Control

So, we'll have no unseemly behavior in my house! I know and am aware of everything, the good and the bad. Before I was a child. All the same, we still endure to see these acts of yours -the sheep slaughtered and the wine drunk and the bread eaten. It is a tough thing for one man to hold back many.

After one of the suitors, Ktesippos, maltreated the stranger Odysseus Telemachos is taking control.

Odyssey Book 20 line 273-277 Barry B Powell
Odyssey Book 20 line 278-281 Barry B Powell
Odyssey Book 20 line 286-291 Barry B Powell
Odyssey Book 20 line 291-293 Barry B Powell
Odyssey Book 20 line 293-297 Barry B Powell

From the series Odysseus

Telemachos is only one man, but he acts like a man now. And there is another issue.

But come, give up your plans to do me harm. If you want to kill me with the bronze, I'd prefer it -I would rather die than constantly behold your indecent acts. Strangers maltreated and the female slaves dragged off unwillingly through the halls!

And they all fell into silence. One of the suitors now seemed to be helping Telemachos by asking the others not to do this, but then said:

But to Telemachos and his mother I would speak a gentle word, in the hopes that it finds favor in the hearts of both. For as long as you hoped in your hearts that the resourceful Odysseus would return to this home, for so long it has been no blame that you waited and restrained the suitors in your house.

This suitor doesn't blame Telemachos nor Penelope to await Odysseus homecoming.

That was much better, in case Odysseus did return and came back to his house. But now it is clear: He won't be returning.

You see, Odysseus should have returned ultimately this day. And futher more:

So come on, sit down beside your mother and tell her that she must marry whoever is the best man and has provided the most gifts. That way you may enjoy your paternal inheritance in peace, eating and drinking- and your mother can take care of the house of another.

Need I say more? Penelope has to remarry for Telemachos to enjoy his inheritance today. But this is not going to happen. Telemachos took control, who is next.