Penelope's Recognition of Odysseus as a Beggar Essay example

As the request is made of his own mother she simply abides to her son’s wishes, “She bathed now, put on some fresh clothes,” (Homer l 17.60). All throughout the Odyssey Penelope shows her strength to ward off suitors and she manages to live without her husband for years. Remaining faithful the entire time to her husband Odysseus she discloses to her maid, “Eurynome, don’t try to coax me, care for me as you do, to bathe myself, refresh my face with oils. Whatever glow I had died long ago… the gods of Olympus snuffed it out that day my husband sailed away in the hollow ships,” (Homer ll 18.201-206) presenting to the reader that she lost all desire for anyone else when Odysseus’ left for war. This further substantiates the Greek view of how women should remain loyal at all times forsaking others. Lastly Penelope is rewarded for her lasting devotion to her husband with his return. In these characters and their specific roles in the Odyssey the Greeks’ insisted upon their women to accept such roles in their culture of certain hypocrisy when compared to that of their female counterpart. Without Athena’s support Odysseus would have never reached Ithaca and Telemachus would not have been pushed into becoming a man. Without Penelope’s loyalty, devotion, and support Odysseus’ efforts in his journey home would have held little merit of reward. What is most important to note is the male character of Odysseus plays the most prominent role in the epic but

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’.

Oedipus and Odysseus are both considered heroes.   They are extremely similar in their actions as well as their personalities.  For example, Oedipus and Odysseus are both extremely suspicious of others for fear of their own lives.  Their suspicious nature is not unprovoked.  When Odysseus visits Hades, Agamemnon tells him, "Never be too trustful even of your wife, nor show her all that is in your mind" (Homer 172).    Agamemnon had lost his life by the hand of his own wife, Clytemnestra.  In the Greek story, Agamemnon, written by Aeschylus, after Clytemnestra murders Agamemnon she says, " …I feel no shame…for me, I have had long enough to prepare this wrestle victory, it has come at last" (Aeschylus 44).   Clytemnestra was happy that her premeditated murder of her husband succeeded.   Agamemnon does not want Odysseus to face the same consequences he faced.   Odysseus is following this advice even before Agamemnon gave it to him.  Odysseus never told a stranger who he really was.  He always made up a story of where he was from and who is.  Then he would bring up the name Odysseus to see what they really thought of him.  He did not want to put himself in danger if the person did not like him.  When he returns to Ithaca he also did this to his wife, Penelope.  Athena turned him into a beggar.  Penelope approached him in this form and asked about her distant husband.  When Odysseus said, "He is still alive," a tear fell down

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.

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 also important because she (along with Telemachus) is the main reason for Odysseus to return home. Odysseus shows his great love and determination when goddess Calypso offers him immortality (Book 5) on the condition that he remains on Ogygia as her husband. At Odysseus's first opportunity he builds a raft and sails away, leaving the lonely Calypso behind. When he reaches Phaeacia, he is then offered the hand of King Alcinous daughter, Nausicaa, who must have been beautiful because Odysseus had mistaken her for the goddess Artemis on first site. Instead Odysseus wished to return to Penelope.

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

This further lead to Odysseus testing Penelope’s loyalty by disguising himself as a beggar and killing off all the

            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

Book 19 of the epic poem The Odyssey is written by the great poet Homer. Homer’s specific use of language and epic conventions help develop the plot, specifically Odysseus’ disguise and whether or not it will work on the people in the house. It also helps to establish Eurycleia, the nurse, and the suitors as well as Penelope. In the passage, Odysseus has entered his home for the first time since his return when he left almost twenty years ago. Disguised as a beggar, Odysseus tells his own story through the beggar’s words to his wife, Penelope, but never reveals his true identity. After Penelope is deeply moved by the knowledge that her husband is still alive, she offers the stranger a place to sleep and new clothing. Odysseus kindly declines

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.

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.

Other than Penelope, Eurykleia is one of few inhabitants on Ithaca who remains unwaveringly loyal to Odysseus; as a servant she is perseveringly devoted to Penelope. In her family’s absence she protects her master’s riches as she the “housekeeper was about, keeping charge of everything with depth of her experience”(2. 345-6). As housekeeper, she follow’s her master’s every order, and at their command “bolt[s] the close fitting doors to the hall”(21.281), in preparation of Odysseus and Telemachus’s retaliation against the suitors.

Based on Penelope’s conduct while talking to the beggar- Odysseus in disguise- it is evident that she was not aware he was Odysseus disguised as a beggar. In Bruce Louden’s article, independent scholar John B. Vlahos asserts that Penelope saw through Odysseus’s disguise in book 18, which questions the power of Athena and is supported by little evidence. It says, “…in book 18, when she appears before the suitors, she is fully aware of Odysseus' presence, seeing through his beggar guise,” (Louden). It is unlikely that Penelope could see through a disguise contrived by a goddess, one that even the maid who raised Odysseus, Eurycleia, could not ascertain. After seeing Odysseus’s scar, proof of his identity, while giving Odysseus a foot bath, Eurycleia says, “Of course!