Theme Of The Penelopiad

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’.

Circe gives him a life of ease and self-indulgence on an enchanted island. In Phaecia, Odysseus is offered the love of a young princess and her hand in marriage. The Sirens tempt him to live in the memory of the glorious past. Calypso, the goddess with whom he spends seven years, offers him the greatest temptation of all: immortality. In refusing, Odysseus chooses the human condition, with all its struggle, its disappointments, and its inevitable end. And the end, death, is ever-present. But he hangs on tenaciously and, in the midst of his ordeals, he is sent living to the world of the dead to see for himself what death means.” (Lawall,

5. 168-169). Odysseus is depressed because he wants to return to his home in Ithaca and see his wife, Penelope, and son, Telemachus, after fighting in the Trojan War. He feels as if his life is transitioning from sweet to bitter. Homer uses imagery to show how Odysseus is crying for his homeland, Ithaca. It creates a depressing mood for the reader because all Odysseus wants is to see his family and return home after a tiresome war, but has failed. The metaphor of Achilles’ sweet life flowing away demonstrates how his lamentations are characterizing him as homesick and how he might not make it through his journey. Achilles struggles with not having a prize while Agamemnon struggles with not sleeping in his own bed for an extensive time. The difference between the internal conflicts is that Achilles cannot fight in war because Briseis is not with him while Odysseus cannot return home and reunite with his family after fighting in the war. Although they both have concerns for their loved ones, Achilles and Odysseus must set them aside and fight their enemies first.

While Odyesseus was gone his son Telemachus has grown into a man and his wife Penelope is overwhelmed by suitors who think Odysseus is dead. These suitors have been living in Odysseus’ home eating his food trying to overrun his palace. While Poseidon is away from Olympus, Penelope convinces the other gods to help Odysseus return home. In disguise in Ithaca, she convinces Telemachus to look for his father. Telemachus goes to Pylos and finds out that Odysseus is being held prisoner by Calypso. Zeus orders that Odysseus be allowed to go home so he leaves on a raft.

Odysseus’s wife, Penelope lives back in their town, Ithaka, is being pressured by unwanted suitors. Their son, Telemachos, is visited by the goddess Athene. Athene was quite close with Odysseus, and she tells Telemachos to go looking for his missing father. He travels to Pylos to see the King, Nestor. Nestor takes him in, gives him dinner and then tells him to go see King Menelaos in Sparta. Telemachos does as he’s told and travels to Sparta to see King Menelaos. He tells him that his father Odysseus is alive and is being kept captive on Kalypso’s island. He also tells him that his brother, King Agamemnon, has been murdered by his own wife, Klytamestra, and her lover Aigisthos. But, Agamemnon’s son, Orestes has killed his father’s murderers

Although, Odysseus has compared the goddess and Penelope his longing to go home has not changed, “Yet, it is true, each day I long for home, long for the sight of home” (line 228-229). Through Odysseus’ journey, he does not forget home. He knows more tasks are ahead and he is ready to face them, “If any god has marked me out again for shipwrecked, my tough heart can undergo it. What hardship have I not long since endured at sea, in battle! Let the trial come.” This heroic ending grasp the readers’ attention to see that Odysseus is willing to do whatever it takes to go home to Penelope. The love he has for his home land shows his determination and dedication.

As the saying goes, there are two sides to every story. This even applies to the epic novel, Homer's, The Odyssey. While the storyline may do an outstanding job of glorifying Odysseus' heroism, it fails to give proper insight into the victims of his revenge. Margaret Atwood's, The Penelopiad gives an alternate view of what was going on in Ithaca during Odysseus' 20 year absence. This essay will specifically focus on the maids who were hanged because of what was thought to be disloyalty. The maids were wrongly accused, and quite possibly framed to cover up for Penelope's infedelity, as Atwood proposed. Therefore, The Odyssey fails to

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

During Odysseus’ journey in ‘The Odyssey’, Odysseus runs into a couple problems. He leaves home ready to fight in the Trojan War. Although he had plans on coming home, he never made it home. His wife Penelope and his son Telemachus assumed that Odysseus was dead. It was not until Athena came to Telemachus and gave him everything he needed to make it to his dad. What Telemachus did not know was that Odysseus wanted to come home, but he could not because he was being held prisoner on an island named Ogygia. Odysseus wants nothing more to return home and see his lovely wife Penelope.

Odysseus must journey from Troy to his homeland of Ithaca. Throughout this journey Odysseus experiences a lot of inconsistent emotions. A lot of this is attributed to the physical and mental hell he goes through on this remarkable

When Odysseus returns to Ithaka, his curiosity in viewing whether people remembered and missed him drives him toward testing people. His own beloved wife, Penelope, is apart of his trial making. Without approaching her in his true form and telling her who he is, he rather has a conversation with her lying that he entertained Odysseus. From the deceiving stories of Odysseus, Penelope listened as “ her tears ran and her body was melted… as Penelope wept for her man, who was sitting there by her side” (287. 205). Causing her so much sorrow and grief through Odysseus’ trials. He even has “ pity for his wife as she mourned for him” (287. 210). In his reckless curiosity he generates more pain and suffering upon her fragile self than deserved. Also, Odysseus tests his father in curiosity “to see whether he will know [him] and his eyes recognize [him], or fail to know [him]” (350. 217). However, Odysseus takes it too far, using words of mockery, and even seeing his father break down in tears over him, Odysseus continues in his deceit. Speaking to the extent that Laertes “ caught up the grimy dust and poured it over his face and grizzled head, groaning incessantly” (353. 315). In those days such was the epitome of mourning, to cover ones face in ashes and dirt. Out of Odysseus’ reckless curiosity, Laertes who is already old and weary has to endure mockery and mourning from his own

He knew the sheer ruin this would entail."(1). Here, the gods are discussing the crime committed by Aegisthus in courting another's wife and then killing Agamemnon upon his return.  The central theme in this book is definitely that of suffering and misery in existence, and there is no other character that knows this better than our hero, Odysseus. Odysseus is kept away from his home for 20 years. Every day, he experiences anguish in some form or the other.

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 characters in the play Oedipus The King, by Sophocles, respond to suffering in a variety of ways. Characters like Tiresias respond altruistically to protect others from the truth, other characters similar to Oedipus tend to approach these situations with gall and are hasty with allegations, and the remaining characters respond like Jocasta with disbelief and extremity. Ironically, although suffering is painful and destructive, the way the characters dealt with suffering brought each of them to find the true value of clarity and healing that can be found when suffering.

Suffering is the most evident and powerful piece of Oedipus as the tragic hero in the story, particularly near the end. And there’s a unique aspect of the suffering in Oedipus Rex that is worth mentioning: