Stoian Popow
Baruch College
Great Works of Literature
Professor Riccio
2/24/23
Penelope
Penelope is a significant character in Homer's epic poem "The Odyssey." She is the protagonist's wife, Odysseus, and her story gives us the plot of the book. Penelope's character is presented as a model of virtue and loyalty. The narrator describes her throughout the story as "wise Penelope" (Book 18, pg 418 286-287), highlighting her intelligence and cunningness. Penelope is also portrayed as a loving wife who misses her husband dearly, illustrating her grief throughout the whole story, as shown when she weeps for him (Book 13 pg 327, lines 337-339) and prays for his safe return.
While Odysseus is away, Penelope remains at home, managing
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These men hope to win her hand in marriage and take over Odysseus's kingdom, which would make her let go of her commitment to Odysseus. Penelope is aware of their true intentions and is highly determined to resist them. She uses her intelligence and wit to outsmart the suitors; one prime example, which was mentioned above is her shroud trick. In this trick, Penelope promises to marry one of the suitors once she has finished weaving a shroud for her father-in-law, Laertes (Book 2 pg 123, lines 104-107). However, she secretly undoes her work every night, indefinitely prolonging the shroud's completion. This buys her more time to wait for Odysseus's return while avoiding having to marry one of the suitors. Penelope's cleverness and resourcefulness are on full display in this scene, demonstrating her dedication to Oddesyus returning, despite the restrictions of her …show more content…
For instance, her delaying tactic of weaving and unweaving a shroud for her father-in-law is a testament to her intelligence, faithfulness, and resourcefulness. I chose this character because by exploring Penelope more deeply, readers can gain a greater appreciation for her story and the role of women in ancient Greece. Before I started researching her character I really did have the mindset that she was just another supporting character within the story and not the character that drives the whole story forward. It also allows us to understand ancient women's challenges and struggles during this time and how they navigated within a patriarchal society. In the article by Durand and Perrine(2018), the authors argue that Penelope's story has resonated with readers throughout the centuries because it explored gender and power dynamics in a patriarchal society where women were expected to be loyal and obedient to their husbands. In this way, Penelope's character serves as a window into ancient Greece's societal norms and
Instead, she deceives the suitors by telling them that she will marry one of them after she finishes weaving a robe. However, she would unravel the robe after completing it to postpone marrying another. This action represents Penelope’s commitment to her husband and dedication to him, despite not knowing his current status regarding whether he is alive. All of these are attributes that men in Ancient Greece found desirable in a
Throughout the story Penelope stays loyal to Odysseus by waiting 20 years for her husband to return. Odysseus shows his loyalty to Penelope by wanting to go home as far as rejecting immortality for Penelope. Penelope proves this when she says “How I long for my husband--alive in memory, always” (88). Odysseus shows his loyalty to Penelope when he tells Calypso to “Look at my wise Penelope. She falls far short of you, your beauty, stature.
There are many huge roles to be displayed in society all throughout The Odyssey. The Odyssey was written by Homer and located in Ancient Greece. Women like Athena and Penelope play huge roles that initially help Odysseus throughout his struggles. The role of women in The Odyssey is to show how women could be obstacles, be great helpers, and show how they do it by being cunning. Penelope shows in different ways how she is cunning and loyal throughout the book.
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
She might be labeled as a weak character because allows the suitors to squander her resources but at that time women had little power without a man by their side. The first reason for Penelope being a strong character is that she is wise and thoughtful in her actions which are characteristics shown in book 19 (lines 163-177) where she describes how she has tricked the suitors and evaded a marriage with the power-hungry suitors. She evaded marriage by
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...
In Greek epics, tragedies, and mythology women are portrayed in various ways. Women are mainly considered to be weak and less important than men, but there are some women who are shown to be strong and heroic, despite the reputation that was placed onto them in Ancient Greek civilizations. There were two particular women that were strong and took the roles of their husbands while the men left to fight in the Trojan War. These two women were Penelope, wife of Odysseus, and Clytemnestra, wife of Agamemnon. These two women were different in how they chose to rule while their husbands were at war and how they acted once they got back.
Showing that he loves and cares for her. However, Odysseus’s love for Penelope is clearly misplaced and confused for his longing of home. He says he loves Penelope and misses her, when in actuality he just misses his home and being revered as a king where he lives. Kalypso concedes “ you wanted her forever, that bride whom you pine each day.” (87).
Penelope’s power does not only derive from her position in her household, it also derives from her character. Her worth is measured by her action and choices and what others thinks of her. She is praised by men and placed on a level of status only equaled to men. The obvious role she played was to help her husband and his return, but the more complex one is her impact on the society and its rules that Homer depicted. Penelope was in the epic a woman who was wielding power in a misogynistic society, and she had to bend and break rules to gain and justify the authority she had over
Penelope proves that women can be just as smart, if not smarter, than men. She outsmarts the suitors that invade her home to escape marriage. For example, she weaves each day for years and tells the suitors that when she is done she will marry. Homer writes, “This was her latest masterpiece of guile: she set up a great loom in the royal halls and she began to weave, and the weaving finespun, the yarns endless, and she would lead us on: ‘Young men, my suitors, now that King Odysseus is no more, go slowly, keen as you are to marry me, until I can finish off this web…” (Homer). She deceives them because she undoes all of her work after every day with the knowledge that they are too busy with feasts and wine to notice.
If Penelope were to be the one to sleep with a suitor I assure you she’d be killed among the other maids like in book 22. But of course, that wasn't the case and in book 23 lines 417-422, Penelope tells Odysseus, “Think what difficulty the gods gave: they denied us life together in our prime and flowering years, kept us from crossing into age together. Forgive me, don't be angry. I could not welcome you with love on sight”. Penelopes questioning if Odysseus was actually who he claimed he was, was the epitome of her character.
In many societies today, individuals are led to believe that the concept of women possessing their own strength or independence is abnormal. As a result, women experience the world in a constrained way in comparison to men, even if they are in higher classes of society. However, these extensive aspects of females are contradicted in some ancient Greek literature. In the epic poem, The Odyssey, Homer portrays women as a vital and powerful force through the characters Penelope and Circe, who counter the normality of misogyny in Homer’s time. Penelope’s character displays how some women are able to exceed society’s standards and show strength and cleverness when it is necessary.
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
Everyday women like Penelope were believed to have no purpose in common society other than being confined to a kitchen each day and complete domestic house duties. The name Penelope was deliberately selected as it translates to mean pulling, or spinning which is an allegorical phrase in itself, the first meaning associates her cunning weaving of plots and schemes which proves her to be sly and the secondary referring to cloth which was a part of an everyday life duty for women, producing articles of clothing. Being a hospitable host to guests was also a key function, which is first noticed when she offers help to Odysseus in disguise “Give him a wash and spread a couch for him here, with bedding and coverlets and with shining blankets”. It is argued that Penelope is secretly a spider, weaving her own web of lies getting stuck in her own trap which is hidden from the public as women were not meant to be clever or be known for any kind of crafty intelligence. In contrast to this old way of societies expectations, Atwood utilizes Penelope’s strength in character to warn women not to follow in her footsteps by giving them the advice of “Do not look the other way”, “Tell them (referring to males) what you think”, “Argue with them”, and “make them squirm”, these pieces of wisdom create a stronger emphasis on having equal respect and appreciation for women which also conflicts the differences between Ancient and Modern times and highlights the evolution of society.