Letter To My Dearest Penelope In Homer's Odyssey

To my dearest Penelope, Every day and night for the past nine and a half years, I have had strong feelings for you, and I think it is time I have told you. You might have not realized it, but I love you and I want to marry you. I know you do not want to marry me because you believe that Odysseus is still alive, but I have 3 reasons why you should marry me. My first reason why you should marry me is because your husband, Odysseus mysteriously disappeared after fighting in the Trojan War. I overheard the conversation between your son, Telemachus, and the old sailor, Mentes, and they were talking about your husband. Telemachus said to Mentes, “Friend…evil days the gods have brought upon it, making him vanish, as they have, so strangely. Were his (Odysseus) death known, I could not fell such pain--if he had dies of wounds in Trojan country or in the arms of friends, after the war. They would have made a tomb for him, the Akhainans, and I should have all honor as his son.” (Fitzgerald, Book 1, Page 9, Lines 276-285) What your son was saying is that, he does not know if his father died in combat, and if he knew he died, he would not feel pain in his heart. I guess none of us will truly know that answer. My second reason why

Before your fool of a son left home, I told him, “ For three years now—and it will be four” you have, “been breaking the hearts of the Akhainans, holding out hope to all, and sending promises to each man privately—but thinking otherwise.” (Fitzgerald Book 2, Pages 21-22, Lines 96-99) I still remember what you did to all of us suitors. You told us that you were in the process of making a shroud for your dead lord. For 4 long years, every night you would weave and unweave your shroud to make it look like it was still complete, until one of your maids spilled the secret. All you were doing was stalling so would not have to marry one of