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The Portrayal Of Women In Homer's Odyssey

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In The Odyssey Homer portrays women positively. He shows this through Penelope’s loyalty and Queen Arete’s hospitality. Penelope’s faithfulness to Odysseus is a way that Homer positively portrays women. It has been decades since Penelope has seen Odysseus but that does not mean anything. Even with hundreds of suitors coming for Odysseus’ throne, it does not mean anything to Penelope, “all those with power on rocky Ithaca / Are courting me and ruining this house. / So I pay no attention to strangers / Or to public heralds. No, / I just waste away with longing for Odysseus. / My suitors press on, and I weave my wiles” (Homer 19.145-149). No matter how desperate the suitors are, it does not trouble Penelope. Like the saying “sticks and stones may break my bones but words will …show more content…

Suitors can “press on,” but the only thing Penelope is worried about is the homecoming of Odysseus. Similarly in “Homer’s Odyssey: A Reflection of Womanhood,” Mitchell A. Kalpakgian explains that Penelope never gave up on Odysseus. She was patiently waiting for him because she knew he would come back, “Penelope, the faithful wife of Odysseus who waited twenty years for her husband’s return from war and exile, defends her home from the suitors who want to marry her and inherit her wealth” (Kalpakgian). Penelope is portrayed as a strong woman who “defends her home” in the absence of her husband. This shows her loyalty to Odysseus by not marrying a suitor. Likewise, it displays her faith that Odysseus will come home after

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