Character Of Penelope In Homer's Odyssey
Odysseus slept with Circe to get his men transformed back into men. But then Odysseus stays with Circe for seven years, when Odysseus thought that he was with Circe for seven days. Penelope on the other hand kept faith in Odysseus. She never lost hope that one day he’d come home. Many suitors want to Ithaca to try to take Penelope's hand in marriage, but she refused, believing that
For three years, “she’d weave at her great and growing web - by night, by the light of torches set beside her, she would unravel all she’d done” (Homer 96). He demonstrates how Penelope convinced the suitors to stay. She told them that she would be ready to marry once she finished her web. By giving them an idea of the time when they would be able to wed her, the suitors stayed eager to marry her. The suitors continued to inhabit the home until her weaving finished and as she refused to finish it, the suitors stayed there.
However, Penelope still loves Odysseus and remains loyal to him by stalling the marriage. She still continues to persist in being hopeful and refuses to believe that Odysseus will never return to her, so she creates several excuses to help her evade marriage for as long as possible. She presents tasks to keep the
Would you really have to portray a girl to get what you want? Can you do something different? The Odyssey was taken on by a Greek legend, Odysseus over sea. In his journey there was different men and women along beside him, but the women were quite different in areas and in heart. Portrayal of women is in answer to all the women in the Odyssey.
For the many years that Odysseus has been away, Penelope is able
Penelope shows this when she tells her plan to Odysseus on page 27, “I said, that day: ‘Young men- my suitors, now my lord is dead, let me finish my weaving before I marry, or else my thread will have been spun in vain.’” She lies to the suitors and tells them that she must finish her weaving before she marries one of them, buying herself more time to wait for Odysseus. Again, Penelops shows great intelligence when she tests Odysseus to make sure it is him on page 31, “But here and now, what sign could be so clear as this of our own bed? No other man has laid eyes on it.”
“The Odyssey” is a book that is compiled of a multitude of other smaller pieces of text in which each correspond with one another. This compilation of texts was written by Homer. Additionally, C.P. Cavafy’s poem,“Ithaka”, illustrates the main morals within Homer’s “The Odyssey”. Overall, both Cavafy’s “Ithaka”, as well as Homer’s “The Odyssey” expound the proposition that life is more about the journey rather than the destination.
Penelope and Odysseus’ use of tricks and deception are both a help and a hinderacne in allowing the former to avoid a second marriage and confirm her husband’s identity and the latter to attain nostos. Odysseus is wise not to tell his crew of Skylla, but should have divulged the contents of the bag of winds. Similarly, Penelope’s trick with the bed was harmless and successful, whereas undoing her work on the shroud has severe consequences when she is caught. As Homer’s Odyssey demonstrates, tricks and deception must be used wisely in order to avoid problematic
Penelope proves that women can be just as smart, if not smarter, than men. She outsmarts the suitors that invade her home to escape marriage. For example, she weaves each day for years and tells the suitors that when she is done she will marry. Homer writes, “This was her latest masterpiece of guile: she set up a great loom in the royal halls and she began to weave, and the weaving finespun, the yarns endless, and she would lead us on: ‘Young men, my suitors, now that King Odysseus is no more, go slowly, keen as you are to marry me, until I can finish off this web…” (Homer). She deceives them because she undoes all of her work after every day with the knowledge that they are too busy with feasts and wine to notice.
Weaving is an art which was given from Athena to women, while Penelope uses both cunningness and weaving to deceive the suitors. With the making of the shroud for Laertes, Odysseus’s father she was able to keep the suitors at bay for three whole years. She would weave during the day and unravel it at night. With her clever words she assured the suitors that it was her womanly duty to weave a shroud to her father-in-law and promised to marry one of them after she finished it. Yet her plans were thwarted by one of her treacherous maids.
Joshua is one of the major characters within the Exodus story. Upon leaving Egypt Moses realizes that the Israelites may need an army to defend themselves from any aggressors so he selects Joshua to first choose those who could become part of an Israelite army and then secondly be the leader of the Israelite army. According to the biblical story in Exodus 17, the Israelites defend themselves and conquer the attacking Amalekites sent by the Pharaoh. Later, Joshua accompanies Moses to the top of Mt. Sinai to receive the Ten Commandment, assists Moses when descending the mountain and observes Moses breaking the two tablets consisting of the Ten Commandments while the Israelites were celebrating around the Golden Calf. Later, upon reaching the
(_________) The extent Penelope goes to stay loyalty to her husband is lying and manipulation. She would deceive the suitors by getting their hopes up and ask for time to finish weaving a blanket for her lost husband, but would undo her progress at night and start over the next day.
After discovering Penelope’s deception, the suitors complain, “Her very words, and despite our pride and passion we believed her. So by day she’d weave at her great and growing web- by night, by the light of torches set beside her, she would unravel all she’d done. Three who years, she deceived us blind, seduced us with this scheme” (Homer, Odysseus, 2. 101- 106). With one simple promise, she is able to keep the suitors in control for three years, which demonstrates her intellectual strength. Penelope, a woman who perceives to be a weak character and unable to keep the household together, manages to assert dominance over 108 men with words alone.
Women are weak, helpless, and have no real purpose other than to serve men and take care of children. . . or so they were perceived in history. In the Odyssey, one can see that Homer’s portrayal of women challenges the depiction of women during that time period. Throughout the book, many women intervened in Odysseus’ journey home to Ithaca, for better or for worse. One will see Penelope, Athena, Circe, and other women impact Odysseus’ expedition home.
Imagine landing in a difficult situation... getting stranded from home, encountering beautiful woman at the same time, but you have a wife. You have to choose your wife, or a beautiful woman. This is exactly what happened to Odysseus on his travels in The Odyssey, by the Greek poet Homer. In this epic poem, Odysseus is married to his wife Penelope and has a happy family, who lives in Ithaca. Even though Odysseus has been stranded from home for many years, he still remains loyal to his wife.
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