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literary analysis of the Odyssey
women in ancient greek homer.
women in ancient greek homer.
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Homer's Odyssey: Penelope and Odysseus
Homer revealed the characters' inner thoughts to add to the suspense that builds up in books 19 and 20 of The Odyssey. Some question whether Odysseus was recognized by Penelope and if this helped to build up the intensity of the story. Joseph Russo mentioned this topic in "Interview and Aftermath: Dream, Fantasy and Intuition in Odyssey 19 & 20." The lies told by Odysseus also increased the excitement of The Odyssey.
Russo believed that Penelope, in her subconscious, did recognize Odysseus disguised as a beggar. For example, in Book 19, Penelope revealed her innermost thoughts to Odysseus, who was disguised as the beggar. Russo suggested that unconsciously the beggar reminded Penelope of Odysseus when she invited Odysseus to her room to talk and confided in him about her dreams (14). But there is a different way to look at this part of the book. In class, Thury pointed out not only the outward signs of Penelope's encouragement of him, but also gave reasons to believe she did not think Odysseus was alive.
By telling Odysseus of her dreams Penelope showed trust in him, but by scheduling the contest of the bow, Penelope showed that she believed her husband was never coming back. Russo argues that this was only a defense mechanism. If she were to believe Odysseus was alive, she would be letting her guard down, and she did not want to risk another disappointment (Russo 15). Russo and Thury agree that because of the tension between husband and wife, there is a large amount of excitement and stress in Odysseus' house after he returns.
Odysseus' lies also added to the excitement. These lies were all related to the truth about Odysseus (Thury), and stirred up the people they were told to. For example, Odysseus lied to Eumaios the swineherd. He told him he was a pirate who had lost his crew in the storm and had heard news of Odysseus (14.356). The fact that he claimed Odysseus was alive must have given the swineherd hope of his master's return, even though he denied it (14.405).
Another person Odysseus lied to was Penelope. As a result Homer says she cries, "as she sat listening ... her checks were wetted by these tears she shed for her lord" (19.220-226). Even though she says she does not believe him (19.289), Penelope seems excited by thinking about Odyssseus, enough so, to have a slip of the tongue when she tells Eurykleia to bathe her master (19.
Odysseus lies to his enemies for obvious reasons; he doesn’t want them to know that Odysseus has returned. He starts off lying to his allies and friends for similar reasons. The only people who he can allow to know his identity are those he has te...
Penelope tests Odysseus to make sure that he is really her husband. Penelope asks Odysseus to tell one secret of their marriage. Odysseus is outraged that she doesn’t believe him, but he tells her that their bedroom was made out of part of a tree. Penelope felt the need to test Odysseus because she was not sure it was him. She show this when she says, “Think what difficulty the gods gave: they denied us life
The Odyssey - Scylla and Charybdis & nbsp; One of the most difficult tasks as a parent is to teach your child life lessons. Many have tried, and many have failed. But over the ages, the most successful ideas have come in the form of a story or tale. Aesops Fables, nursery rhymes, and other tales of caution are used even today to teach this common knowledge one must have. In the Greek civilization, thousands of years ago, many children were taught through these fun and interesting stories.
She could have moved on after a little while, but she didn’t marry any of the suitors that were trying to court her; instead she was hopeful and believed that Odysseus could come back after 20 years. In the story, while Odysseus is gone, many suitors have come to try to court his wife, Penelope. But, Penelope doesn’t want to marry any of the suitors, she wants to marry Odysseus. When Odysseus, described as a beggar, comes to his house, Penelope immediately wanted her maid to “go get that man…[because]he may have heard rumors about Odysseus,” (Homer 1282-1285). The quotation proves that Penelope is an optimist because you can infer that when new people come, the first thing Penelope does is ask them whether they have seen or known Odysseus, because she doesn’t know anything about the beggar that makes him special to ask him about Odysseus, which shows that Odysseus is in her thoughts, and that she has hope that he can come home. Penelope is an optimist because she kept hope that Odysseus would come home
Odysseus disguised as a beggar is the basis for the lies that are going to be told to Penelope in this passage by him. In my opinion, this is the main lie that is used as the building block for many other lies to be told. Odysseus is being deceitful by disguising himself as a beggar for specific reasons. His reasons are to find out what has been going on in Ithaca in his twenty years' absence. He wants to find out his wife's loyalty to him as the husband and the authority figure, and her love to her husband. If she did not still love him, he might think twice about revealing his identity to his wife and to the island of Ithaca. He wants to get a feeling of how Penelope feels towards him before he reveals himself to her.
Firstly, Penelope who plays Odysseus’s wife is alone tending to her city Ithica until her husband returns. Meanwhile Odysseus is out fighting in the Trojan War and against many of the Greek God’s who are trying to make his trip back home as eventful and hard as possible; “…work out his journey home so Odysseus can return” (Homer 276). While King Odysseus is away Penelope is to deal with a bunch of suitors who are eating and trashing out Ithica, “…if those suitors have truly paid in blood for all their reckless outrage” (559). In order for Penelope to keep peace until Odysseus returns she has to come up with a clever plan to keep the suitors from completely taking over. For almost 2 years Penelope was able to keep the suitors from getting out of hand by saying she will find someone to marry and replace Odysseus after she is d...
Homer’s Odyssey challenges the common view on deception as employed only maliciously. Both a mortal, Odysseus, and one of the most revered goddesses, Athena, have the common noble goal of bringing Odysseus back home to his family after nearly two decades of absence. To achieve that goal, they mainly use deception and disguise in various forms that their physical and mental powers allow. Odysseus is famous for wittily deceiving others through verbal means, fact noted by Menelaus and Helen of Troy (Book 4). He even doubts Athena, as his own skills have made him doubt other’s honesty. Athena states after realizing Odysseus’s disbelief, “Would not another wandering man, in joy, make haste home to his wife and children? Not you, not yet” (8. 420-422). Odysseus wants to make sure that Athena gives him substantial evidence regarding his family and being back because “empty words are evil” (4. 891). After this exchange, when Odysseus knows him and Athena are on the same team, they use those skills to uncover the truth of matters or people’s character and return home.
Throughout The Odyssey, almost every event involving the suitors revolves around winning Penelopeia’s hand in marriage, yet they give her no voice in the matter. Because of the suitors’ lack of courtesy and respect towards Penelopeia, she seems to take on an overall passive role in the story. Her specific character had no direct say in any occurrences, even if she was the “prize” to be won in the end. However, in order to get her way, Penelope attempts to deceive every suitor on several occasions, making them think that they had control over what was going on. And although Penelopeia seems to be a helpless victim, she is quite the opposite. Taking control of every situation that she can, Penelopeia hopes that Odysseus will return to finally put an end to all of this chaos.
However, his journey isn’t over yet. This last leg of Odysseus’s journey is perhaps the most important and crucial. Odysseus’s nurse and maidservant, Eurycleia is the first woman in Ithaca to know that Odysseus is back after she recognizes the scar on his leg while she is washing him. Eurycleia vows to keep his identity a secret. Odysseus’s wife, Penelope has stayed faithful to Odysseus for all the years that he was gone. Penelope was consistently unweaving her web to the delay the suitors. The reader even grows sympathetic for Penelope as “we see her struggle to make the virtuous choice about her marriage, despite pressures from her suitors, her son’s endangered situation, and her own uncertainty about Odysseus’s survival” (Foley ). Finally, Odysseus reveals his identity and Penelope is bewildered, but quickly embraces her husband after he tells her the secret of their immovable bed. It is the faithfulness of Penelope and nurse Eurycleia that insures Odysseus’s survival to the very end.
The proliferation of prison overcrowding has been a rising concern for the U.S. The growing prison population poses considerable health and safety risks to prison staffs and employees, as well as to inmates themselves. The risks will continue to increase if no immediate actions are taken. Whereas fighting proliferation is fundamentally the duty of the U.S. government, prison overcrowding has exposed that the U.S. government will need to take measures to combat the flaws in the prison and criminal justice system. Restructuring the government to combat the danger of prison overcrowding, specifically in California, thus requires reforms that reestablishes the penal codes, increases the state’s budget, and develops opportunities for paroles to prevent their return to prison. The following context will examine and discuss the different approaches to reduce the population of state prisons in California in order to avoid prison overcrowding.
A major theme illustrated throughout the book, The Odyssey, is deception. Many characters constantly use lies and disguises to manipulate others’ actions. Homer expresses examples of deception through Athena, Telemakhos, and Odysseus.
For seven years, Odysseus is held captive by the goddess Calypso. The young goddess “desired me and detained me in her hall. But in my heart, I never gave consent” (Homer 372). This quote suggests that although Calypso may have believed she was loved by Odysseus, he never really cared for her. If Odysseus would have stayed faithful to his wife, Calypso would have killed him. Thus, he is able to protect himself by lying to her. Another point in the epic where Odysseus' dishonesty impacts his success is with the suitors. After arriving at his homeland, Odysseus disguises himself to protect himself from being harmed: “Odysseus enters his home as a beggar, and the suitors mock and abuse him” (Homer 402). When Odysseus appears to be a beggar, the suitors think nothing of him. They disrespect him, his family, and his home. Had they know Odysseus was back, they would have treated him much differently. Because of the way they acted towards him, it can be suggested that they would be willing to do anything to take control of his kingdom. He is then able to find out more about them and their motives without getting
Overcrowding in our state and federal jails today has become a big issue. Back in the 20th century, prison rates in the U.S were fairly low. During the years later due to economic and political factors, that rate began to rise. According to the Bureau of justice statistics, the amount of people in prison went from 139 per 100,000 inmates to 502 per 100,000 inmates from 1980 to 2009. That is nearly 261%. Over 2.1 million Americans are incarcerated and 7.2 million are either incarcerated or under parole. According to these statistics, the U.S has 25% of the world’s prisoners. (Rick Wilson pg.1) Our prison systems simply have too many people. To try and help fix this problem, there needs to be shorter sentences for smaller crimes. Based on the many people in jail at the moment, funding for prison has dropped tremendously.
In the United States of America’s criminal justice system, both violent and non-violent offenders are imprisoned. This imprisonment has led to overpopulation of our prisons, both federal and state-owned. Overpopulation and overcrowding can cause stress on the average, everyday tax-paying citizen as it becomes very expensive to house the over one-hundred and fifty thousand sentenced prisoners each year (US Bureau of Justice Statistics). That number adds up, because even with the over six hundred thousand offenders released each year, there are even more that remain in the prison system (US Bureau of Justice Statistics). The total number of prisoners in the U.S. state and federal correctional facilities, which includes prisons, rehabilitation centers, and juvenile detention centers, is 1,574,700 (US Bureau of Justice Statistics). This cycle of overpopulation needs a long-term fix, not some cookie-cutter solution that will only alleviate the problem temporarily. Due to the
...t get close to Penelope, only her true love. This statement proves that it is in fact Odysseus and that he has returned. Penelope knows he is the only one to know how he made the room. Odysseus used his knowledge and intelligence to win back his love. No other person was ever able to move the bed except for Odysseus. He and Penelope were the only two people who knew how the bed was made. Odysseus again conquers his task through his intelligence.