In the Homecoming of Odysseus, Odysseus wants revenge on the suitors. One of the suitors recites the story of the courtship of Penelope, her resistance to the suitors, and Odysseus’ revenge. He wants the revenge because he when he came back home from his journey which took him 20 years, he finds that his house is full of suitors and they are taking everything that he earned. The other reason he wanted revenge was because Penelope that that he was dead and the suitors were going to replace him. Penelope said, “All my comeliness and my good looks are gone; the immortals took them from me when the army embarked for the war, and my husband with them. If that man would return and care for me, my name and fame would be better for it.” Penelope also stated, “These men are in a great hurry, but I wind my schemes on my distaff. First there was the shroud. Some kind spirit put it into my head to set up a web on my loom, a great web of my finest thread. Then I said to them, ‘My good young men, you want me for a wife now Odysseus is dead, and you are in a hurry.” So Odysseus wanted to show the suitors that he isn’t dead for he is alive. …show more content…
He knew that no one could string his bow and shoot an arrow through 12 axes. The next day he got ready for when his turn came he took off the dirty old rags and had sturdy thighs, and strong arms and
Odysseus, king of Ithaca, loves his wife, as well as the power he has over the island. However, while he is journeying back to his city, suitors begin to swarm his home. These men aspire to wed Penelope, who is still married to Odysseus. This threatens Odysseus’s marriage and sense of control. Odysseus is afraid of losing all that is important to him, causing him to challenge and kill all of the suitors.
This is shown when the suitors are escorted to the Underground by Hermes and are met by Agamemnon and Achilles. Amphimedon informs the heroes of Odysseus homecoming and finally Agamemnon himself can give a voice to his narrative. He praises Penelope for being so virtuous and loyal towards her husband. He states that Penelope’s virtuous story would be remembered in praise; whereas his own wives story will be remembered with loathing. This reiterates to the audience that the suitors death came from a just vengeance and that the actions made by Penelope are something to be
The lines following Odysseus’s passage affirming his identity to Penelope see a distinct change of tone as he succeeds the challenge. “So he spoke. Her knees failed her, her heart melted then” (281). Penelope loses her cold façade and instead falls into an embrace with Odysseus. This imagery of affection coupled with the metaphor of her ‘melting heart’ sets the shift in tone and sees the hero rewarded for his suffering.
Odysseus had to patiently suffer through twenty long years of struggling to return back to his family, that solely reinforced his patience because he knew he would get back some day. “I’m sure no other woman could be so cold and keep her husband at a distance, now he has come home after twenty years and all those terrible dangers!”. This extreme adventure shows the immense amount of love and loyalty he feels for his wife and family and the circumstances he is willing to travel through to get back to them. After this journey of twenty years, his
Once he completes this battle, he is left with a new task, approaching Penelope. Penelope fails to believe that Odysseus is before her, but after asking him a cunning question about something only he would know, she realized her husband has finally returned. They embrace for the first time in twenty years. “the ache / of longing mounted, and he wept at last, / his dear wife, clear and faithful, in his arms.” (22.439-441).
Even when Odysseus was away from home, she still was devoted to him and long awaited for him to return back to Ithaca. Throughout the Odyssey, Penelope is seen wishing for Odysseus to come home. Penelope asks Telemachus if he has heard any news about Odysseus and Telemachus tells her about his trip to Menelaus. Penelope states that when Odysseus left, her beauty was lost and if he came home her reputation would be greater than it was. When Odysseus returns home in disguise and tells Penelope that he has returned, Penelope offers gifts if he actually comes home.
Within the closed doors of your apartment in New York City you will find a barrier from you and the outside world. A time to get away from all of the girls waiting in the Lavender room to see someone famous, all of the curse words written in elementary schools, and all of the Stradlatters who think they are the best. Although there is no escaping the realities of the world completely, getting to go home is a necessity because it is a place where you feel protected. Home is not always a physical, standing structure, but rather a place in your heart where you know you will always be protected, stable, and happy. Getting to this place may be difficult, but by looking at Odysseus’s journey home in The Odyssey, getting home is not something we cannot
In Homer’s Poem, The Odyssey, Penelope is the exceptionally patient and clever spouse of the infamous hero, Odysseus, and the mother of Telemachus. One poignant factor of Penelope’s character is her patience and devotion which is displayed throughout the poem. With her husband absent for a great majority of her life for the later of twenty years and his location unknown, Penelope stays, patiently awaiting Odysseus’ return, all whilst preserving their estate and raising her son by herself. Throughout this time, she had many persistent suitors in pursuit of her, abusing her husband’s absence.
The natives there gave Odysseus and his men an intoxicating fruit of the lotus. After Odysseus and his men eat the fruit, they forget all of their thoughts about home and decide to eat more of the fruit. The only way that Odysseus can get him and his men back home is by dragging his men back to the ship and lock them up, Odysseus decides to go along with it. When Odysseus went back to Ithaca, He made the wise choice to go and see his wife Penelope. Odysseus was so brave to go see his wife because he didn’t know if she was going to recognize him at all or want to be with him for the rest of her life.
Constantly wanting to spend time with her missing husband, Penelope often finds herself worrying and thinking of Odysseus. One night in particular after crying over her spouse when the bard referenced her husband, “she withdrew to her own room . . . [and] fell asleep weeping for Odysseus, her beloved husband, till watchful Athena sealed her eyes with
“As he wept for a way home, since the nymph was no longer pleasing him. By nights he would lie beside her, of necessity, in the hollow caverns, against his will, by one who was willing, but all the days he would sit upon the rocks, at the seaside, breaking his heart in tears and lamentation and sorrow as weeping tears he looked out over the barren water”. This quote clearly shows that Odysseus is missing his wife Penelope. He is crying over the fact they haven’t been together for so long. “There, shedding tears Odysseus went unnoticed by all the others, but Alkinoǒs alone understood what he did and noticed, since he was sitting next to him
Throughout books 21-22 of the Odyssey, Odysseus changes by becoming more determined. In the beginning of book 21, Odysseus comes up with plan on how to get Penelope back. The plan seemed quite difficult, almost impossible, but Odysseus was determined to make it happen. “...when the time comes, those gentlemen, to a man, will be dead against giving me bow or quiver.” (21.95-96).
After the reunion, the two began to make up plans to get the suitors out of their home. Once the plan was made they put it into action, killing all of the suitors, with only the help of two to five men. Being the clever woman she was, Penelope made a test for Odysseus with the bed in their room. She knew he made the bed, and if it was really him would know about the sign on there. So she ended up asking the servant to, “Place it outside the bedchamber my lord built with his own hands…”
In an epic poem, The Odyssey, by Homer, Odysseus struggles to come back home while his wife, Penelope, faces barbarous suitors who plague her house to court her for the marriage in order to claim the kingship of Ithaca. With an absence of the man of the household and a son who is not old enough to rule over the country and handle the domestic complications, Penelope endeavors to keep the household orderly and civilized. In order to prevent further chaos in the household, Penelope maintains her role as the Queen of Ithaca and Odysseus’s wife through her loyalty and cunning. For a woman who does not know when her man will return home, Penelope is extremely strong to keep hope and wait for her husband; thus, her unwavering loyalty to her husband
Wilhelm Tischbein uses the conversation between Odysseus and Penelope to show that duty often tears families apart, while in the poem “You Are Odysseus,” Linda Pastan uses the same scene to show that partners need attention and love to feel appreciated. Poems and paintings can help teach us lessons about the human experience. “You Are Odysseus” can teach us that partners need attention and love to feel appreciated by elaborating on Penelope’s point of view. Penelope and Odysseus