Penelope In Homer's The Odyssey : Penelope As A Hero

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.

Odysseus's wife, Penelope plays a crucial role in Homer's ‘The Odyssey’, with not only providing the motivation for Odysseus's return to Ithaca, but she is also the center of the plot involving the suitors and the fate of Telemakos and Ithaca itself.  Therefore the objective of this essay is to analyze the importance of Penelope’s role in ‘The Odyssey’.

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

Evidence showing that Penelope knows and does not know that Odysseus is in Ithaca is shown through scholars, and pieces of the text within the Odyssey. Homer gives many details throughout the Odyssey representing the fact the Penelope does, or could not know that it is, in fact, Odysseus. This paper will examine both views. Throughout the book, much evidence points towards Penelope in which she knows that Odysseus is, in fact, in Ithaca. She shows many episodes of her recognition in the Odyssey, and it is very clear when she does.

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: In the opening chapters of The Odyssey Penelope is angry, frustrated, and helpless. She misses her husband, Odysseus. She worries about the safety of her son, Telemakhos. Her house is overrun with arrogant men who are making love to her servants and eating her out of house and home, all the while saying that they are courting her. She doesn't want to marry any of them, and their rude behavior can hardly be called proper courtship. She has wealth and position; she has beauty and intelligence; most of all she has loyalty to her husband. But against this corrupt horde who gather in her courtyard shooting dice, throwing the discus, killing her husband's cattle for their feasts, and drinking his wine, she is powerless.

Penelope acts as the damsel in distress. She is unable to keep the suitors away from her house because she is a woman, and that makes her vulnerable. She also provides Odysseus with a reason to return home because she is his wife. She has no choice but to pick one of the suitors, and soon. Penelope says she is “wasted with longing for Odysseus, while here they press for marriage”(1004). She still loves her husband, which gives him hope that he will be accepted once he makes his return, and gives him a reason to continue trying. She also cannot turn the suitors away, preventing her from being able to protect herself. This once again proves that, as the damsel in distress, Penelope needs Odysseus for protection.

            Despite this high opinion of Penelope, before he left, Odysseus and Kalypso " . . . retired, this pair [He and Kalypso], to the inner cave/to revel and rest softly, side by side."(Homer V:235-238)  This was not the only time Odysseus "retired", with another woman.  On the island of Kirke "[he] entered Kirke's flawless bed of love"(Homer X:390).  Despite these few instances, Odysseus remained faithful to Penelope in their twenty years apart.  He never loved either Kalypso or Kirke as he did Penelope, and thusly chose 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 Odyssey.

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.

The Odyssey, an epic tale told by Homer, a blind poet, introduces Penelope, the wife of Odysseus who is portrayed as an epic hero. How is she an epic hero you may ask, well Penelope is an epic hero because she uses three skills: Loyalty, Courage, and Honor.

After Odysseus becomes enraged when Penelope asks the maid to make his bed outside, she realizes that he knows the secret that only Odysseus and her share. She embraces him and praises his homecoming. Once again, Penelope is wise and patient in her decision-making. The suitors pursued her, overtook her home and aggressively pushed her to remarry as she was supposed to. If Penelope would have given in, The Odyssey would not have ended with Odysseus returning to a loyal home. Through cunning, independence and loyalty, Penelope is able to create a positive image as a woman. Chaucer’s Wife of Bath has similar independence and cunning, but she makes her name as a domineering lady that chooses who she wants, and when she wants them.

I looked back into the room, and on the other side sat Penelope, gazing at me as though she didn't know what to make of me. I knew that she suspected that the whole thing was a trick. My old nurse stood and spoke. "Presenting the Lord Odysseus who has caused the downfall of the suitors." Still Penelope sat there unmoved, and my heart went out to her for she had hardened herself, so as not to be fooled. Telemachus who still stood at the door burst out. I smiled remembering long ago when we had first met, and the sorrowful time of my departure for Troy. I told them that she may question me whatever she wished, but first to allow me to bathe. This she did, and I ordered Telemachus, the swineherd and cowherd to clean themselves as well. I returned to her clean, and in fresh clothes.

In the well-known epic The Odyssey we follow the ancient hero Odysseus as his faithful wife Penelope waits for his return to Ithaca. From the poem we know that Penelope looked after their home and weeps for the day her husband to return alive and no longer be tempted by other suitors to contemplate infidelity with her marriage. This is all we know about Penelope during the epic since the story is more focused on Odysseus being the hero. Only recently e have asked the idea of telling the poem by the woman herself Penelope. An example of this thinking is found in Margaret Atwood, The Penelopiad: The Myth of Penelope and Odysseus where she switched the importance of “Odysseus and Penelope” with “Penelope and Odysseus”.

Penelope. The mother of Telemachus and the wife of Odysseus. She felt as if everything in her life was going wrong. Her dear husband had been gone for several years at this point, the suitors would soon be arriving, and her son Telemachus had left in the morning to find Odysseus. This leaves Penelope with who? She could not bare the thought of living in a world where she was constantly surrounded by suitors, so she decided to follow her son. He had left tht town of Ithica several hours before, but she was determined to catch up to him. Penelope packed her bag and left. The journey to find her husband and son was not going to be easy, but anything was better than staying at home. Athena saw that Penelope was in need of a disguise so that she

Greek mythology is the belief of myths and teachings that belong to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes and the significance of their own ritual practices. These stories have influenced many painters and poets throughout the centuries. Odysseus from “The Odyssey” was a Greek hero who just returned from a battle of Troy after twenty years. While he was gone his wife, Penelope, had to stay back with her son in their kingdom, Ithaca. She was doing her normal tasks, but the suitors kept on bugging her, demanding that she must have a new husband. In the painting Penelope and the Suitors, John William Waterhouse uses the cunningness of the business of Penelope to avoid the suitors to show that loyalty is a full time job, while in