Analysis Of Homer 's ' The Odyssey '

In these examples, Homer is intending to win our admiration for Penelope. Her loyalty to Odyssey and the slim chance that that he may still be alive are taken to a heroic level, which defy the apparent convention of the day that a woman should not be without a husband. Her cunning in keeping the suitors at bay are also to be admired, and have a parallel in the cunning of Odysseus himself, as Odysseus is also often praised for his resourcefulness in overcoming obstacles.

This is conveyed in the drawing by Odysseus passing the tests, showing the loyalty Odysseus has towards his wife. This theme is hinted, “...and he wept at last, his dear wife, clear and faithful, in his arms.” And, “...her white arms round him pressed as though forever.” Penelope is rejoiced after seeing her husband after years of his journey.

Unlike Odysseus Penelope is confined by the gender roles of her time and cannot use physical strength against the suitors or even direct verbal rejection, instead Penelope resorts to her emotional resilience and wit in order to challenge the suitors. She wrongly reassures the suitors that once she finishes weaving a gift for Odysseus’s father, she will choose someone to marry her, “’Young men, my suitors, let me finish my weaving, before I marry’…every day she wove on the great loom but every night by torchlight she unwove it.” (II. 103-104, 112-113) Penelope’s actions are strategic and well calculated. Her main goal, like Odysseus, is to successfully overcome her situation. She understands that she may not be able to physically fight the suitors but she can trick them until Telemachus or Odysseus are able to. By crafting a lie that delays the suitors from marrying her immediately, Penelope restrains the suitors from seizing Ithaca, her household, and posing a threat to Telemachus or Odysseus. Her lie gives Odysseus a crucial advantage in the physical fight against the suitors as he comes back to a city and household where Penelope

In the Epic, “The Odyssey", spoken by Homer, conveys a heroic tale of an epic hero named, Odysseus, who faces many challenges as he sails to get home. One of the tasks Odysseus faces is, "The Sirens", who challenge Odysseus 's will power. Another challenge Odysseus encounters is, “The Cyclops", who torments and slaughters some of Odysseus 's men due to his curiosity. One of the hardest threats he had to confront was, “The Land of Dead" which tested his self-restraint, and revealed his human weaknesses of sorrow. The Epic Hero, Odysseus, struggles with many challenges such as, the taunting Sirens, the brutish and cruel Cyclops, and one of the arduous territories Odysseus has ever crossed, The Land of the Dead.

In the “Odyssey”, Odysseus goes through obstacles throughout the book that a normal man couldn’t subside. One example is in book 9, his main obstacle that he is trying to face is to escape from being held hostage in a cave by a Cyclops better known as Polyphemus. Odysseus is a archetypal hero, he is also a role model, with an ambition to get to his homeland Ithaca. He goes through resisting temptation and using his intellect and physical strength to get him there, no matter the obstacle nor the negative flaws that he faces. Odysseus put himself and his men in that situation by being curious and wanting to know what kind of land his ship and the winds led him to. This was selfish of him because it cost him some of his men, but a leader and hero has to play that role and some lives will be dealt with on the way. Odysseus says, “The rest of you will stay here while I go with my ship and crew on reconnaissance. I want to find out what those men are like, Wild savages with no sense of right or wrong Or hospitable folk who fear the gods” (Homer 429). Saying this quote alone makes Odysseus a humble man due to the fact that not even a piece of land is going to slow him down on his journey back home.

Penelope says she is weaving the shroud for the eventual funeral of Odysseus’s father, her father-in-law, Laertes. Penelope does a very good job of convincing the suitors to keep waiting for her. Antinous complains about it at an assembly in Book 2. He says “So she spoke, and the proud heart in us was persuaded thereafter in the daytime she would weave at her great loom, but in the night she would have torches set by, and undo it. So for three years she was secret in her design,” (2). Penelope spends all day weaving, but at night she undoes all of her work from the previous day, promising to choose a husband as soon as she finishes the shroud. Because the suitors see her working all day, they assume she is making progress. This buys Penelope nearly four years to wait for Odysseus, until a maid reveals her

As Penelope being a married woman, she had to uphold the duties as wife and mother well as the duties around the kingdom. It may seem easy being left with servers while her husband is away from war but in Penelope case it wasn't. This period was a time to test her loyalty to Odysseus. Penelope had to be wise and sly to keep the suitors from trying to bring down her kingdom and preventing from marrying someone else. If she did, then one man will become the new King of Ithaca and that was something she did not want. She end up coming with techniques that will help throw off some of suitors while she wait for her dear Odysseus.(Homer, The Odyssey 19:145-151) One of the techniques she end up encountering was weaving a shroud. She told suitors that once she is finishing weaving then she will choose one of them as her King but, little did they know Penelope was sly. She would unweave the basket at

Penelope serves as one of the most crucial characters within the Odyssey. She one of the few driving forces for our main protagonist’s journey home and she is also an exemplar model of female character breaking the mold of the damsel in distress. She actually takes it upon herself to take command, to some extent, of her own situation while her husband is presumably making his way back home from war. Penelope even matches Odysseus in craftiness and sly personality. For example, Penelope had told the suitors that she would assume a new husband after she was done weaving a shroud, but she would secretly unweave her progress every night. This behavior is a reoccurring theme. Penelope sets up other tests, such as having to shoot an arrow through

The character Ulysses Everett McGill from “O Brother, Where art thou?” is a worthy representation of Odysseus from the “Odyssey”. Ulysses Everett McGill, or Everett, was the main character of the movie who was trying to get back home. Odysseus was a king and warrior who spent 20 years away from home due to obstacles and distractions. Both characters share many personality traits and events that make the movie a modern adaption of the epic poem

As you know, many suitors came to her and asked her to marry them but she said no. One of the clever ways she got out of marriage was when she told the a suitor that after she finished weaving she would marry him, but the suitor did not know that after she wove, she would just keep starting over so that the weaving would never end. Penelope was also very clever when she asked the maid to move her bed outside into the hall. This was clever because Penelope knew that if it were really Odysseus he would know that that would not be possible because Odysseus made the bed himself, and would know that it's built into the house. In book 23, the author exclaims, “Their secret! as she heard it told, her knees grew tremulous and weak, her heart failed her. With eyes brimming tears she ran to him, throwing her arms around his neck, and kissed him,...” (Homer 1164). This quote shows that Penelope's trick worked because Odysseus knew that she couldn’t move it, so Penelope knew that it was really Odysseus. Penelope was very happy that Odysseus was home and begged for his forgiveness for her not believing that it was really

“Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns ... start from where you will—sing for our time too” (I, 1, 12). From the very beginning, Homer shows his intention for themes of The Odyssey to be applicable in the modern age and essentially “sing for our time” (I, 12). Homer’s epic provides the ideal reflection upon the very definition of heroism because it details the strenuous journey of Odysseus, a crafty hero whose key priority is to return home to his family. As one of the most prominent themes, The Odyssey carries forth the idea of heroism through the portrayal of Odysseus, and establishes a connection with the real world through the expression of life lessons. Consequently, Odysseus is characterized to serve as a role model for the successful hero because, after all, the poem is essentially centered on his very name. However, The Odyssey simultaneously conveys that an entirely perfect hero may be impossible, but a means for improvement is always present. The attributes for success that are revealed in The Odyssey can be examined under interconnected ideas of passion, perseverance, and prowess. Thus, heroism is the most compelling theme of The Odyssey because it exemplifies the attributes for success while also demonstrating that heroes are not without mortal flaws.

Penelope attempts to maintain her loyalty to Odysseus throughout the Odyssey. She would,”weave at her great and growing web” and,”would unravel all she’d done”(Homer 2.115-117) to keep the suitors busy. Penelope creates a scheme in which the suitors think they will be able to marry her, but in reality it is a way to keep them busy. Another scheme was created by Penelope in which the suitors used,”the great bow of King Odysseus”(Homer 21.85) and the man,”that shoots an arrow clean through all twelve axes”(Homer 21.87) will be her new husband. Although this challenge sounds fair to the suitors it was tilted to Penelope’s favor. She used a bow that only Odysseus could string and a challenge that only Odysseus has done. Eumaeus shows his loyalty to Odysseus by helping him. Eumaeus,”spotted him and quickly told his king”(Homer 22.170) Eumaeus shows fidelity and his loyalty to Odysseus by supporting him for all these

Penelope is Odysseus's wife. Penelope raises her and Odysseus’s son, Telemachus, for 20 years by herself. She had to raise Telemachus alone since he was a newborn when Odysseus had gone to fight in Battle of Troy. Penelope stayed loyal to Odysseus by staying unmarried for 20 years. Near the end of the years, in order to save her kingdom, she decides to marry another. However, she played many tricks and challenges to stall time, hoping her husband would come back. Penelope played two clever tricks. The first of which is known as “Special Ones.” Which is a trick where she is “sending promises to each man privately” (Homer 2, 95). She promised every man that he is the one in order to buy herself time. Penelope using hope that Odysseus might come home one day as motivation for her tricks. The second trick is called “Am I really done?” “Am I really done?” ,in which she asked, “Young Men, my suitors, now my lord is dead, let me finish my weaving before I marry” (2, 100 - 101) and the suitors agreed because they didn't want the thread to be “spun in vain” (2, 102). The mischievous part is “every night by torchlight she unwove it.” (2, 109) Penelope stayed loyal toward

Penelope has a very complex and interesting character. For example her determination to wait and to mislead the suitors for so long shows that she had great intelligence and perseverance. Penelope's wit is acknowledged in this quote from Antinous "For all the Achean beauties of former times, none had at her command such wits as she."(Page 20, Book 2). Penelope's wit is also shown in her scheme to mislead the suitors by saying that they must wait for her to weave a shroud for Odysseus's father Laertes. She told them

Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey follows Odysseus on his long journey home. The Epic also includes the stories of Odysseus’ family left behind: the travels of his son, Telemachus, and how plenty, of what we would now call “home wreckers”, suitors pressured his wife, Penelope, into marrying one of them. The characters are beautifully crafted and the story is truly epic. All the elements presented can bring in any reader from any century, the Cyclops, the Gods, the trickery of Penelope, and the disguises of Odysseus, are all legendary literary hooks . There are many things to learn—about writing, about the world around us, the world ahead of us, and the past behind us—from The Odyssey. (26) It is undeniably evident that this ancient text has