Like Father like Son

Telemakhos is led by fate and the gods to become as great as or greater than his father, Odysseus. In the Odyssey, the Robert Fitzgerald translation, Telemakhos is already portrayed as a man of wisdom despite his young age. Fitzgerald is often referring to him as the “Clear-headed Telemakhos…” (Homer 2,218). We also see proof of his intelligence when the author introduces his speech with “Telemakhos replied with no confusion” (Homer 2,326) when he was talking to Antinoos. In both of these examples we start to see a glimpse of Odysseus in Telemakhos through his speech in which Odysseus is very knowledgeable in.

We continue to see Telemakhos grow into his father when he tells the nurse “I sail to sandy Pylos, then to Sparta, to see what news there is of Father’s voyage” (Homer 2,382). He has now starting his own odyssey, a personal one at that. Just as Odysseus needs help or a silent hand from the gods through all of his journeys,