Narratorial apostrophes of character in Homer's Iliad

Abstract

From Aristotle onwards, the Homeric narrator has been praised for the restrained way in which he provides commentary to his audience. But there are occasions when the poet-narrator intrudes overtly as when he makes a direct address to - or apostrophe of - one of the characters in the epic. Scholars have advanced various hypotheses to explain the function and effect of narratorial apostrophe in Homer. This study aims to determine whether one evaluation is valid for all narratorial apostrophes of character in the Iliad. I test the current evaluations of these apostrophes in three case studies. According to the character-based evaluation, the Homeric narrator uses apostrophe to model sympathy and pity for a character to elicit a similar emotional response in the audience. According to the structure-based evaluation, apostrophes mark critical turning points in the story. Most scholarship has focussed on the recipients of multiple apostrophes, Menelaos and Patroklos, but I pay equal attention to a third group of apparently miscellaneous apostrophes. My approach relies on a close reading of each apostrophe in its event-sequence, and I draw on elements of structural narratology and Labov and Waletzky's model of the components of narrative. I also examine the synergy between apostrophes and other forms of narratorial intrusion. Although the contribution of the character-based approach to our understanding of Homeric apostrophe in the Iliad is well-recognized, I propose that it is limited in scope. I demonstrate the new insights that are offered by a structure-based interpretation in which the apostrophes of character are examined against Labov and Waletzky's model. What emerges are the different yet complementary insights afforded by a close reading of the apostrophic event-sequences, and an appreciation of the rewarding synergy that can be observed in the poet-narrator's character-based and structure-based strategies. Show more