Nausicaa & Telemachus – Kids will be kids!

    Nausicaa & Telemachus – Kids will be kids!

The expression teenage angst refers to that normal period of development that young adults in their late teens and early twenties experience as they make the transition to adulthood from childhood. It is a time when emotional turmoil, anger, frustration and confusion seem to reign supreme and episodes demonstrating these emotions are most often driven by hormonal changes, societal pressures and the formation of one’s singular identity. Bouts of anxiety, sadness and irritability are noticeable and parents often find themselves dealing with mood swings, acting out and lashing out, displays of independence, rebellion and sometimes withdrawal. In the Odyssey we witness Nausicaa and Telemachus in the full grip of teenage angst. Homerists think that Princess Nausicaa was likely about sixteen years old and Telemachus was probably twenty-one. Girls mature more quickly than boys and it is not surprising therefore, to see these two youths acting in very similar ways, despite there being about a five year difference in their ages. They are mentally and emotionally the same age.

Proposing that Nausicaa and Telemachus could be viewed as one and the same, David E. Belmont of Washington University, writing in The Classical Journal in October 1967, in his article Telemachus and Nausicaa: A Study of Youth says, “It is my contention that, although the two youngsters quite certainly were derived from a single character in some archetypal yarn about a wily hero, Homer’s use of both, far from betraying poverty of invention and material, is most artistic and carefully contrived.” Belmont continues with this observation: “Dramatically, of course, the presence of two similar figures enhances the over-all texture and complexity of the poem and, moreover, tends to reveal the belief that aristocratic children, in whatever society they may dwell, are (or at least should be) much the same. For this reason it seems clear not only that both Telemachus and Nausicaa are interesting and similar individuals within the story, but also, and more significant yet, that above the mere story level they represent a single universal human type: aristocratic youth ripening into maturity.”

Nausicaa is described as looking like an immortal goddess in her beauty and her form and Odysseus compared her to Artemis and said that he had never seen anyone like her before.

I think you must be Artemis the daughter of the great Zeus, for you are most like her in greatness and stature. But if you are mortal and dwell upon the earth, then three times blessed are your father and honourable mother and three times blessed are all your relatives for their hearts are warmed indeed when they gaze upon a child such as this going in to dance. But blessed above all others is the heart of that man who wins you with his bride price and leads you to his home as his wife. For never have my eyes gazed upon such a mortal as you, neither man nor woman and I look upon you with reverential awe.

            When Odysseus emerged naked from the underbrush, all her handmaidens fled in terror but Nausicaa stood her ground and faced the stranger. With great maturity she offered the stranded traveler the rewards associated with the custom of xenia (guest-friendship) and in doing so, demonstrated the sacred virtue of hospitality.

Stranger, you seem to be not an evil man or one with no sense, and it is Zeus himself the Olympian who gives good fortune to men, both good ones and bad ones, to each one as he determines. I believe that he has meted out your lot to you and now you must put up with it. But now that you have come to our city and land, you will not go without clothing or anything else that a beleaguered supplicant asks for when he comes our way.

            Nausicaa went beyond just offering basic hospitality to the stranger by taking on a motherly role towards Odysseus. She sensed that he needed more substantial help than just nourishment and new clothing and offered to lead him to her city and to introduce him to her parents who could help him on his journey home. But Nausicaa was also cognizant of the fact that introducing a stranger to the city could have some adverse consequences for the kingdom and to her own reputation, so she was very careful about how she proceeded and the instructions that she delivered to Odysseus. In order to get a true picture of the young woman’s personality, both her demeanor and her actions need to be viewed in direct contrast to the immoral scheming and actions of the nymph Calypso and the sorceress Circe. Like those two, Nausicaa was also a woman of great beauty, but she remained pure and unthreatening and demonstrated the importance of caring and compassion. The same could not be said for the two harlots with whom Odysseus spent eight of his last ten years.

            But there is another side to Nausicaa as well. She was still a girl at heart and spent her time dreaming endlessly about her future in a kind of fairy-tale world. She dreamed of love and wedding bells and walking down the aisle in her princess gown. Her character symbolized a kind of youthful innocence and a potential for new beginnings, as she yearned for love and a family of her own. She was smitten by the stranger who appeared naked before her and developed a schoolgirl crush for the beleaguered hero. She said that she could well imagine having a husband like Odysseus, and this hero-worship of hers even impacted her father, who did not hesitate to suggest the same idea to Odysseus. In her encounter with Odysseus, we watch as Nausicaa made the transition from girlhood to womanhood.

            The first four books of the Odyssey have been called the Telemachy as they recount the twofold journey of Telemachus. One the one hand, he journeyed in search of news of his long lost father, and on the other hand, he journeyed from boyhood to manhood. The Telemachy lays the groundwork for the Odyssey and it sets in motion the circumstances that allow for the later confrontation between the hero, his son and the arrogant suitors who sought to destroy their lives. Under the guidance of the goddess, the boy Telemachus came of age as he journeyed between boyhood and manhood. We watch him grow from being a self-centered and petulant youth into a confident and mature man.

            When we first met Telemachus in the Odyssey, he was passive, immature and unsure about his role or his future. Somber and grief-stricken, he pined for his missing father and it was obvious that he had never felt the influence of a man in his life. He was extremely worried that his livelihood was being destroyed by the suitors and that he would have to pay a heavy price financially if his mother agreed to remarry. Feeling that he was trapped and unable to control his own household, he tried throwing his weight around with the suitors but was only laughed at by his perceived enemies. He rebuked his mother and sent her to her room as he asserted that he was the boss of the household. One could just picture Penelope smiling at the ranting of her boy. He gave every indication of being a teenager trying to find his way and not doing a very good job at doing so. He presented himself as a young man filled with self-doubt, lacking confidence and even questioning if he truly was the son of Odysseus.

            Telemachus was encouraged by the goddess Athena to make the trip to Pylos and Sparta to find news of the missing Odysseus. The journey was symbolic of his growth from boyhood to manhood as he witnessed the value of xenia and gained invaluable experience through encountering other kings and heroes. He overcame the challenges of his journey and developed bravery to replace his previous bravado and learned to be more assertive and authoritative so that he could in future take over control of his household. His journey to find himself helped to prepare him to face confrontations in the future and gave birth to the man who would stand bravely beside his father to defeat the suitors. Telemachus’s growth showed him to be a worthy successor to the crown of Ithaca and no longer the passive weakling that he once was. He had become a grown man who was capable of taking his rightful place in society.

            In his commentary, David Belmont goes to great lengths to point out all the similarities between Nausicaa and Telemachus and how the two characters pre-figure Odysseus. He summarizes by saying, “But by the end of the poem, both Telemachus and Nausicaa, already so similar, have also attained the same new maturity, which reveals in them male-female aspects of the universally human nature displayed by Odysseus.” What he is saying in effect is, in order to understand the forces that created the Odysseus that we have come to know now, we simply have to look at Nausicaa and Telemachus, because together they represent the very youth who grew to become the man and the hero that Odysseus became. The kids have become the grown-up.