A Tale Of Two Lovers In Homer's Odyssey

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A Tale of Two Lovers
The saying that opposites attract is widely used in both science and relationships, but is there a point in a relationship where those opposites become too much to bear? In the Odyssey, Penelope and Odysseus show just this struggle with handling the balancing act of making sure the similarities keep them together while the differences try to tear them apart. Not only did the individual journeys of each spouse test their physical and emotional limits, but it also brought out their true colors. Although their journeys may seem similar, Penelope proves throughout the book to be more loyal to her spouse and a better self-advocate than Odysseus.
No doubt, Odysseus encountered a myriad of obstacles that tested his faith and loyalty during his journey home from the Battle of Troy, yet one of the utmost important encounters was the one in which Odysseus met a woman named Circe. After Circe turned all of Odysseus’ men into pigs and Odysseus restored all of them to humans again, Odysseus realized that he liked this woman enough to not only break the sacred vows of marriage, but also to delay his getting home to Ithaca by about a year. Odysseus became so infatuated that his men had no option but to say, “Captain, shake off this trance, and think of home – if home indeed awaits us,” hoping that those words would embed in Odysseus’s heart and remind him of his love, Penelope, waiting for him at home. No doubt, married people experience a wide range of good and bad times with their …show more content…

Although the family reunites at the end of the book, it does not change the mistakes Odysseus committed and the serious issues that Penelope and Odysseus need to address together. As for insight pertaining to the future of Penelope and Odysseus’ relationship, readers get none. To conclude, readers learn that mistakes sometimes make relationships even

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