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The role of Penelope in Homer's Odyssey
Discuss penelope and her loyalty in the odyssey
Discuss penelope and her loyalty in the odyssey
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In the odyssey, Penelope is very loyal. She waited for Odysseus for a long twenty years. She would only chose a suitor to take his place only after she knew Odysseus was dead. Somehow she new Odysseus would come back, alive and well.
Is Penelope powerful,weak, or just complicated? In Homer’s The Odyssey, Penelope is a character that is cast to the side as a grieving wife, but she is much more than that. Penelope is a strong character because she’s wise and thoughtful in her actions, and she has an unbreakable will.
While Odysseus is disguised as a beggar, Penelope descends the staircase to present herself to the suitors in an alluring manner. Penelope’s actions towards the suitors are bizarre, for having scorned them for so long, the sudden act of eliciting gifts and stares appears vastly out of character. While Athena had casted a spell over Penelope’s beauty, Penelope herself casts a spell over the suitors for them to pay heed to her words, drawing a parallel to Athena’s cunning wisdom. Like her dream of an eagle slaughtering her beloved geese, Penelope’s actions suggest ambivalence towards the suitors that contradicts her trope of “the faithful wife”. Penelope, although loyal, has conflicting thoughts about the state of her husband’s absence and
In Homer’s The Odyssey, Penelope contradicts the idea that ancient Greek women were most valued for their appearance because of her shrewd thinking throughout the narrative. One situation is when Penelope delays remarrying. Penelope refuses to marry the suitor. Penelope understands that she will “reach their hearts” by honoring her family.
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
Everyday women like Penelope were believed to have no purpose in common society other than being confined to a kitchen each day and complete domestic house duties. The name Penelope was deliberately selected as it translates to mean pulling, or spinning which is an allegorical phrase in itself, the first meaning associates her cunning weaving of plots and schemes which proves her to be sly and the secondary referring to cloth which was a part of an everyday life duty for women, producing articles of clothing. Being a hospitable host to guests was also a key function, which is first noticed when she offers help to Odysseus in disguise “Give him a wash and spread a couch for him here, with bedding and coverlets and with shining blankets”. It is argued that Penelope is secretly a spider, weaving her own web of lies getting stuck in her own trap which is hidden from the public as women were not meant to be clever or be known for any kind of crafty intelligence. In contrast to this old way of societies expectations, Atwood utilizes Penelope’s strength in character to warn women not to follow in her footsteps by giving them the advice of “Do not look the other way”, “Tell them (referring to males) what you think”, “Argue with them”, and “make them squirm”, these pieces of wisdom create a stronger emphasis on having equal respect and appreciation for women which also conflicts the differences between Ancient and Modern times and highlights the evolution of society.
Why is Penelope so loyal towards Odysseus? Penelope is and has been loyal to Odysseus. She always has been, Odysseus has not been. She never really wanted to remarry, “She had creative ways of putting off many suitors who’ve taken over her house in Ithaca.” She tried a lot of ways not to marry again, she can’t and won’t marry another, she doesn't think it would be a great idea to remarry.
Penelope is arguably one of the most important characters in the Odyssey. Penelope is the epitome of what men want in a wife. She takes responsibility and manages to run the estate and raise Telemachus while Odysseus is away. She is more faithful than any other women in Greek epics.
It shows to what extent women can push themselves facing adversity. Penelope’s life represents women withstanding struggles, but that their struggles do not receive
Loyalty in The Odyssey Most people believe that they are loyal, but are they loyal to the extent that Penelope is to her husband whom she hadn't seen for over twenty years? How about Odysseus, who struggled through so many difficult circumstances just trying to make it home to see his wife and son? Is any person’s dog really as loyal as Argos, who waits for two decades for his master come home before dying? Loyalty in The Odyssey is a very important virtue as it is shown by Penelope’s hopefulness, Odysseus’s perseverance, and other characters’ almost unrecognized acts of homage.
Penelope’s power does not only derive from her position in her household, it also derives from her character. Her worth is measured by her action and choices and what others thinks of her. She is praised by men and placed on a level of status only equaled to men. The obvious role she played was to help her husband and his return, but the more complex one is her impact on the society and its rules that Homer depicted. Penelope was in the epic a woman who was wielding power in a misogynistic society, and she had to bend and break rules to gain and justify the authority she had over
but she is saying it in a sort of mockish way. Penelope says those things in a mock type of way because she was jealous of Odysseus because people would call him brave because of those actions but not call her brave with her own actions. “They will call him brave. ”(line 10). Penelope believed what she was achieving while Odysseus was away was brave as well.
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
Penelope proves herself to be a “mistress of her own heart” by (1) exercising commitment and loyalty to her departed love and (2) employing deceit and pity to manipulate her suitors, buying her time to remain independent from men other than Odysseus although she fears for the possibility of never reuniting with Odysseus and faces constant temptations from the suitors. To be a “mistress of her own heart” means that she is in control of her emotions. Penelope controls her emotions by remaining loyal to Odysseus, despite the many challenges presented to her. Penelope exercises commitment and loyalty to Odysseus by demanding the respect for Odysseus and his counterparts and being skeptical of his return.
Penelope was a strong woman, brave, and also immortal. She waited for her husband for twenty years. She also showed people that she was brave by being faithful and trying her best to to things. Penelope was immortal because she was a complicated woman with a sense of destiny and she never wanted to die.
