Odyssey And Penelope In Homer's Odyssey

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Her comment is important to note in the plot because it shows how Penelope might not be able to overpower the suitors with physical strength but she nevertheless knows she has the high ground when it comes to psychological strength. Penelope specifically says, “King Odysseus is no more”(2.105) to play the suitors into believing she has lost faith in her husband. However, we know this is not true and Penelope faithfully waits for Odysseus with hope in her heart that the God’s will help him find his way home. Instead of physical power, she uses clever mind games to get them off her back. Penelope tells the suitors to “go slowly,”(2.106) be patient and she will soon marry one of them. This is also not true and she deceives them. This also shows …show more content…

Circe manages to seduce Odysseus even though he is immune to her magic after using a plant called moly. Circe lets down her guard and tells Odysseus, “‘Come, sheathe your sword, let’s go to bed together … we’ll breed deep trust between us’”(10.369-371) Circe gets on Odysseus’s good side and gains his trust by telling him,“sheathe your sword.”(10.369) By telling Odysseus this, she opens up to him and lets him know he is safe with her. Circe works with her prey instead of against them.This creates a connection between them which leads to him staying an extra year. Finally, Athena gifts Penelope with immortal beauty and Penelope uses the beauty against the suitors. The suitors were taken back by her beauty and their “knees went slack, their hearts dissolved in lust--- / all of them lifted prayers to lie beside her, share her bed.”(18.241-42) The suitors fell in love with Penelope and she used this to her advantage. Penelope tells the suitors if they wanted to properly court her, they wouldn’t “devour the woman’s goods scot-free. ”(10.315) She also tells the suitors to, “look at the griefs some god has loosed against me! … Your way is a far cry from the time-honored way of suitors locked in rivalry”(10.288 & 309-310) She guilts the suitors into believing their intentions for marrying her are not pure and fighting is not the proper way. Using the suitors weakness to her beauty and

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