Penelope's Role 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

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’.

While traditional readers of Homer’s, The Odyssey, view Odysseus as a hero, they often reduce Penelope to Odysseus’s helpless wife, but Penelope is more than just a damsel-in-distress. Penelope proves to be Odysseus’s heroic equal, as through her resilient, witty and strategic actions she ensures Odysseus fighting advantages over the suitors.

Odysseus Wife, Penelope was a very important character in The Odyssey. Odysseus left for the Trojan War leaving behind his loving wife and newborn son named Telemachus. Penelope had to learn to survive with the circumstances of being the Queen of Ithaca and being left with all the money and power to uphold until Odysseus, The King of Ithaca returned. Her bravery and wisdom help her stay strong and overcome the obstacles that she had to face while her husband was away. The only hope that she had staying strong for her Odysseus hoping that he will return home to her and her son.

In the Odyssey women are portrayed in a very positive manner for the most part. Homer really proves this by portraying Penelope as very clever, showing that we can trust her. Some scenes that show this is when Penelope is weaving the burial shroud. Another example he uses is tricking the suitors to shower her with presents. Even the scene where Penelope will not speech to Odysseus until he proves that it is really him. All of these scenes show how Penelope has thought things out so that eventually she will hopefully be reunited with Odysseus.

Penelope serves as one of the most crucial characters within the Odyssey. She one of the few driving forces for our main protagonist’s journey home and she is also an exemplar model of female character breaking the mold of the damsel in distress. She actually takes it upon herself to take command, to some extent, of her own situation while her husband is presumably making his way back home from war. Penelope even matches Odysseus in craftiness and sly personality. For example, Penelope had told the suitors that she would assume a new husband after she was done weaving a shroud, but she would secretly unweave her progress every night. This behavior is a reoccurring theme. Penelope sets up other tests, such as having to shoot an arrow through

The season of old Greece appears like its own story in a different universe, one in no way like our own. Capable divine beings and goddesses, overcome warriors, magical creatures, and the abuse of ladies lead the plot. But that ladies have been ignored in our reality for quite a long time. The irrelevance of ladies was a piece of Greek life that isn't lofty or ethereal. In the epic lyric The Odyssey by Homer, Penelope forms into her own particular character amid a period where ladies are prized as belonging more than individuals. Homer makes Penelope into her own particular individual and not only an expansion to her significant other by his long nonattendance and the inconveniences she should look without anyone else through troublesome circumstances. Homer gives her characteristics of unwaveringness, quality, and clever to have the capacity to get by without a spouse when all others figure she should simply take another. Penelope ends up plainly like a character not at all like numerous ladies in Greek circumstances, for example, Agamemnon's significant other, however like Circe and Athena. She is transformed into a lady of energy by Homer.

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.

            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.

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

            There were far more restrictions placed on the women of the ancient world than on the men.  To many, this may appear to be an obvious fact.  However, the comparison of women to men in the Odyssey does not show such a discrepancy.  The women created by Homer had certain characteristics that set them apart from ordinary women.  Penelope was a woman who did not give in to the demands of her surroundings.  She suffered throughout the twenty year absence of her husband, Odysseus.  She maintained her dignity and her chastity through her refusal of the hoards of suitors that flocked to her home. Penelope represents the ideal woman for balancing her refusals of marriage and the preservation of her respect.  When ready to address her suitors, Eurymachus, a suitor himself, speaks out from the crowd in praise of Penelope.  He states, "Ah, daughter of Icarius, wise Penelope . . . You surpass all women in build and beauty, refined and steady mind" (18. 276,280).  The acts of Penelope would not have been allowed of an ordinary woman of those times.  Her loyalty to Odysseus was unflagging and quite contrary to Clytaemestra's loyalty, another character in the Odyssey, though she is never mentioned by name.

We see Odysseus relating to this story partially because he is a weeping Greek husband. In this instance, Odysseus is feminized as he begins to long for his wife and ponder about whether or not she is still alive. That is simply one interpretation of that particular scene. Penelope’s power is depicted in other moments as well, particularly when Odysseus is on the island with Calypso. Physically, Penelope does not play a very big part in the story. She remains in her room in Ithaka throughout the majority of the story, but her influence and emotional effect is wide spreading. On the island, we see Odysseus refuse eternal life with a goddess in exchange for a finite life with his mortal wife Penelope. This, in itself, demonstrates the driving emotional force that Penelope has over her husband. Although The Odyssey is a story of Odysseus’s journey and the decisions he makes along the way, it is really Penelope’s one decision that determines the outcome of the entire narrative. She must make one choice: whether or not to marry. And that simple decision determines Odyssey’s entire destiny as he makes his journey back to

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.

American Literature has always been about men and for men. In this essay, we are going to analyze the women’s role in the book, as inferior and weaker gender.