Essay On Loyalty In Homer's Odyssey
Loyalty in The Odyssey
Most people believe that they are loyal, but are they loyal to the extent that Penelope is to her husband whom she hadn't seen for over twenty years? How about Odysseus, who struggled through so many difficult circumstances just trying to make it home to see his wife and son? Is any person’s dog really as loyal as Argos, who waits for two decades for his master come home before dying? Loyalty in The Odyssey is a very important virtue as it is shown by Penelope’s hopefulness, Odysseus’s perseverance, and other characters’ almost unrecognized acts of homage.
The largest act of loyalty is shown by Penelope with her hope for the life of her husband, Odysseus. One way in the story that Penelope shows her loyalty to him is depicted in the film. In the film, Odysseus’s mother, Anticlea, commits suicide because of a broken heart. Throughout Anticlea’s depression, Penelope continually attempts to draw Anticlea out of her state of melancholy. She refuses to give up her own life along side Anticlea if there is even the slightest chance that Odysseus is yet alive (Konchalovsky). This shows Penelope’s loyalty to Odysseus because she continues to believe and hope of the prospect of Odysseus’s homecoming. Another way Penelope conveys loyalty is with the shroud she is to make to mourn the assumed death of her husband. She is supposed to weave the
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Characters in The Odyssey show incredulous levels of loyalty that may never be possible for people to achieve, but they can still take a lesson in loyalty and trust from the characters. Odysseus trusts the gods to bring him home and Penelope also trusts the gods to bring Odysseus home. Loyalty is something that people strive for. If people follow the examples of most of the characters in The Odyssey then this world will be a more trusting place because loyalty requires trust and trust requires
Honor In The Odyssey
1263 Words | 6 PagesIn the Odyssey, Polyphemus prays to Poseidon asking for Odysseus to never go back home or return to his family too late and with no honor. This prayer comes true and his honor is no more once he returns to Ithaca, and the biggest aspect of this is through his narcissistic behavior. Odysseus is praised as the “most devoted and most loyal man (Homer 432)” to his crew and his wife when in reality he is a truly selfish character in the Odyssey. One form of selfishness Odysseus shows is adultery. Odysseus emphasizes the significance of a man and wife keeping a ‘harmonious’ household, but he continued to be unfaithful to Penelope on his journey on several different occasions.
Examples Of Loyalty In The Odyssey
1237 Words | 5 PagesThis shows how Argos is an obedient dog because after all these years, Argos has still recognized him as his owner, and wanted nothing more but to be able to obey him and be under his command. Argos is an example of loyalty because he was made to be Odysseus’ dog, and didn’t adapt to another owner or abandon his home. He had stayed and waited faithfully for his master’s return. He was so overjoyed that the person he had been living for had returned, that he died out of happiness. Loyalty is defined as obedience through Argos because of his patience, cooperation and faithfulness to Odysseus.
Examples Of Loyalty In The Odyssey
873 Words | 4 PagesLoyalty: Something everyone desires Ancient Greeks were a wise lot who valued qualities and traits in humans quite a bit. The Odyssey, an epic written by Homer, is a text that exemplifies traits that the ancient Greeks value through various instances. Written during the ancient Greek time period, the story follows the protagonist, Odysseus, on his journey home, to his kingdom Ithaca, after the Trojan War has ended. He encounters many obstacles, monsters, and temptations on the voyage home but faces them with his head held high. He finally returns back to Ithaca after a long 20 years and reunites with his wife.
Odysseus: The True Hero Of Homer's Odyssey
443 Words | 2 PagesWhile Odysseus was on Calypso’s island living with another woman, Penelope was at home trying to fight off suitors and being loyal to her husband who was supposed to be making his way home. Penelope is clever much like Odysseus is with the Cyclops. It had been twenty years since Odysseus had left and the citizens of Ithaca wanted a new king. The suitors were trying to marry Penelope and take over the kingdom because it presumed that Odysseus had died. She said that she would choose a new king when she finished her tapestry that she had been crafting for a while.
Loss Of Trust In The Odyssey
468 Words | 2 PagesThe Odyssey is an epic poem written by Homer and translated by Robert Fitzgerald. In the epic a man, Odysseus, is separated from his family and is worried about the loyalty they have to him. Odysseus' story is relevant to those of men and women in the world. Just like Odysseus, people all around the world begin to wonder if their families have been loyal to them after a long absence. In book 11 Odysseus visits The Land of The Dead to get a prophecy from Teiresias, but as he goes to Teiresias Odysseus finds the ghost of his mother and bombards her many questions.
Penelope In The Odyssey
794 Words | 4 PagesWeaving is an art which was given from Athena to women, while Penelope uses both cunningness and weaving to deceive the suitors. With the making of the shroud for Laertes, Odysseus’s father she was able to keep the suitors at bay for three whole years. She would weave during the day and unravel it at night. With her clever words she assured the suitors that it was her womanly duty to weave a shroud to her father-in-law and promised to marry one of them after she finished it. Yet her plans were thwarted by one of her treacherous maids.
Examples Of Loyalty In The Odyssey
1881 Words | 8 Pagesloy·al·ty ˈloiəltē/ noun the quality of being loyal to someone or something. a strong feeling of support or allegiance. Loyalty is very strong and very meaningful, like true love or brotherhood. Loyalty has to be earned, not just given away. In The Odyssey, the epic poem by Homer, Odysseus’ crew is steadfastly loyal to him and follow nearly his every direction, even though they are given many reasons not to be.
Odysseus And Greed In Homer's The Odyssey
1277 Words | 6 PagesPenelope, his wife, is greatly affected; as many greedy suitors disrespect her and move into their home to try and win her hand in marriage. Throughout ‘The Odyssey’, the greed and folly of men play a huge part in increasing the difficulty and severity of Odysseus’s situations and ultimately change his fate and the directions of his journey. The greed and folly of men are largely represented by Penelope’s suitors. In the very first book of The Odyssey, the disgusting actions of the suitors were introduced to the readers.
Gender And The Homeric Epic Analysis
1078 Words | 5 PagesThey both uphold the general values society places on their sexes, but through their hardships they are able to gain a fluidity in these roles not often given in their society. Odysseus was able to express emotion without undercutting his masculinity, and was able to appreciate his wife for more than her domestic accomplishments. While Penelope became a paradigm of fidelity, she also embodied inner-strength as she dealt with the turmoil of her missing husband, rowdy suitors, and the destruction of her kingdom; which allowed Odysseus to come to appreciate her ingenuity and his marriage in
Examples Of Loyalty In The Odyssey
872 Words | 4 PagesThere are many examples of loyalty in The Odyssey. Mainly loyalty is shown when Penelope waits for Odysseus to return to Ithaca, Odysseus trying his best to return home, the gods being loyal to Odysseus throughout his journey, Telemachus helping his father with his journey, and the swineherd being loyal to Odysseus. One of the most prominent examples of loyalty in The Odyssey is shown through the character Penelope. Penelope is the wife of Odysseus. She has waited on the island Ithaca for twenty years in hope of Odysseus returning.
Penelope In The Odyssey Analysis
1041 Words | 5 PagesHowever, for a woman in Homer’s society, who belongs to either her father and her husband, she is the head of the household for 20 years in the absence of Odysseus. She does not preserve peace in the household, but she takes actions to prevent the destruction of ranks of the household by delaying her marriage so that when Odysseus come back home, he can reclaim the kingship, or when Telemachus is old enough, he can take the throne which is rightfully his. In the position where women have no power, she uses her intellectual strength to control the suitors. Penelope promises the suitors that she will choose one of them to marry after she finishes weaving the shroud for Laertes because it is shameful if she does not do anything for her father-in-law. The suitors eagerly comply to her request without knowing what Penelope plans to do.
Penelope Struggles In The Odyssey
1601 Words | 7 PagesHowever, Penelope still loves Odysseus and remains loyal to him by stalling the marriage. She still continues to persist in being hopeful and refuses to believe that Odysseus will never return to her, so she creates several excuses to help her evade marriage for as long as possible. She presents tasks to keep the
Honor And Dignity In Homer's The Odyssey
1018 Words | 5 PagesHomer’s epic poem, The Odyssey, chronicles the homeward bound voyage of the main character, King Odysseus of Ithaca. After Trojan War which lasted ten years, Odysseus sets foot on another adventure, which also spans ten years, to return to Ithaca. Odysseus is gone from his home for a total twenty years, but upon his arrival back to Ithaca, he finds that his title has been defended by his wife Penelope and his son Telemachus, who have been awaiting his return this entire time. Odysseus and Penelope are meant to be a model couple, so people often argue about which of the two is more admirable. To be admirable is to have faced a struggle with honor and dignity.
Importance Of Family In The Odyssey
803 Words | 4 PagesWe are proud of the love we give and receive, for our children and the habits, emotional responses, obligations and values that we teach them. In The Odyssey, Odysseus is no different and the importance of his family is demonstrated as he weeps tears of sadness in their absence and rejects Calypso’s offer of immortality in exchange for his companionship. “‘My lady goddess, here is no cause for anger. My quiet Penelope—how well I know—would seem a shade before your majesty, death
Character Analysis Of Penelope In The Odyssey
1294 Words | 6 Pages(5. 277). In contrast, Penelope is powerless without the presence of her husband by her side, even begging to “be blown out by the Olympians!/ Shot by Artemis” so that she “still might go and see amid the shades/ Odysseus in the rot of underworld” (20. 89-92). She also becomes emotionally unstable in the wake of Odysseus’ disappearance, becoming easily swayed by her son’s words and reaching brief moments of clarity, before regressing back to “weeping/ for Odysseus, her husband”... when she mount[s] to her room again” (1. 410-412). But despite Penelope’s fragile state, she is still seen as being preferable over Kalypso due to the belief that it was good for women to depend on men.
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