Odyssey Study Guide Contents
This book suggests that Helen may have gone willingly to Troy and then later regretted her decision. Menelaus may not have entirely forgiven her. He changes the topic from her helpfulness towards the Greeks in her narrative about Odysseus to the related one of the men inside the horse who are tempted by her voice to call out to her.
It is not clear why it matters whether Menelaus makes it back before Orestes does to kill Aegisthus, murderer of Agamemnon.
Proteus tells Menelaus that because he is the husband of Helen, who is the daughter of Zeus, he will end up in a good spot in the afterlife, in the Elysian Fields.
Telemachus had told his nurse Eurycleia about his plan but hadn't wanted his mother to know for fear she let on too soon. He had good reason as her tearful behavior shows. Had the suitors known any earlier, they might have killed him before he had accomplished anything.
Mentor was recognized in the ship in which Telemachus set sail, but he was also seen in town. This doesn't present a problem. It is simply assumed that one, presumably the one with Telemachus, is a god in Mentor-disguise.
Telemachus didn't turn down a present but asked if he could have something else instead because the present was unsuitable. I don't think we do that very much today because we are afraid of hurting feelings, but perhaps people today would react as Menelaus did -- perfectly amenable to replacing it with another.
Near the start of the book, the familiar theme of hospitality creeps up. Menelaus is prepping for weddings, but when he hears there are strangers on his shore, he insists that they be properly entertained, and all, of course, before he questions his visitors.
