The Role of Penelope in Homer's Odyssey

1112 Words3 Pages

Odysseus's wife, Penelope plays a very important role in Homer's Odyssey. She provides the motivation for Odysseus's return to Ithaca. She is also the center of the plot involving the suitors and the fate of Telemakos and Ithaca itself. The objective of this essay is to analyze the important role of Penelope in Odyssey.

Penelope is the reason for Odysseus's return to Ithaca. He is driven throughout his entire journey to go back and see his wife. He turns down immortality with the beautiful Kalypso to return home:

"My lady goddess, here is no cause for anger.

...

... middle of paper ...

...ohen, ed., The Distaff Side (Oxford 1995), pp. 93-115.

Homer. The Odyssey. Trans. Robert Fagles. New York: Penguin, 1996.

Marilyn Arthur Katz, Penelope's Renown: Meaning and Indeterminacy in the Odyssey (Princeton 1991).

Nancy Felson-Rubin, Regarding Penelope: From Courtship to Poetics (Princeton 1994).

Show More
Related

  • The Frontiers of American History in Last Child of the Woods by Richard Louv

    575 Words  | 2 Pages

    Thi sicund phesi cemi ontu biong eftir thi Indastroel Rivulatoun. Lend thet wes eveolebli tu humistiedirs hed ran uat. Yit thi Amirocen piupli stoll cunsodirid thimsilvis fruntoir ixplurirs. Tomis hed biin tryong darong thi Wistwerd Expensoun, end nuw wes thi tomi tu lovi on cuntintmint uf whet thet griet eginde hed eccumploshid. Thas bigen thi rumentocozong uf thi Wist. Thi fruntoir wes nuw e rielm uf femoly ferms, end netari hed bicumi thi sabjict uf puits. Thi Wist hed biin cunqairid.

    Read More

  • What Is Odysseus Made Of?

    577 Words  | 2 Pages

    Odysseus returns home and seeks revenge on the suitors that plague his wife. In order for him to be successful with the revenge he must use his cunning, knowledge of battle and his desire to be with his wife Penelope.

    Read More

  • Strong Penelope of Homer's Odyssey

    1278 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Homer's epic, The Odyssey, Odysseus is an epic hero with an epic wife, Penelope. Penelope is also the Queen of Ithaca, a vital role indeed. Penelope's love and devotion towards Odysseus is proven when she waits nineteen years for her husband to return from the wine dark sea, rather than losing faith and marrying another man. Penelope's character is strong and solid, and her personality remains consistent throughout Homer's Odyssey.

    Read More

  • From Man to Giant Vermin in Kafka's Novel, The Metamorphosis

    823 Words  | 2 Pages

    Upon first glance, Kafka’s 1916 novel The Metamorphosis seems to be the tale of a man who wakes up one morning and finds himself transformed into a giant vermin. However, this novel actually reveals a metaphoric example of the overall structure of society through the economic theories of Marx and Engels. The protagonist of the story, Gregor Samsa, is in some ways a representation of the proletariat, or working class, and his unnamed manager signifies the bourgeoisie. After Gregor’s transformation, the conflict that arises between the two, because Gregor is unable to work, represents the dehumanizing structure of relations between social classes. There are three main segments to the metaphor in this story. First, Kafka skillfully weaves a picture of the characters and the social and economic classes they represent. Then, he details Gregor’s transformation and the way it impedes his ability to do labor. At this point, Kafka then describes the results of this inability to work: Gregor is abandoned by his family and dies. While no man can literally be transformed into an insect, they can lose their ability to work. Kafka’s novella, therefore, is an imaginative portrayal of a quite common scenario and provides readers with valuable insight into the conflicts that take place between economic classes.

    Read More

  • Penelope Of Ithaca

    716 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout the long twenty years of his absence, Penelope earns the title of the ideal wife. And she is, in many ways. She keeps the household and raises her son to be a fine young man, exhibits xenia to all who come to her home and works diligently at her weaving, quiet, serious and constant. Above all other things, she is chaste, loyal and virtuous, despite the presence of 108 suitors vying for her hand in marriage. Although it is certainly true that Penelope does embody the elements of an ideal wife, it can be argued that she becomes the driving force of Odysseus' journey and a central presence in the plot.

    Read More

  • Relationships In The Odyssey

    406 Words  | 1 Pages

    While the relationship between Odysseus and Telemakhos is a blind love, the relationship between Odysseus and Penelope is a love between two people who just want to be together. Odysseus shows his love towards Penelope throughout the Odyssey. In spite of the fact that Odysseus has been gone for twenty years, he never forgets his wife back in Ithaca. One example of how much he wanted to go home was when he went to the island of the Lotus-Eaters. He could have stayed on the island of the Lotus-Eaters where everything he ever wanted was there, but the thing he wanted the most was to be with his wife. Penelope likewise displays this kind of love towards Odysseus.

    Read More

  • Penelope's Role In The Odyssey

    222 Words  | 1 Pages

    Penelope becomes a paradigm of an ideal wife in Athenian patriarchal society, according to William J. O'Neal. The heroine of The Odyssey is often seen as a symbol of faithfulness; she is a devoted wife and mother. Penelope is as equally smart and inventive as her husband Odysseus. “The ancient epic depicts her as a meet spouse for the clever hero. She is equally patient and clever and thinks up stratagems to deal with the crisis that comes up in her environment,” states Van Zyl Smith (394). As a married and possibly widowed woman she is forced to lie to save her marriage. She promises suitors that she will choose a husband as soon as the shroud is completed. Penelope works for three years on weaving a shroud for the funeral of her father-in-law,

    Read More

  • Pentience and Requiem

    880 Words  | 2 Pages

    “How do you get yourself into such trouble, boy?” Rocky's smile wavers. He started tenth grade this year. He was still a little too fast, a little too noisy. He was always getting farther and farther ahead until finally the distance between himself and everybody else was too great and someone had to knock him back down.

    Read More

  • Greek Women in The Odyssey

    425 Words  | 1 Pages

    Then there is Odysseus’ wife, Penelope. She is depicted as an individual. Homer makes her character appear as very clever and also very loyal. Never once during Odysseus twenty years of absence does she remarry. She tolerates the suitors in her home for ten years but never chooses, always with the hope that her first husband, Odysseus, will return. Homer also makes her seem clever when she gets all of the suitors to bring her gifts before she “chooses one” knowing that they are in a short supply of resources. In another instance he portrays her as clever in the way that she keeps the suitor away by weaving the tunic for Odysseus and secretly taking it apart every night. The role Penelope plays is very important because she is seen as a person, not a possession.

    Read More

  • Social and Health Problems in Kuwait

    750 Words  | 2 Pages

    ADD or Attention Deflect Disorder is the problem of being overly hyper and not being able to focus for a long period of time (ATTENTION Deflect Disorder, ADAM). People with ADD usually day dream too much and act impulsively. They also fidget a lot, and that helps them think ( ADD, Melinda Smith). An adult or child with ADD constantly faces challenges in everyday life:

    Read More

  • The Importance of the Characters in Fences by August Wilson

    683 Words  | 2 Pages

    Lyons, the first born son to Troy, the step-son to Rose, and the half-brother to Cory. Gabriel,

    Read More

  • The Odyssey Literary Analysis

    1143 Words  | 3 Pages

    “The Odyssey” is an epic poem that tells the story of Odysseus and the story of his many travels and adventures. The Odyssey tells the main character’s tale of his journey home to the island of Ithaca after spending ten years fighting in the Trojan War, and his adventures when he returns home and he is reunited with his family and close friends. This literary analysis will examine the story and its characters, relationships, major events, symbols and motifs, and literary devices.

    Read More

  • Essay About Love in Homer's Odyssey

    495 Words  | 1 Pages

    Often times in life we search for a companion, someone to share our love and life with.  Odysseus and Penelope's lasting relationship is an obvious representation of love in the Odyssey. Although Odysseus is gone for twenty years he never forgets his faithful wife in Ithaca.  This love helps him persevere through the many hardships that he encounters on his journey home.  Penelope also exemplifies this same kind of love for Odysseus.  At home in Ithaca, she stays loyal to Odysseus by unraveling his shroud and delaying her marriage to the suitors that are courting her.  She always keeps the hope that her love, Odysseus, will return.  Odysseus and Penelope's marriage clearly illustrates the theme of love.

    Read More

  • Life is Fractured by Class Struggle in Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosi

    1274 Words  | 3 Pages

    Marxist theory is based on the idea that the homogeneity of one’s everyday life is fractured by class struggle. This discontinuity is caused by the chasm between those who possess wealth and those who do not possess wealth, which occurs, by and large, in a capitalist society. On the surface, an examination of Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis through this Marxist lens reveals that the novel is a denunciation of the capitalist society in which protagonist Gregor Samsa lives in because of this class struggle. However, one other primary aspect of Marxism’s methodology must be taken into consideration when critiquing Kafka’s novel: dialectics. Marx’s dialectic is a method of discussion, analysis, and argumentation that attempts to understand reality. The dialectic requires that an idea changes due to the negation of that original idea. The two contradicting ideas presuppose each other; without one idea, the other idea has no substance. Furthermore, Marxist ideology stipulates that society does not consist of individuals; rather, society expresses the totality of society’s interrelations--the relations within which individuals stand. By critiquing the interrelations between society and individuals and also the dialectic between childhood and adulthood in The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka not only highlights the ideologies and criticisms that Karl Marx had of capitalism; Kafka also brings to the forefront dialectical criticisms of the classless society that Marx preached for.

    Read More

  • Reaching My Full Potential

    1124 Words  | 3 Pages

    He said it’s when you are doing everything to your ability to be successful in every way possible. Basically giving your one hundred percent in everything you do. He said it was being in front of the classroom, doing good things in your community, and to do the small things right. From this point forward I was living the life of R.Y.F.P. This is when I learned the way to really work hard and to have that drive to be better.

    Read More

More about The Role of Penelope in Homer's Odyssey

Open Document