![]() "You wanted me to fall so that you could see these thighs" (124) signals her sexual self-awareness. Her labeling of Odysseus as a "homeless parasite" (124) marks her ability with language. ![]() Melantho's personality resonates in each of her lines. ![]() In the ensuing brief exchange, the young servant appears defiant, verbally adept, and sexually confident. "Melantho, the housemaid, Nausicaa's double, passes, trips on Odysseus, kicks him" (124). Of the three explicit doubles, the pairing of Nausicaa and Melantho appears first. Characters embody the projected memories and imaginations of other characters. Moreover, Walcott's stage doubling comments dubiously upon humanity's capacity to perceive. Why does Walcott infuse a stage version of this story with such a high volume of character doubling? His technique fosters a sense of uniformity of human experience - that though the place may change, the people do not. Finally, the separation of Odysseus and Telemachus merges - though certainly not by stage doubling-in a more abstract way through common experiences and vocalized comparisons. Eurylochus embodies Telemachus in a number of interesting ways. He links Penelope both to Helen and to Circe. Moreover, Walcott creates other subtle links between characters of the hero's exterior and interior realities. Each of the three named pairs evokes a sense of continuity between Odysseus' journey world and his Ithaca home world. The pairing of disparate characters who have never met offers a profound window into Walcott's vision of the story. However, Athena and Billy Blue as characters seem aware of the transformations. In addition, Athena appears in several forms (such as Captain Mentes), as does Billy Blue (Phemius, for one). Walcott explicitly pairs Antinous and Ajax, Nausicaa and Melantho, and Cyclops and Arnaeus. The directions specify only three sets of doubles, though ubiquitous textual clues suggest the probability of many more. He comments on the nature of Odysseus' journey through the doubling of characters. Derek Walcott's "The Odyssey: A Stage Version" Derek Walcott's "The Odyssey: A Stage Version" Matt Gooch, English 356, Washington and Lee Universityĭerek Walcott's The Odyssey: A Stage Version (1993) utilizes the stage medium to dramatize certain psychological and thematic currents of the original story.
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