Odysseus Disguise In The Odyssey

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

One of the more telling pieces of evidence that Penelope knew Odysseus from the beginning, has to do with the bathing of Odysseus' feet in book 19. When told by Penelope to take a footbath, Odysseus refuses unless he can have it done by an old and wise maid, so Penelope chooses Eurykleia. While bathing Odysseus' legs, Eurykleia would find the large scar on his thigh, from a childhood accident, identifying him to her as Odysseus. Even before that however, she makes comments about how the beggar

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

The Odyssey does not clearly state whether or not Penelope sees through Odysseus’ beggar disguise, but there are subtle hints that imply that she does recognize Odysseus. The book clearly states that Telemachus, Eurycleia, and Argus knew the beggar’s true identity. If these individuals recognized Odysseus, why would his cunning wife, Penelope not see through his disguise? Many times while Odysseus is in disguise as a beggar, he comes into contact with Penelope, during these interactions it appears that Penelope is encouraging Odysseus to take down the suitors. Although the specific point Penelope recognized Odysseus is not clear, the book implies that she did at one point, realize the beggar was Odysseus.

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.

Penelope may not have as exciting of a life as some of the other characters in Homer’s The Odyssey, but she makes up for it by being very clever, which makes her a good match for her husband, Odysseus. Penelope plays a very important role in Odysseus’s journey home, in fact, she is the main reason for his return to Ithaca. When the suitors begin invading her house and asking, then demanding, her hand in marriage, Penelope knows she must handle them herself. Being a woman in ancient Greece, she does not have the ability to force the suitors to leave her house, and neither does Telemachus. This means that Penelope must continue to allow them to abuse the hospitality that was expected at that time, and all she can do is try to outsmart the suitors until her husband comes home. In Homer’s The Odyssey, Penelope is a good match for Odysseus because she is clever, and she shows that cleverness when she stalls the suitors by weaving the burial shroud, when she devises the contest with

The play depicts Eurycleia and Penelope discussing Odysseus' return, and how they need to cover up the fact that Penelope was sleeping with Amphinomus. At one point Penelope asks which of the maids know of her affair and Eurycleia relpies, “'Only the twelve, my lady, who assisted, know that the suitors you have not resisted.'” In order to cover her infidelity, Penelope orders Eurycleia to “'Point out the maids as feckless and disloyal.'” This would explain why in The Odyssey, Eurycleia says to Odysseus, “'Fifty women you have inside your house, women we've trained to do their duties well... some dozen in all went tramping to their same, thumbing their noses at me, at the queen herself!'” (452). If she were trying to portray the twelve maids as disloyal, that would be an effective way of doing so. In The Penelopiad, however, Penelope says at one point that “'I even instructed them to say rude and disrespectful things about me and Telemachus, and Odysseus as well, in order to further the illusion.'” (117). Since The Penelopiad suggests that Eurycleia was aware of Penelope's plan to use the maids to get information out of the suitors, it can be assumed that she was pointing out the maids disloyalty to Odysseus in order to falsify evidence against

The painting “Penelope and the Suitors” by John William Waterhouse shows that Penelope is oblivious to the scene happening behind her. She is in deep thought, consumed in her thoughts for her true love, Odysseus, and is not paying attention to the men behind her. It shows a deeper meaning in life saying that, some women in the world will cut off many guys for one specific person. They will not look at anyone else until that person they love notices them or returns back to them in terms of long distance relationships. They wait for that person to love them. She is neglecting the other men because she believes Odysseus will return someday.

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

Some question whether Odysseus was recognized by Penelope and if this helped to build up

Although penelope show loyalty and faithfulness in both text, there difference in the level of her knowledge. In the odysseus, penelope was viewed as innocent and naive.after penelope handed the odysseus's arrow to emmaus for the suitor to try and win the challenge, Telemachus comment about her mother has no respect for her as if she was unimportant and naive.

Everett insists that his plan will work, saying, “I just gotta get close enough to talk to her.” Likewise, Odysseus is in disguise when meeting face to face with Penelope for the first time in over twenty years. “[Pallas Athena] has

To begin, Penelope thinks of Odysseus and immediately lets her emotions out: “Odysseus—if he could return to tend my life / the renown I had would only grow in glory. / Now my life is torment … / look at the griefs some god has loosed against me!” (The Odyssey, 18.285-288). Furthermore, Homer expresses Penelope’s sadness by making her sink “on her well-built chamber’s floor” and through her “sobbing uncontrollably” (The Odyssey, 4.810-813). Clearly in Penelope’s mind, Odysseus’ absence is not something she can easily forget. Homer introduces Penelope as a very caring and devoted wife.

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

Penelope and the maids have contradicting personalities, which is one of the highlights of the epic poem. Penelope’s nature is that she is strong, independent, and does not give in to their constant woo, whereas the maids bring dishonor to the royal family by prejudicing Odysseus in his beggar outfit, and sleeping with the suitors. Penelope is originally depicted as weak and frail, however, this is a ploy for her primary intentions. The suitors had approached Penelope, after years of Odysseus being away at war, and finding his way back home. Eventually, they decided that one should secure the king’s throne of Ithaca, and become Penelope’s husband. Her actions are shown as cunning and manipulative, “‘There she was all day long, working away at the great web; but at night she used to unravel it by