and represent key points in his maturation.
His first tears provide a glimpse of the Odyssean essence of his character on the eve of
his own miniature Odyssey. At the conclusion of his maiden-speech in the Ithacan assembly,
Telemachus hurls the scepter to the ground and, enraged, bursts into tears, reducing all the
people to pity and silence (2.80-3). These “sudden, passionate” tears are usually attributed to his
immaturity and/or ineffectuality.
1
Given the general absence from Homer of the modern
Western stigma against male crying,
2
however, it cannot be assumed here that “big boys don’t
cry,” and tears at other assemblies tell against this interpretation: Telemachus’ tears are, like
those of Aegyptius and Eupeithes, a rhetorical tool, not the final tantrum of “one so recently a
boy.”
3
The pity of the people does not reflect poorly on his rhetoric or their ethics; it means that
he has won over their hearts. Like his father, he knows how to manipulate an audience with a
display of emotion.
The parallels between the journeys of Odysseus and Telemachus are widely recognized;
4
the rest of Telemachus’ tears play an important role in establishing this “sympathetic harmony”
5
between father and son. Their tears in Scheria and Lacedaemon have been connected since
antiquity: both react to reminders of their suffering by weeping and retreating into their cloaks.
Through these tears, I will argue, they confront their pasts and prepare to move forward—
1
Stanford 1959 ad 2.81; cf. Heath 2001: 140, 150 and Clarke 1967: 33.
2
van Wees 1998; Föllinger 2009.
3
Stanford 1959 ad 2.81
4
See, e.g., Rose 1967; Fenik 1974: 5-60; Austin 1975: 181-200; Powell 1977: 50-6.
5
Reece 1993: 76.
