Transcript for Video Essay on Odysseus after the Odyssey

My video essay on Odysseus after the Odyssey

0. Introduction

What happens to Odysseus after he returns here to Ithaca? After he’s reunited with Telemachus and Penelope, after he kills the suitors, what happens next? Can you imagine Odysseus settling down and being content, living happily ever after here after 20 years of warring and wandering, of adventuring, excitement and pain and grief? Perhaps unsurprisingly, no notable sequel in the Western tradition tells of such a happily ever after ending. The endings that they do tell are quite shocking. Some say that Odysseus leaves Ithaca again and he’s mistakenly killed by his own son. Some say that he kills Penelope with his own hands. Some say that he goes into the Atlantic, drowns and ends up in the Christian hell. Some even say that he finds out that Penelope did cheat on him with either Antinous or with all of the suitors, giving birth to Pan. But no notable sequel that I could find has Odysseus living happily ever after in Ithaca. Why is that?

I’ve been reading the Odyssey with t…