Odysseus' Homecoming: Disguise and Revelation in The Odyssey

In book 19 of the epic poem The Odyssey, by Homer, his specific use of language and epic conventions help develop the plot and establish the characters. In the passage, Odysseus has entered his home for the first time since his return when he left almost twenty years ago. Disguised as a beggar, Odysseus tells his own story (slightly changed) to his wife, Penelope, but never reveals his true identity. After Penelope is deeply moved by the knowledge that her husband is still alive, she offers the stranger a place to sleep and new clothing. Odysseus kindly declines and instead requests a bath to soothe himself. Odysseus asks that his old maid, Eurycleia, wash him because all of the other maids are loyal to the suitors so they hate and abuse him.

While washing the disguised Odysseus’ feet, Eurycleia is struck by how similar the “old beggar” is to Odysseus himself. She confesses to the beggar that:
Many a wayworm guest has landed here
but never, I swear, has one so struck my eyes -
your build, your voice, your feet - you’re like Odysseus . . .
to the life!”
“Old woman,” wily Odysseus countered,
“that’s what they all say who’ve seen us both.
We bear a striking resemblance to each other,
as you have had the wit to say yourself.” (Homer 19. 430-37)
This part of the passage serves to show Odysseus’ cunning wit and to also foreshadow the nurse discovering Odysseus’ identity. Homer uses the epithet “wily Odysseus” to tell the audience (if they didn’t already know) that Odysseus must have been pretty clever to come up with such a good excuse so fast. This part of the passage also serves to foreshadow the fact that the nurse will discover who Odysseus is.