Penelope plays a key role in The Odyssey because without her unwillingness to accept a suitor, Telemachus would never have gone on his journey to find his father. Fifteen years after the Trojan War ended, Penelope's husband Odysseus, still hadn’t come home. Throughout this time many suitors had come asking for her hand in marriage. She decided she would choose one suitor to marry once she finished weaving her father-in-law’s burial shroud.
But every night she would unweave a little bit to postpone the decision. Eventually, Athena decides to convince Penelope's son, Telemachus to find Odysseus so his mother wouldn’t have to choose a suitor. Athena tells Telemachus, “...and mother… she neither rejects a marriage she despises nor can she bear
Penelope conveys her loyalty by delaying another marriage to one of the suitors, which is how their strong relationship is preserved throughout Odysseus’ absence. Deceiving the suitors, “she had her great loom...and said to [them] ‘let me finish my weaving before I marry’... but every night by torchlight she unwove it” (22). For twenty years, Penelope remains loyal to Odysseus and does everything she can to preserve their relationship. Without her loyalty to him, she may have married a suitor, making her relationship with Odysseus over, thus emphasizing the necessity of loyalty to preserving strong
Penelope - Another main character, Penelope is portrayed as the faithful wife of Odysseus, mother of Telemachus, and a clever and sharp woman.
Penelope is the ultimate test to whether the trials of the women strengthen Odysseus’ desire for wisdom. Odysseus has to prove to Penelope that he is actually Odysseus and can only be reunited through cunning. Penelope “spoke to her husband, trying him out”(ODY 23.181), discerning whether he truly deserves her wisdom. Like the unification of Zeus with Metis, only cunning can re-unify the strength of Odysseus with the wisdom of Penelope to give birth to order. In her wisdom, Penelope realizes how deceptive that the gods are, and explains to Odysseus why she needed to try him: Do not now be angry with me nor blame me...
Penelope, Odysseus's wife, is an exemplar of marital fidelity through her loyalty towards her husband for twenty years. During the absence of her husband, she ensures that Ithaca remains under Odysseus’s ruling, yet when he returns she doesn’t immediately accept him; rather, she treats him with distrust and aloofness In book 23 of “The Odyssey "Penelope is portrayed as a unique character, she is a hero herself despite not leaving home because she goes on a mental quest to rediscover her husband and remains strong and steadfast in her actions regardless of the judgements that are imposed on her. Penelope show strength in the beginning of her quest because she did not just accept Odysseus to be who he claimed to be, and because of that
Charles Hong (csh6cw) 09/10/15 CLAS 3040 Penelope, daughter of Icarius, is a rather unusual considering what type of character she is. While she has been shown as a domestic woman in the earlier books, Penelope is oftentimes described as cunning or wise. Both Odysseus and Penelope display superior amounts of intelligence compared to many of the other characters within the Odyssey. Just as Odysseus can lie about himself to the people closest to him, Penelope, too, can also disguise her own emotions.
Women in the The Odyssey played a intricate role in helping define what the Greeks thought women should be like. During The Odyssey the way Homer Presents the females charters, such as Penelope, Anticlia, and Naussica gives a glimpse into the stereotypes. “In the Homeric epics women seem to have little independence; they are always under the guardian-ship of a man… [but] because women can speak… Homer’s women still manage to exert a significant moral force” (Lefkowitz). The first was Penelope, who was the benevolent and steadfast wife of Odysseus, let Homer convey what the Greeks believed was wife material.
In the Odyssey Penelope tries hard to embrace all the things women are given in life. She can do anything about the fact that Odysseus has been gone for almost twenty years, that her son does not know his own father and who he is supposed to take after, and that her home is almost in ruins because of all the suitors refusing to leave the house and trashing the house. Penelope is forced to choose a suitor, remarry and probably have more kids too. Penelope is not allowed to say if she wants that or not. We, as readers, can tell she is putting things off for as long as she can, but what if her alone was not enough.
The way Penelope shows her loyalty to family far more than this. In order to delay the decision of choosing a suitor, Penelope said she has to finish weaving the burial shroud for Odysseus’s elder father before getting married. She showed that she was weaving the shroud all day time, but then by night, she secretly undid what she had done already. Penelope’s complete and utter devotion to Odysseus is proved by what she did to resist time and time again the attempts of the suitors for her hand in
Odysseus’s son, Telemakhos discussed the problem of the suitors to Athena. The suitors believed Odysseus to be dead, and decided to try and marry Penelope so they can inherit Odysseus’s wealth and kingdom. Telemakhos realized the suitors intents and the nuisance they have become, when he converses with Athena. “‘... Ithaka’s young lords as
The story is about Odyssey who had many adventures along with his beautiful wife, Penelope. Penelope remains faithful to odyssey when he spends 8 years of his life trapped on the island of Ogynia. Penelope is also very protective of her son Telemachus. She is associated with linen and cloth through her role as hotness. Zeus, father of my favorite character, Athena, talks about Aigisthos, who killed Agemnon and stole his wife.
Penelope remains loyal to Odysseus during his 20 year journey by avoiding remarrying to any of the suitors in hope that Odysseus will return and that they can continue to live their lives as things were. In order to do this she must avoid provoking punishment from the gods and eternal shame for not being loyal to her husband which is what is expected in the Greek culture. She makes an elaborate plot to trick the suitors into not rushing her into marriage by telling them that “‘til to great Laertes I bequeath A task of grief, his ornaments of death’... The work she plied; but studious of delay, By night reversed the labours of the day” (XIX,158-159). Penelope attempts to hold the suitors off until Odysseus can return which is used to teach the reader that those who are loyal will be rewarded, because after doing so she is rewarded by the return of her true love, Odysseus.
However, 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.
However, 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
The female character Penelope displays cunning, strength, and perseverance throughout The Odyssey. For instance, Penelope tricks her suitors into believing that Odysseus instructed her, “once
In the Odyssey, she partakes in the war against Troy, and supports Odysseus and his family. During the story, Telemachus needed to know about his father, and Athena disguised as an elder, gave Telemachus a ship and men, telling him to get supplies and leave at once. During that time, Odysseus was trapped on an island by Calypso, the banished nymph, for 7 years. Athena