Citizen Kane : Shot by Shot

[Jeff Bernstein]

(6:51–7:01)  The Eyeglasses of Reason

(a) Thatcher is an emblem of Reason (Capitol Building : Wall Street Money : Tyranny).

(b) In this shot, Thatcher is waving his eyeglasses energetically at screen-center throughout the duration.

(c) Throughout virtually all of the duration of this shot, Thatcher's eyes look closed.

(d) So you see eyeglasses and closed eyes with respect to the emblem of Reason.

(e) You do the math.

 

 

 

Edited February 23, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

Sight

Looks as if eyeglasses are prominent in this shot in both middle distance and background. Coincidence, then, that the debonair man wearing eyeglasses in the b.g. is the cinematographer of CK, Gregg Toland?

 

[Jeff Bernstein]

Energetic surroundings  :  then the pay-off

 

In the Capitol scene 66–69, the men are moving about like a proverbial barrel of monkeys. If a person present in this scene can move a body part, assume that the person will be moving it. Whether it be simple swaying on one’s feet, or twiddling with a pencil, or rubbing one’s lips (66); or looking around here and there energetically (67); or Gregg Toland slotting into his debonair pose during the eyeglasses activity (68), the Spectator’s eyes are absorbing ongoing liveliness. Welles will do anything he can to spruce up a scene : anything.

 

Now the pay-off :

Virtually absolute stillness around Thatcher.

 

(a) the visual quietude emphasizes the priority of the dialogue

(b) the scene ends with reasonable fixedness

(c) the firmness of Tyranny

 

 

Edited February 23, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

Paper.

Coincidence that this consequential shot looks forward to Thatcher's memoirs?

 

 

[Jeff Bernstein]

Glowing paper.

(17:51)

 

[Jeff Bernstein]

Fly Away

After Hours (1985), 9:55

Brazil (1985), 1:41:25

 

And back to Dunkirk, shot 1 :

 

 

 

Edited February 23, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

 

[Jeff Bernstein]

 

 

Edited February 23, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

Paper.

 

Somewhere in international film history is a film in which its own screenplay looks to be going up in flames at one point. Your author cannot recall the title.

[Jeff Bernstein]

Coming soon  :  Variety

 

73  NARRATOR : “That same month in Union Square” :

SPEAKER : “The words ‘Charles Foster Kane’ are a menace to every workingman in this land! He is today what he has always been, uh, and always will be : A fascist!”

 

“This will not stand, this aggression against, uh, Kuwait.” Lebowski, 3:26.

Note the white hatching receding into the TV screen.

A Van Gogh daytime sky.

A Van Gogh night-time sky.

"The Witches" (1970) by Circle Press' Macbeth, by Ron King.

[Jeff Bernstein]

71 Union Square

 

(22:34) "Union forever!"

Coincidence?

[Jeff Bernstein]

That last shot introduces us to a heavy concept of film absorption : a film's continuum of changing geometry. Look there : a triangle? (The symbolism of the geometry is not a predominant during the initial viewing of a movie, because time is passing quickly, and symbolism requires a time of Reason for explication. It is moment-by-moment Energy manipulation and transference we are considering here.) A shot composition and editing will be absorbed unconsciously by the audience (ideally), as the audience is (hopefully) following the characters first and foremost and exclusively so. At least at first.

 

First-rate filmmakers are magicians manipulating you moment-by-moment unseen, yet there plain before your eyes.

 

Were you listening, Donny?

 

"That which regions is an abiding expanse which, gathering all, opens itself, so that in its openness is halted and held, letting everything merge in a resting."

 

"Regioning is a gathering and re-sheltering for an expanded resting in an abiding."

[Jeff Bernstein]

World History

"China Virus" was cancelled, but "Herd Immunity" was endorsed by Tyranny.

 

Edited February 23, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

73

What does he mean, “fascist”? Someone who wants his own way, regardless of others? (I’m blueskying here.) Obviously he means it in some (ostensible) political sense. Terminology not used in a technical-writing sense means nothing, except as a password into the hearts of similarly-minded imbeciles. Such a reflection as that one reminds of the utility of words themselves. Utility / futility : another coincidental sonic effect?

[Jeff Bernstein]

74   (7:50–8:03)  NARRATOR : And still another opinion :

NARRATOR : “Kane, molder of mass opinion though he was” (9:49)

 

BERNSTEIN : “You're getting paid, mister, for opinions or for hauling?” (33:29)

 

LELAND : “I don't suppose anybody ever had so many opinions.” (50:43)

 

KANE : “Of her acting it is absolutely impossible to say anything except that, in the opinion of this reviewer, it represents a new low.” (1:20:41)

 

KANE : “It's not your job to give your opinion of Mrs. Kane's talents.” (1:27:39)

 

Recall the young Kane’s idealism : “I’ll provide the people of this city with a daily paper that will tell all the news honestly.” (38:29)

 

The Truth is no “opinion”. It’s just the way it is.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 23, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

Eyeglasses

[Jeff Bernstein]

75

Such a quaint notion.

 

[Jeff Bernstein]

76

The kindness of strangers.

[Jeff Bernstein]

"Funny how gentle people get with you once you're dead." Sunset Boulevard, 1:43:51

 

Indeed. “So be bloody careful with him.” Dunkirk, 1:21:04

[Jeff Bernstein]

Phantom Thread, 1:21:43

Note painting on wall. Mass of bodies. See Welles' The Stranger (1946), 59.39 :

What haunts her is made manifest on screen.

The film frame is a dream of the audience, but also of the character(s) who embody it.

What is in the frame embodies unconscious elements of the character(s) within the frame.

In short : First-rate storytelling uses very last detail to express character.

Best wishes.

 

 

Edited February 23, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

(1:34:22) “Why don’t you kill me, and avenge her? Isn’t that the way it happened in a theatre in Athens?”

 

She is right. She puts the man in a bad position. She doesn’t just mean a play on a stage, she means the society that produced the play on that stage. The Odyssey and The Iliad are celebrations of the heroism of Manhood. What Men can be, if they choose to be; if they have the strength and the courage and the stamina, and at least a little smarts, though a great intelligence such as Odysseus’ is a more favorable option when facing life-or-death situations. Europe may have scratched its head around the year 1 when it observed that the popularity of Homer’s two poems were not dying away. Most other ancient literature is gone, just like ninety-nine percent of silent films. But by year 1 (starting anywhere) Homer and his themes stood the test of time, evidently because those themes were relatable to the public.

 

One such theme is Revenge. Book XXII of The Odyssey, for example, is a spree of revenge. Odysseus doesn’t care that those who invaded his house ate his food, or destroyed his funishings, and so on; Odysseus didn’t have an acquisitive bone in his body. The point was a simple one : he didn’t invite them in. So now they have to pay. Every last one of them. Simple.

 

Anyway, Europe had to deal with this Manliness.

 

But let’s leap back to Wonder Wheel. It’s just bad luck for the male character that he finds himself faced with this Situation. If he was a Man, sure, he would do as she said, and kill her. He would have had no choice : if he was a Man. But he doesn’t exact vengeance. So : the woman has scarred him for life. She has scarred his manhood like a psychotic Banjo Boy. And it gets worse than that for the man. That man had dreams of being an author, if not an artist. Goodbye to all that, now that the spiteful woman has taken his balls away for good. And now here we are in 2023.

 

When it’s too late for thinking, you got to know what’s what then and there or that’s that. That’s why we have to be always on our toes, we have to keep our mind severe-clear, our reflexes clean and incisive, in order to be up to the task when the unthinkable eventuates. Grace is intuition conditioned by experience. We will be tested and we will be up to the task or we won’t. When the Eyeball of God is on us, when there is no longer any time for thinking though, only action, immediate behavior, grace alone can defuse the situation.

 

The Man doesn’t make the right decision, and will pay for it for the rest of his life. The woman will be a ghost, haunting his footsteps.

 

But what if the Man had made the correct decision?

 

This leads to the subject of Institutionalized Justice. Let your calm author, resting in bed on codeine and clonazepam, tell you a story. Years back, an academic discovered criminal chicanery at a university in the UK. No one would listen to him, even the university's Vice Chancellor. Apparently no one cared. So the academic took it to court, and won. He won a six-figure sum. He lives in a lovely house with a beautiful tree on a quiet road. Twist : all these years later, the academic still fulminates over the Situation, as if no justice had taken place. He still growls and grumbles about how the university was adamant about ignoring what it well knew was criminal behavior. But the man received Justice! He received the blessing of institutionalized justice. So : if the academic received justice—and he received it in spades, a six-figure sum and the outing of the truth—why in god’s name would he still be angry years later?

 

JSB has the answer.

 

Because it wasn’t his Justice. If someone screws you over, you have to respond yourself. Otherwise you may end up like that academic, haunted for a lifetime over his win in the courts of Justice.

 

So : back to Wonder Wheel.

 

All this we speak of is a very ancient Greek Situation. Example : Aeschylus’ Oresteia explores the passage from personal vengeance to institutionalized justice. Remember the colossal story fundamental that Christopher Nolan should win 10,000 Academy Awards for simply for employing it as a major structural principle in the final portion of Dunkirk? The choice between two negatives.

 

The man in Wonder Wheel is faced with a choice between two negatives. He can do the right thing (as it were) and get vengeance for a murdered young woman (possibly his wife-to-be!) whom this older woman allowed to have killed; or let this murderer go free, and be haunted as a weak and cowardly ball-less "man” for the rest of his life. This man, in the heat of the moment, chooses wrong. He lets the woman go free. 

 

Homer’s Iliad is full of split-decisions that can cost a man his life.

 

Which, btw, recalls another of the greatest stories ever told : Hitchcock’s Psycho. A reasonable character has a mad moment and pays for it with her life. What a lesson for all of us.

 

The upshot of the lesson was given to us way back in 1587 : Historia von D. Johann Fausten, published by Johann Spies :

 

Seid nüchtern und wachet, denn euer Widersacher,

der Teufel geht umher wie ein brüllender Löwe

und suchet, welchen er verschlinge;

dem widerstehet fest im Glauben.

 

Be sober, and watch, for your adversary

the devil walks about like a roaring lion

and seeks someone to devour.

Oppose him with firm faith.

 

Eternal vigilance : if we're careful, we may never get into the Situation of a choice between two negatives. The male in Wonder Wheel has the bad luck (so to speak) of falling into the Situation. “If the rule you followed brought you to this, of what use was the rule?” The Truth of a person will out in the end. For this male, the Truth came soon : he is a Vulnerable Male, with the rest of his life to mourn his castrated self.

 

This movie is a warning for men. With a fabulously-written part for a woman.

 

 

 

Edited February 23, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

Book XXII

 

Odysseus sprang out of his rags, and landed

by the brightly shining door. Then, in one movement

he grabbed the quiver and spilled out the arrows

before him at his feet; and said to the nobles :

 

“This contest is at its end. Let us now see if

I hit another mark, which no man has yet done,

and take the victory destined me by Apollo.”

 

And as he spoke he strung the bow and aimed it tight

at Antinous, who was raising a glittering

two-handled cup of wine in his hands, so he might

drink; and his own death was the last thing on his mind.

But who there would have expected that one man might,

no matter his strength, bring death and fate to the many?

The arrow of Odysseus ripped through the throat

of Antinous, and its bloody bronze tip stuck out

through the back of his neck. His eyes flared as he dropped

his cup, and his spurting blood sprayed over the fine

food and drink on the table. He kicked out wildly,

overturning the table, spilling to the floor

all the bread and roast meats that the house-servants

had brought him. And with a wondrous groan he fell

onto the food while his life-blood spilled from his

nose and mouth. And a cry filled the air as the men

saw him fall; and they sprang from their couches and chairs,

and in a panic looked this way and that along

the walls, but they saw no shields or spears anywhere

to grab hold of. And enraged at Odysseus

they shouted terrible words at him, saying :

 

“Stranger! What is this evil that you do? Shooting

at men? You cut down the best of us in cold blood!

Ithaca knew no better man! Now we shall leave

you for the vultures to eat!”

 

This they said, thinking the old stranger had cut down

the man in idiotic error : but it was

their own error they did not yet understand :

they had no thought that destruction had come for them;

and there would be no escape.

 

Thus with grave eyes Odysseus glared at them

and spoke :

 

“Rotten dogs! Didn’t cross your mind I might return

from Troy? You’ve eaten away my house. You’ve forced

my maids to lie with you. You tried to take my wife

away from me. You fear no god, no man, nor justice.

Now death has come—and you won’t be coming back.”

 

So he spoke, and the nobles turned pale with fear.

Each man looked sharply round, seeking escape.

 

And Eurymachus alone spoke :

 

“You say you’re Ithacan Odysseus come home.

If what you say is true, then this other word of yours

is true, too. The Achaeans have done terrible

things in your halls and fields. But there lies the cause

of it all! Antinous. He brought us to where we stand.

He didn’t want to marry your wife;—he had something

else in mind, which the god of Time didn’t allow.

He came to Ithaca to be king, to take

the goodly land for himself, from your goodly son.

He planned to ambush and murder Telemachus!

 

But now he’s dead. Now will you drop your hand

from your countrymen? and be merciful?

We will make good everything we owe. We’ll go

and gather what wealth we have and pay you

all that’s been drunk and eaten in your house.

Each man here will bring you twenty oxen.

And bronze : and gold : until your heart is warmed.

But till then no one would wonder at your upset.”

 

And with grave eyes Odysseus glared at him

and spoke :

 

“Eurymachus, go gather what wealth you have,

and add to that whatever from wherever :

but these hands you see are going to kill you.

Then you will have made good your debt. Now decide :

to fight, or to run. But there is nowhere to run.”

 

He said this and their knees weakened. And each man’s heart

whirled in euphoric fear and terror, at the sight

of Odysseus standing in the brightly shining doorway.

 

And Eurymachus spoke out a second time :

 

“Friends! This man will not hold back! He will stand there

and string the arrows until all of us are dead!

So come! We fight! Draw your swords! Lift up the tables

and hold them against the arrows! We’ll rush him

together!”

 

And Eurymachus drew his sword. It caught the light,

his two-edged bronze with sharp tip. And shrieking

with a battle-cry he sprang at Odysseus,

who let fly, and the arrow slit through to his liver.

Eurymachus dropped his sword and fell sprawling

among tables, all doubled up and screaming.

He thrashed in the food and spilled cups, his head

hammering the floor; and his wild-kicking feet

knocked away chairs as he suffered agony

at heart. And then his eyes went down into darkness.

 

And Amphinomus rushed at Odysseus

with drawn sword, ready to cut him away

from the brightly shining threshold, so he

might run to the city with a cry of alarm

before the killer had shot his last arrow.

But Telemachus caught him from behind,

driving a bronze-pointed spear through his shoulder-

blades and out through his chest. The dead man fell

hard on the floor : his head hit the marble and cracked.

And quick-thinking Telemachus had to decide

whether to yank out the bloody spear or leave it

where it stuck : and so he sprung away from the dead

Amphinomus. The quick-thinker knew if he lowered

his eyes to the spear someone might run

a sword through him, or tackle him down to the corpse.

So he ran to his father in the brightly shining light,

and came to stand by him, and spoke with winged words :

 

“Father! I’ll go get the bronze for the four of us!

Isn’t it better for us to be in armour?”

 

And Odysseus answered :  

 

“Bring it all while I still have arrows.”

 

And said no more. So Telemachus obeyed him.

He left his father’s side, ran down to the store-room,

and uncovered the glittering armour, everything

of bronze : four shields, eight spears, and four helmets

plumed with horse-hair. Swiftly he carried it all back

to his father, and bound himself up in the bronze.

 

And the two slaves put on their bright armour as well,

Eumaeus and Philoetius, who came to stand

by warrior Odysseus, the brilliant one.

 

Now Odysseus kept stringing arrows as long

as the arrows held out, aiming sure and picking

off the filth one by one, piling the nobles

into a bloody heap of dead stares and limp limbs.

 

When his last arrow left him, he set down the bow,

leaning it upright on the brightly shining door.

Then he lifted up his heavy shield and buckled it

around his shoulders, to keep his hands and arms free,

a shield reinforced by four layers of ox-hide :

and he put his helmet on, with its horsetail plume

of colours shimmering menacingly over

his piercing glare. And he took up two bronze-tipped spears.

 

And Telemachus looked on in wonder while

the palm of his father’s hand slipped along a wall

and found a hidden seam, and pressed it, and a door

swung open, revealing a passage into darkness.

Odysseus sent his son and his two warriors

through, then sealed and secured the door behind him.

 

And in the sudden lull, the nobles left alive

looked breathless at the mutilation around them.

 

Then Agelaus spoke out for all to hear :

 

“Friends, does anyone have any idea

where that door leads to? Someone has to get out-

side and cry for help! Then we’ll be done with that man!”

 

And the goatherd Melanthius answered him :    

 

“Agelaus, Zeus-born, I say that passage may lead

into a corridor, giving them a way to some

other building of the palace. But I have a thought,

and if I’m right I’ll bring you to the very place

where we’ll find armour and weapons that Odysseus

and his suddenly powerful son have hidden.”

 

So the goatherd Melanthius went his way

down to the store-rooms of Odysseus.

There he found the glittering bronze, and he eagerly

brought back many shields and spears and helmets

for the noble worthies; and then went back for more.

 

And Odysseus was in no other building

of the palace, but looking down on the nobles

from a hidden vantage : and he didn’t like the sight

of all of them arming themselves for battle,

and lifting their razor-sharp bronze-tipped spears.

All this was going to be harder than he thought.

 

And Odysseus said to his son :

 

“Telemachus, someone in the house has betrayed us;

they found the armour. Now we face heavier work.”

 

So Telemachus spoke out :

 

“Eumaeus, go now to the underground store-room

and bolt the door shut. And maybe you’ll see

which house-servant is giving them the bronze.

But I think I know who it is : Melanthius.”

 

Meanwhile, Melanthius was moving between

the store-room and the vast hall with armour in hand,

and the swineherd saw. So he bolted the door shut,

then returned to them, and spoke to Odysseus :

 

“Zeus-born son of Laertes, invincible Odysseus!

I saw the goatherd with the armour in his hands,

coming from the store-room. Tell me, master, may I

kill him? And teach him my superiority?

Or shall I drag him here for you? So he can pay

for the many crimes he conspired in your house.”

 

And Odysseus πολύμητις answered him :

 

“Telemachus and I will hold the noble scum

within the hall. They’ll learn how strong they really are.

Now you two hear what to do with Melanthius :

You bend his hands and feet behind his back

and tie the four of them together with a cord.

Then you throw him in the store-room and bolt the door

behind you. Inside, you’ll see a hook fitted high up

in one of the rafters. You two will find a rope

and hoist that miserable bundle up

to the ceiling. There let him stay, nice and alive,

to suffer agony for a long time to come.”

 

And the two men heard and obeyed. Slow and quiet,

they stepped to the store-room door, one man on either

side, and, unnoticed where they stood, they listened

to the sounds from within. Meanwhile, inside the room,

goatherd Melanthius uncovered more armour

in a dim, dusty corner. It was a shield worn

down from age, eroded by rust, and the stitching

of its leather straps had long ago come undone.

In his faraway youth, warrior Laertes

had lifted this shield, many a time in practice

and in battle. So Melanthius happily

took up the shield, and grabbed a helmet from nearby,

and with them walked through the store-room to the doorway.

There the two men grabbed him, tackled him to the ground,

and dragged him by the hair back into the store-room.

All the while Melanthius could barely breathe

from terror. Sprawled out on the floor he screamed

out as his hands and feet were bent behind his back

and tied together tightly with a cord. The two

men had bundled up Melanthius, just as the son

of Laertes had ordered : the much-enduring,

godlike Odysseus. Then they tied a strong rope

round his body and hoisted him up alongside

a tall pillar until he hung from the ceiling

of the room.

 

And looking up over his head amused,

swineherd Eumaeus spoke out aloud :

 

“Now all night long, Melanthius, lie there

on the soft bed you deserve! No early-born,

rosy-fingered Dawn for you! You won’t see her coming

to her golden throne, when you should be leading

your she-goats to prepare for feasting at the house.”

 

They left him there dangling painfully, all tied up.

The two men put their armour back on; then they closed

the door and took all the light of the room with them.

 

And they returned to warrior Odysseus,

the ever-calculating, ever-foxy one.

 

So then Odysseus threw open a window,

revealing themselves and their hidden vantage.

Together the four men, breathing vengeance,

looked down on the men in the hall, who were many

in number, and armed with weapons, and looking up

at them with wonder and fear and anger and rage.

 

And then from around the corner came Athena,

in the shape and voice of an old friend to father

and son : Mentor. The old man had agreed

to keep watch over the house while Odysseus

was away with the ships, and keep things firmly footed.

 

But the father smiled. He knew who it really was,

and he said :

 

“Mentor, help us obliterate them. Remember

your old friend, who has done so much in your honour.

And of the same age we’ve grown in time together.”

 

Thus he spoke to Athena the Encourager.

 

Meanwhile, the nobles down below in the hall

were shouting and pointing up at Odysseus.

 

And noble worthy Agelaus called up to them :

 

“Mentor!” he cried, “don’t let his sly words fool you

to his side! Why fight us for his sake? Why help him?

I’m sure there’s only one outcome left to us here :

after we kill father and son, we’re killing you!

For what you plan to do, you will pay with your head!

After we have taken your life with the bronze blade,

we will take everything you own, inside and out,

and toss it all in with Odysseus’ wealth!

We’ll deny your sons and daughters to live in your halls!

And your fine wife will be kicked out of the city!”

 

So spoke Agelaus to shining-eyed Athena.

 

Now the goddess both smiled and raged at heart.

And no effort was needed to fool the filth below :

she simply spoke out angrily at Odysseus,

for all to hear :

 

“Odysseus! I don’t see any more of that strength

you had when you fought the Trojans for nine years,

for the sake of beautiful Helen, daughter of

nobility! Your days of brutally killing men

in relentless combat are over! Yes, it was

your bright idea that finally gave us Priam’s

lofty city, which we pulverized to dust :

but perhaps that was your last! Why are you standing

up here, now that you are home, and among your own?

Do you sigh when you take in the sight of those men,

a number requiring the effort of the old days?”

 

Then the goddess whispered to Odysseus :

 

“Come now, friend! Stand by me and watch what I shall do.

Mentor shall thank you for your service to the people.

And your enemies will feel this kindness repaid.”

 

And she stepped away into a swallow and flew

up to the rafters and looked down on them

from the shadows. She didn’t yet end the battle,

so that she might show off the strength and courage

of Odysseus and his honourable son.      

 

Meanwhile, Agelaus looked over the nobles

in the hall. The best of them were Eurynomus

and Amphimedon and Demoptolemus

and Peisander and Polybus. These were the best

men left; the greatest of all of them now lay dead

at their feet, brought down by a shower of arrows.

 

Then Agelaus spoke out for all to hear : 

 

“Friends! Now we must cut his hands dead! Now that Mentor’s

done with his big joke and gone off! There are only

four of them! They stand there in plain view, mocking us!

Raise up your long spears—but not everyone throw

at once! Six will throw. Let us hope the gods give us

victory. All you six aim at Odysseus.

The others will be no worry once he lies dead.”

 

So he spoke, and all six sent their spears flying up

to invincible Odysseus as ordered,

but Athena let all six fly to no purpose.

One bronze tip hit a pillar of the well-built hall,

another fragmented the open window pane,

another ashen spear hit the wall and fell away.

 

After all the heroic spears went awry,

much-enduring Odysseus said to his men :

 

“Friends, it’s time to spike that herd of pigs. They’re eager

to kill us all. Stripping my house bare wasn’t enough for them.”

 

He said this, and the four of them lifted their bronze-

tipped spears, aimed, and let fly : Odysseus’ fixed

Demoptolemus to the floor, where he bled out

and died. Telemachus’ pierced Euryades’ heart.

Eumaeus’ sent Elatus to the underworld;

and cattleman Philoetius killed Peisander.

 

So those nobles ground their teeth into death,

but the others still living retreated in terror

to a far corner of the hall. Odysseus

and his men, meanwhile, jumped down from above

and plucked out the spears from the bodies of the dead.

 

Again the noblemen sent the bronze spears flying,

again Athena sent the shower of them awry.

One man hit that same pillar of the well-built hall :

one spear shattered against a well-bolted door :

another ashen spear hit the wall and fell away.

 

But, as Zeus told us way back at the origin,

there are “irregularities not foreseen by

destiny”—so a spear hit Telemachus.

The bronze tip sliced his hand open at the wrist

and flew on and away, leaving a bloody wound.

 

And Ctesippus' spear flew at swineherd Eumaeus :

As its point pierced his shoulder he knocked it away

with his shield, and glanced at his bleeding wound :

and behind him the bloody-tipped spear hit the floor.

 

Again Odysseus and his men aimed their spears

and let fly into the crowd of Evil :

hapless Eurydamas felt Odysseus’ enter

his brain, a gift from the destroyer of cities.

 

Unconquerable Telemachus eliminated

Amphimedon : and Eumaeus executed

Polybus : and cowherd Philoetius replied

to Ctesippus with a spear through his chest,

then stood over him, putting his feet by his head,

and :

 

“Son of someone-or-other,” he said, exultant,

“You love big talk—here’s some large enough for you.

How does it sound? Do you hear the word of the gods?

You invited your own everlasting punishment.

How smart is that?”

 

And as he spoke, he pushed the spear deeper into

the dying one’s chest, and spoke one more word :

 

“This repays the hoof you threw at Odysseus.

How about that? The last word you hear : Odysseus.”

 

So said the herdsman of the twist-horned cattle.

And Ctesippus closed his eyes, and died. And his spirit

went underground to the growing world of the dead,

where Odysseus, matched in close combat with clashing

spears, sent Agelaus, when the sharp bronze tip sank

into the heart of the son of Damastor :

 

while Telemachus speared Leiocritus

under the ribs, its bloody tip driving into

soft flesh and breaking out the back of his body.

The dead man fell face-first towards the marble floor,

and the long spear’s handle propped the victim up,

so his body slid down the upright ashen spear

and slowly came to rest at the bottom,

the tip of his cold nose touching the marble.

 

And now from high above, the goddess Athena

revealed her αἰγίς, her shining shield that caught the light

and sent back beams like solid columns down in all

directions round the heads of the men beneath her,

as if a bright sun had just broken through a cloud.

The many-coloured figure carven on the face

of it is too terrible to put into words,

and the men looking up were terrified to see it.

They fled away through the hall like a herd of cattle

flustered by the lively gadfly that comes to sting

them in the springtime when the long days come.

And just as vultures swoop down from the mountains

with sharp beaks and jagged claws, and break through cloud

to pounce on baby birds shivering in their nests,

who have no defence or hope of flight, and tear them

apart, and men who see this cheer at the fever

of the chase : just so our heroes rushed at the men,

and struck them down every which way they ran.

This way and that the sorry nobles fell to the floor;

and one after another got his head bashed in.

And a gloomy moaning rose up to fill the hall,

the groans of the dying mingling in the air:

and the floor ran with blood.

                                                                 

Then : Leiodes’ bare feet splashed through the blood

as he scrambled up in terror to Odysseus.

He dropped to the floor; and in a puddle of blood

he embraced the knees of the invincible man,

and said :

 

“Please, Odysseus, have pity for me! Please let me

live! Hear me as I say, with Zeus as my witness :

I put no hand to any woman in this house

at any time, nor did I ever speak out shamefully 

to them. Odysseus, over and over again

I implored those people to stop, to hear me

and stay their hands from evil. But they did not

listen to me; and their wickedness has brought them

to this end. Odysseus, I was their prophet!

I have done you no wrong.—I need not lie with them!

That would be no fit reward you give me for meaning well.”

 

And with grave eyes Odysseus glared at him

and spoke :

 

“If you call yourself the prophet of these dead men,

many times your prayers in this house took away,

until now, this sweet return. In between your visions,

were you hoping to marry my wife, and have her

bear your children? Now let Zeus be my witness, too.”

 

And Odysseus all the while held a sword

in his strong grip. It was Agelaus’, fallen

from his hand when he died. Now Odysseus raised

the sword and swiped it through his victim’s neck :

and the head of Leiodes rolled away, still mouthing words.

 

At the same time, standing on the far side

of the red desolation of bodies and blood,

the son of Terpes (whose name derives from “delight”

and “good cheer”), looking this way and that for escape,

was the poet Phemius himself. He might meet

a bleak death, all because those people had forced him

to stand and strum his lyre that sings as birds do.

 

So Phemius contemplated the wall

with the hidden passage, and was in doubt

between two resolves. Should he try to get

out into the courtyard, and sit by the altar

of Zeus, where both Laertes and Odysseus

had burned many thigh-pieces of oxen?

Or should he go to Odysseus, and grab

his knees in prayer? He wondered :

and the following seemed better to him :

 

He restored a table to its standing position

and gently placed his shining lyre on it.

Then he went to Odysseus and grasped

his knees in prayer. And he said :

 

“I embrace you, Odysseus! Hear me,

and show mercy! You’ll regret it later

if you kill me—I’m a poet!

I’m self-taught, and I sing tales of gods and men.

God has planted all kinds of songs in my spirit!

And I will sing before you as before a god!

So do not be so quick to cut my throat.

Your own beloved Telemachus will say

I was forced to come to your house, and only

reluctantly did I sing to those people

during their feasts. They were many, and strong,

and they forced me here protestingly!”

 

So he spoke, and the brilliant, powerful

Telemachus called out :

 

“Father, hold back! Do not strike that innocent man!”

 

And Odysseus lowered his sharp sword.

 

And his son continued, saying :

 

“And Medon, too, our minister of the house!

He has cared for me since I was a boy;—

unless Philoetius or Eumaeus killed him

already—or he met you as you ravaged the hall.”

 

“Here I am!” came a voice from under an ox-hide

hidden beneath a chair. Medon came out from under,

and flung away the freshly peeled-off skin,

and stood up. Then he slid along the bloody floor

down to Telemachus, and grasped his knees,

and spoke with winged words :

 

“Dear, dear friend! Tell your father to hold his hand from

cutting my head off! He might not notice while

exulting in his power, and chop me up with the bronze!

Tell him I’m not one of those people who showed you

no honour!”

 

And Odysseus πολύμητις smiled, and said :

 

“My son has saved your life. Be happy. Now go tell

others of this, so they’ll know kindness is far

stronger than evil. But for the moment just sit

out in the courtyard with the poet of many songs

until I have finished my work here in the house.”

 

Thus spoke Odysseus. And the two men cleaved

through the blood and found a way to the court,

and sat by the altar to Zeus μέγας .

The two men sat uneasy, looking all round them,

waiting for death to leap out at any moment.

 

Inside the house Odysseus prowled quietly,

looking for any men still breathing, or hiding

out in useless hope of avoiding a bleak fate.

But everyone was dead.

 

It brought to mind a school of fish netted up

out of the dark-teeming sea and spilled out

onto the shore : there on the sands they yearn

for the salt water waves,

but fiery Helios burns their life away.

 

Just like that the mnesteressin were heaped up.

 

And Odysseus spoke to his son :

 

“Telemachus, summon the nurse Eurycleia.

There’s a question I would have her answer.”

 

And Telemachus heard and obeyed. He pounded

on a door with his fist, calling for the old woman

who watched over all the women in the household :

 

“Come out,” he said. “Old woman, my father wants you!”

 

So he spoke, and she kept her reply to herself

as she unbolted the doors of the vast

and opulent hall. And Telemachus smiled

at her kindly, and moved aside, and she came in

to see Odysseus standing in a bloody sea

of corpses, his body sodden with blood and gore,

like a lion returning from tearing an ox

apart in the fields, and his breast and jaws are soaked

in blood : just so did Odysseus stand covered

in blood, his feet and hands and all else : and she saw

the unspeakable sight of the dead : and she cried out

in relief and came forward : but Odysseus

raised a hand to stop her, and said :

 

“Come now! Tell me which women dishonoured the house.”

 

And honest nurse Eurycleia answered him : 

 

“Here’s the truth, child. We have fifty women here,

whom we’ve taught to card the wool and all kinds of work,

and most get on with their work. I say there are twelve

in all who have gone the way of unforgivingness.

They listen neither to me nor to Penelope.

They don’t listen to Telemachus. (His mother

thought him too young to supervise them anyway.)

But come now! Let me go up to the bedchambers

and bring word to your wife, who’s in god-given sleep.”

 

And Odysseus answered her :

 

“Don’t wake her just yet. Bring me the guilty women.”

 

So Eurycleia walked through the halls with the news :

the twelve women were to gather themselves and come.

 

And Odysseus spoke : to Telemachus : to Eumaeus

the swineherd : to Philoetius the cattleman : and he said :

 

“Carry the bodies out and order the women

to help. Then sponge clean the chairs and tables.

When all is back in order, lead the maidservants

out and away from our comfortable hall,

to the place between the θόλος and the wall

of the courtyard, and kill them. Use your fine-edged swords.

Make it a slow death for all those who conspire

against this house.”

 

Thus spoke Odysseus.

 

And then the women came in, weeping and wailing.

First the carried the heavy dead out of the hall,

and heaped up the bodies on a colonnaded

lawn to one side of the courtyard. Odysseus

ordered them round and urged them to hurry it up;

and they were forced to carry the heavy bodies

of the dead. When this tiresome task was done,

Odysseus gave them another one :

they cleaned to a sparkle the fine chairs and tables

and floor, using water and thick sponges.

And when the vast hall glittered again, and all stood

in its proper place, then the women were led outside.

 

Now there was a narrow lawn between the θόλος

and the wall of the courtyard : so Philoetius

and Eumaeus guarded one end : at the other

Telemachus stood with drawn sword : and huddled between

the furious men were the twelve teary-eyed women.

 

And Telemachus deliberated, then considered

the θόλος : a round, squat building with pillars all

round supporting its dome. Then he lowered his sword,

and spoke to the men :

 

“These women shall die no easy death. They poured down

onto my head evil words ever since I was a child.

And all these years my mother suffered identical abuse

from them. And then they went and slept with those people.”

 

So said Telemachus, who went for some cable,

the kind used as stern-cable for a dark-prowed ship,

and roped it up and around the domed building,

just high enough so that the dangling women’s feet

would not touch ground. And just as wide-winged thrushes,

or doves, seeking rest in thicket or bush, fly into

a net, and hateful is the bed that welcomes them :

so each woman, one by one, felt the noose tighten

round her neck, and felt the most miserable death.         

They struggled and gasped for a bit, but not too long.

 

Then they led Melanthius out the door and

past the courtyard. And cut off his nose and two ears

with the cold bronze, and sliced off his testicles

to feed them raw to Eumaeus’ dogs,

who would divide the wealth among themselves :

just so overcome with fury were the four men.

 

Then they washed their hands and feet with water.

Then went back inside the palace of Odysseus.

And their work was done.

 

Meanwhile, during all that, Odysseus scoured

clean with powdered sulphur all trace of the evil

in hall and house and courtyard. And he was now dressed

in cloak and tunic, for Eurycleia had said :

 

“Come now! You can’t go around here like that!

Cover yourself! As it is, you might cause a stir.”

 

So Odysseus in cloak and tunic removed

the pollution of those pests for all time.

Then he asked of Eurycleia to tell his wife

to come from her bedchamber with her maids,

and requested that all the house women come too.

 

And he said :

 

“But first let a fire be lit in the hall.”

 

And Eurycleia heard and obeyed. She went through

the house with the news and asked all to come :

and many women came from the chambers

with fiery torches in their hands, and entered

the hall, and saw their master. They crowded round him

and received him with great joy, kissing and caressing

his head and shoulders. And a sweet feeling calmed him,

and he came close to sighs and tears : for in his heart

he remembered them all.

                                    

 

 

 

End of Book XXII

 

 

 

Edited February 23, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

 

Edited February 23, 2023 by Jeff Bernstein

[Jeff Bernstein]

[Jeff Bernstein]