Comparing Odysseus And Penelope In Homer's Odyssey

Penelope remains faithful to Odysseus even though he has been going for a very long time and the suitors who try to win her hand in marriage. In book two it states, “her ability to deceive the suitors is evident in her weaving and unweaving for the burial shroud for Laertes.” Penelope is known for her ability to take in the suitors while waiting for Odysseus' return. Penelope shows her loyalty and quick thinking throughout the

When it comes to Penelope there is much controversy surrounding whether or not she recognized her husband Odysseus disguised as the beggar. I believe Penelope intuitively knew that Odysseus was the beggar but did not want to raise any red flags to the suitors, so she conjured up a clever way of ensuring that Odysseus could claim her “fair and square”. This recognition may not have been immediate but at a certain point after conversing with the beggar I believe Penelope perceived that the beggar was her husband.There are many questions surrounding whether this is so, however there is quite a bit of evidence that can qualify this theory as plausible.

Penelope was left behind when Odysseus left for the trojan war, but he didn’t come back after that. Penelope had to take care of their son, their estate, and their servants for 20 years. On top of all of that she had suitors demanding her attention. In all of this she stayed strong and independent, and despite the pressure of the suitors she stayed loyal to Odysseus, even when she didn’t even know if he was alive or not. Penelope’s character is also very clever and sly. She told the suitors that she would remarry after she finishes her weaving project, but each night she undoes everything she did that day. When the suitors find out about it they demand she choose someone to remarry. Penelope uses her intelligence and slyness again as she tells them whoever wins an archery contest using Odysseus bow, which only he could use, she would marry. Penelope is also very kind, which we see when she interacts with the servants and her son. Penelope is a very well portrayed character and she is needed in the story to be someone Odysseus could always be someone to come back

Even though there was a very high chance of Odysseus being dead, Penélopê still believed he was still alive and did not want to betray him by marrying anyone else. This led her to do what she knew best, to lie and be deceitful. She had informed the suitors that she would marry one of them after she finished her weaving, because it would be wrong to marry someone with her unfinished loom, as it would be in vain. In order to deceive the suitors she wove all day and then once night feel she unwove it in order to make the suitors believe that she was not yeat finished her job. As Penélopê stated, “So every day I wove on the great loom, but every night by torchlight I unwove it” (Homer Book XIX lines 175-176). She had done this every night for three years, until eventually someone found out. She was going to have to marry a suitor, but then Odysseus came back and all was good and peaceful as it once

The Odyssey, written by Homer, tells the story of Odysseus after the Trojan War. It not only includes an insight on the adventures and return of Odysseus, but it also includes the stories of Telemakhos and Penelope. Telemakhos is the courageous son of Odysseus who goes on a quest in search for information about his father’s whereabouts. Penelope is an extremely clever woman who could match Odysseus in his wit. Penelope is able manipulate the suitors that have come to pursue her in Odysseus’s absence. Though Penelope often spends many nights weeping over the absence of her husband, it seems as if she never loses faith in her husband, and she truly believes that he will return to her and punish the suitors that have taken over their

Penelope is loyal to Odysseus after she wept for 20 years for him to return home from the war. When the bard is singing a song about Odysseus she says “‘But break of this song- the unendurable

In Homer's epic, The Odyssey, Odysseus is an epic hero with an epic wife, Penelope. Penelope is also the Queen of Ithaca, a vital role indeed. Penelope's love and devotion towards Odysseus is proven when she waits nineteen years for her husband to return from the wine dark sea, rather than losing faith and marrying another man. Penelope's character is strong and solid, and her personality remains consistent throughout Homer's Odyssey.

            Penelope did not have any idea whether her husband was alive for most of the twenty-years he was gone.  She had promised Odysseus that she would not marry until their son, Telemakos, reached the age of adulthood.  Just

Despite these few instances, Odysseus remains faithful to Penelope in their twenty years apart.  He does not love either Calypso or Circe as he did Penelope, and thusly chooses not to stay with either of the two.  Although the principle might get lost in the tale, Penelope played the part of the goal for Odysseus to obtain, or re-obtain by the end of the

The relationship between odysseus and penelope is anchored in love and affection to one another since the couple goes through an extremely tough period of time without each

Odysseus is unfaithful to Penelope by sleeping with women on his journey home, while Penelope has remained loyal for seventeen years despite the pressure from the suitors as well as others. Odysseus good heroic quality does not overtake his characteristics of not becoming a heroic

Furthermore, Penelope is an important character as her identity “functions as a stable and unchanging reference point for the adventures of Odysseus” (Katz, 6). As Katz explains, Odysseus’ travels are interwoven with his lust for home and his desire to be with his wife again. As well, her identity becomes a parallel to Odysseus’ identity through her use of polutropus (tricks and turns). She proves, by the end of the poem, that she is the perfect match for Odysseus as both of them share the same skills with rhetoric and language to get what they want. Their like-mindedness is evident during the recognition scene between the two. Penelope tests Odysseus’ knowledge of their marital bed - before blindly trusting his claim of identity - by asking the slaves to move their immovable bed: “[putting] her husband to the proof-but Odysseus/ blazed in fury, lashed out at his loyal wife” (Homer, 23.203-204). In his angry response to Penelope’s test, Odysseus proves his identity to his wife as he explains why the bed cannot move. When she hears their familiar story of the creation of their bed, - which only the two and a slave know about - Penelope submits to her long-lost husband in an emotional reunion. Her caution, before accepting Odysseus’ claim, shows the wary protectionism stance that she had to adopt while her husband was gone so she could protect the kingdom from the suitors.

The novel started while Odysseus was missing, leaving Penelope alone to take care of Telemachus and the suitors. The time she was away from Odysseus seems shorter than reality, but she had been away from him for around twenty years. Penelope was a strong example of faithfulness, and was a reason that students should read the novel The Odyssey because she was always thinking of Odysseus. In contrast, the character Odysseus played with the idea of faithfulness. The novel portrayed Odysseus in the scenes with Kirke and Kalypso as helpless and trapped, but the novel never told of Odysseus resisting their love.

Penelope, just as Odysseus, portrayed the great human trait of patience. She did what it took to fend off the suitors with hope that her husband would come back for her. Penelope didn’t give up hope because she felt in heart that Odysseus would come

One of the main themes in Penelope’s relationship with Odysseus as depicted by Homer is her enduring love for Odysseus and her ever-present anguish over his absence. Having been gone for twenty years, and could reasonably have been expected to be dead, it is a testament to her faithful love for Odysseus that not only does she not give up hope of his return, but also remains strong under immense pressure to remarry in the four years leading up to the return of Odysseus. The palace at Ithaca has been overrun by 108 suitors, all vying for the hand of Penelope, but she resists temptation and resorts to various cunning methods to delay the inevitable remarriage – all in the hope that her husband is not dead and will one day return. It is a very strong bond of love