Over the centuries, some scholars have asserted that no one poet could have presented the world of The Iliad and that of The Odyssey. In The Iliad, many of the same characters as those found in The Odyssey are filled with the vigor of youth and devoted to the honors of war or the thrills of lust. Helen is an example. She was, as Christopher Marlowe would write more than 2,000 years after the creation of The Odyssey," . . . the face that launched a thousand ships, / And burnt the topless towers of Ilium” (The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, 1604) — the woman whose abduction was the catalyst for the Trojan War.
Although she is still quite striking (4.136) in The Odyssey, she is a matronly, middle-aged hostess, far different from the Helen who drove men to such desire that they were willing to go to war for her. However, the disparity between her portrayal in The Iliad and that in The Odyssey need not be interpreted as evidence against a single author. Instead, it merely marks the passage of time — approximately 20 years. Helen, like all the principals from the Trojan War who are still alive, is simply older. The amazing thing about Odysseus is that, despite the passage of years, he will be able rise to the insult of the suitors and once more take arms as he did in his prime.
