Following Telemachus' departure from Ithaca in search of his long-lost father Odysseus, the suitors at Odysseus' house become wary of Telemachus' efforts to bring his father back, considering how this might lead to Odysseus' return and thereby prevent the suitors from marrying Penelope and donning the crown of Ithaca. In particular, Lord Antinous and his companion Eurymachus become increasingly concerned and distressed over Telemachus' search, which ultimately explicates Antinous' plot to gain Odysseus' title as King of Ithaca by courting and marrying his wife Penelope, in addition to the ambitious and domineering personality with which he relentlessly pursues control over Ithaca. His strength and presence among the rest of the suitors is immediately demonstrated in the beginning of the passage, with “lord Antinous [sitting] apart, dashing Eurymachus beside him, ringleaders ...” (4-5); the imagery of Antinous separating himself from the rest of the suitors suggests that he considers himself above them and strengthens the notion of him being a “ringleader.” In this sense, Antinous may be considered as one of the more prominent and main suitors for Penelope; the word choice in specifically referring to him as a “ringleader” (such as of animals) as opposed to simply a leader (of general people) indicates that Antinous is to some extent the most eminent and distinguished out of all the unruly and rambunctious suitors. His personality and role in the group of suitors is subsequently clarified as he interrogates another suitors on Telemachus' whereabouts: “'Tell me the truth!' Antinous wheeled on Noemon. 'Where did he go? And what young crew went with him? Ithaca's best? Or his own slaves and servants?'” (7-9) Unique verbiage in the word “wheeled,” along with the rambling Antinous seems to be engaging in with series of short interrogative sentences, adds a particularly spiteful and forceful tone to Antinous' monologue that reveals his authoritarian personality and how relentless he is in attempting to stop Telemachus from continuing his journey. This would point toward his ambitions to marry Penelope and thereby gain control of Ithaca, since Telemachus' search for Odysseus works in direct contradiction of this plot; the sheer rage and stress in Antinous' tone only further amplifies Antinous' apparent desperation and zealousy to halt Telemachus' plans.

Of course, Antinous' ravings also serve to elucidate his spiteful and demeaning perception of Telemachus early in the passage that progressively becomes more explicit. As he prepares to engage in his speech to the suitors regarding Telemachus, Antinous is depicted to have a “dark heart filled with fury, blazing with anger–eyes like searing fire” (17-18); such emotionally charged metaphors and similes for the vengeance and spite that Antinous feels towards Telemachus clearly casts Antinous (and by association Eurymachus) in a dark light and portrays him as an adversary to Telemachus before Antinous has actually expressed his anger towards Telemachus. In his hatred towards Telemachus, Antinous seems to take on a condescending tone when referring to Odysseus' son, cursing him as a “young cub [who] slips away just like that–” during his speech to the suitors. As expected of his domineering personality, Antinous clearly holds Telemachus to be inferior to him on the basis of his adversary's youth, inexperience, and seeming naivety in searching for his father. This is suggested by how he compares Telemachus to a young animal unfamiliar with the world and stresses (as indicated by the italicization of “that”) how careless and foolish the boy is in searching for Odysseus, who is presumed by many to be dead. However, this excerpt also reveals Antinous' own doubts regarding whether or not Odysseus is alive and seeks to impede Telemachus' search in order to ensure that Odysseus is not guided back to Ithaca and does not assume control over the throne of Ithaca. The hatred that Antinous displays towards Telemachus is thus the product of his fear that Odysseus' child has the capability to reach and bring back his father, thus rendering the relationship between him and Telemachus to be even more contentious and explaining why Antinous might adopt such a condescending tone when speaking of Telemachus in order to hide this sense of fear. In the conclusion of his speech, Antinous finally declares that he intends to slay Telemachus before the child fully sets off on his search for Odysseus, threatening that “this gallant voyage of his to find his father will find him wrecked at last!” (29-30) The italicization of the word “him” allows Antinous to stress that Telemachus will inevitably be defeated and in turn display confidence in that his plans to overtake the crown of Ithaca will succeed at last. Ironically, Antinous also seems to give some recognition towards that he is essentially the antagonist in this situation; his word choice in describing Telemachus' efforts as “gallant” and the fact that Antinous is attempting to impede Telemachus would thereby place Antinous in the moral wrong. This strengthens the notion that Antinous is an adversary to Telemachus to the extent that the characters are somewhat conscious of their roles as protagonist and antagonist.

Although the passage clearly establishes the contentious relationship between Telemachus and Antinous (and Eurymachus), the fate of the suitors as a whole is far more ambiguous despite being left on a seemingly positive note for the suitors. Ultimately, the passage concludes with the end of Antinous' speech against Telemachus, with a short mention of how “[the suitors] all roared approval, urged him on, rose at once and retired to Odysseus' palace.” (31-32) The alliteration of “roared,” “rose,” and “retired” produces a systematic and definite rhythm that helps convey the process by which the suitors transition back to their normal routines, as if roaring, rising, and retiring was a regular procedure of the suitors. The sense of regularity in the suitors' actions would imply that life will continue as normal for them in Odysseus' absence and that they would continue to leech the hospitality of Odysseus' house, “amus[ing] themselves with discus and long throwing spears.” (2) Thus, one could derive that the suitors might succeed in their plans of courting Penelope and becoming the king of Ithaca based on this return to regularity, even more so since Antinous plans to slay Telemachus. However, Antinous is clearly one of the antagonists in The Odyssey, and one could infer that his plans will inevitably fail since the audience knows that Odysseus, the hero of the epic, will inevitably succeed in returning to Ithaca and reclaiming the throne (as established in Book I). Ultimately, the audience understands that the suitors will be defeated by Odysseus at one point despite the great prospects of the suitors as limited to the context of this passage; however, the audience does not necessarily know how this will occur later in the epic. The notion of Odysseus' (and by association his allies') inevitable victory over their obstacles and enemies is considered by the audience throughout The Odyssey, but ultimately one must progress through the epic in order to understand how this victory unfolded, especially when circumstances seem dire for the heroes (such as in this passage). Ultimately, the greater theme here regards how while the beginning and end of the plot is always known during The Odyssey, the value of the epic poem lies primarily in Odysseus' journey and the sequence of events that create the story between these two endpoints, as demonstrated in the character and plot development in passage that suggests a positive fate for Penelope's suitors that directly contradicts Odysseus' eventual heroic victory over the suitors.