Odyssey Research Paper

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

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

Hospitality shaped Greek life. This unspoken code, highly valued in Greek society, established responsibilities for both guests and hosts. Demonstrating generosity and kindness, honorable hosts offered their guests extravagant feasts, luxurious baths, and lavish housing. In response, gracious guests showed courtesy and respect to their hosts by refraining from abusing the hospitality extended towards them. Hospitality reveals the moral character of both hosts and guests in the Homerian epic The Odyssey.

Penelope is also shown to have been very sought after, by the band of suitors that inhabit Odysseus's palace in Ithaca while he is away. All the while Odysseus is away; suitors are constantly trying to force Penelope to choose one of them as her new husband.

First in the Odyssey Penelope could have married one of the suitors but she did not. While Penelope does not like the suitors and uses negative words about them. When Penelope was praying to the gods she said, “A night will come when a hateful marriage falls my lot” (18.306). Penelope does not want to be with anyone. Of course Penelope prayed for the suitors to be punished. Penelope was praying and said, “May apollo the archer strike you just as hard!” (17.547). This shows that Penelope does not want to marry any of the suitors. Penelope did not marry anyone in the time Odysseus was gone but she did not.

The Odyssey is a great book with many lessons about life and how to act.The Odyssey includes scenes of loyalty, trust, and wisdom. One of the most important cultural truths contained in the Odyssey involves hospitality. Hospitality involves how your treat someone as a guest, and how a guest should act in someone’s home. In the Odyssey, those who act hospitable, like Penelope towards her rude suitors, are rewarded, whereas those who are rude and inhospitable, such as the suitors, are punished.

Hospitality in the Odyssey may seem philanthropic at first but in actuality,

            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

In The Odyssey, the code of hospitality is stressed tremendously. During the Ancient Greek times, hospitality meant a lot more than doing small, simple things for your guest. The word Xenia, which meant ritual hospitality, was an word that these people had. With Hospitality being one of the ground rules of ancient Greek society, The relationship between the guest and host was made much more significant. The host would be responsible for providing food and shelter and even money if necessary, no matter who the guest to their house was. The people who followed the code, helped everyone they could; no matter the situation. The people who didn’t honor the code,

Hospitality was more significant in the time The Odyssey was written than it is today. In the time the poem was written the Greeks possessed a concept of being welcoming to strangers and to display generosity to anyone who is traveling or away from home. The Greeks had a reason for this concept. They believed that a god could take the form of a man and if they were not presented with hospitality the god would punish you. The Odyssey also provides examples of how generosity is abused. There are many details in the odyssey that convey idea of why hospitality was so significant in this poem.

Penelope, the wife of Odysseus, is one of the few women portrayed positively in The Odyssey. She is loyal to her husband, but can also be deceiving when she wants to be. Penelope exhibits loyalty to Odysseus when she says that she want Odysseus back (151). She is extremely loyal to Odysseus throughout The Odyssey, and she is constantly trying to delay the suitors from taking her hand and Odysseus’ throne. For three years Penelope deceived her suitors by telling them that she would marry once the shroud she started was complete, but every night she would go and unravel it (169 - 170). This displays that Penelope is still loyal to her husband, and that she wants to . While Penelope is loyal to her husband, after many years of being without him, she is being forced to marry. “And now I cannot escape a marriage, nor can I contribute/ A deft way out.” (176 - 177). This example shows how Homer is portraying women to be weaker than men. This quote also portrays Penelope as helpless and giving up on her relationship with Odysseus, because she cannot do anything about having to marry a suitor. While portraying Penelope in a negative light, The Odyssey portrays Odysseus, who, to say the least, has not been the best husband to Penelope while on his journey back to Ithaca, as a hero and a wonderful

Benjamin Franklin once said, "Fish and visitors smell after three days." This quote is very true in the modern era, when normal hospitality requires the host to provide for the guest’s basic needs and to make sure that they are comfortable. The cultural expectation for a guest is to politely thank the host and to leave in a timely manner. The traditions of hospitality are exaggerated in Homer's epic poem, The Odyssey, which is set in Ancient Greece. This epic poem is about the journey of the returning war hero, Odysseus, from Troy back to his home in Ithaka. In The Odyssey, the guest’s magnified expectation of hospitality, and the host’s vast obligation, is brought out by the actions

The Odyssey and The Long Walk have similar man vs. society conflicts. When Penelope confronts her suitors, she is treated with disrespect and disregard for her feelings. She has no desire to be assigned a new husband, instead preferring to choose one herself. The citizens of Ithaca want a strong leader, though, and so their aspirations tend to overshadow hers. Penelope makes it clear that she does not fancy any of her suitors by saying “”Such suitors bring in their own cattle and sheep to make a banquet for the lady’s friends, and also give her valuable presents. They do not enjoy free meals at her

"For my mother, against her will, is beset by suitors... (Odyssey 2.50)."  Assuming that Odysseus had died in the course of the war, they wish to marry her, although no news has yet been delivered as to Odysseus' true fate.  Meanwhile, the suitors are eating all her food, killing off all her livestock, and generally using up all the resources of the household (Odyssey 1.248-251).  Elders of the town suggest Penelope forget her pride and go home to her father and for him to arrange a new wedding for her.  "Let him urge his mother to go back to her father's, / and they shall appoint the marriage and arrange for the wedding presents... (Odyssey 2.195-196)"  Thus, the suitors pose multiple dangers for Penelope.  If the suitors ruin all the household's resources, or if one were to successfully persuade her to marry him, she would lose her power position.  Likewise, if the resources run out and she is forced to move back in with her father, she would lose both her power position and her autonomy.

The final aspect of positive hospitality that is shown in the Odyssey, is by Eumaus, the old swineherd of Odysseus. Eumaus uses his very appropriate upbringing (he was kidnapped royalty) in order to provide help to Odysseys (in disguise as a beggar) all the help and wealth he can afford to share, in his meager setting. Odysseus used