What Is Margaret Atwood's Use Of Female Subjectivity

No relationship is perfect. All relationships have their issues, but most can be worked out. Many relationships are put under strain by duty and lack of attention. Penelope and Odysseus are one example of this. In the painting Penelope and Odysseus, Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein uses the conversation between Odysseus and Penelope to show that duty often tears families apart, while in the poem “You Are Odysseus,” Linda Pastan uses the same scene to show that partners need attention and love to feel appreciated. Poems and paintings can help teach us lessons about the human experience. “You Are Odysseus” can teach us that partners need attention and love to feel appreciated by elaborating on Penelope’s point of view. Penelope and Odysseus

Homer’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. Although Odysseus has been on a terrible journey, he has not always reacted with honor and dignity like Penelope does. Penelope shows honor and dignity when she practices xenia, does not marry a suitor, and forgives Odysseus.

In The Odyssey, by Homer, provides evidence that there is an existence of strong emotion between the characters in this book. An example of this is in book one, when Penelope, Odysseus’ wife, longs for the return of her husband to their home in Ithaca. “‘How I long for my husband- alive in memory, always, that great man whose fame resounds through Hellas right to the depths of Argos!’” (Homer, 88) is a perfect quote of Penelope expressing her love and devotion to her husband Odysseus. This quote really enhances the plot very well to the point where the reader should feel pity and sorrowful for Penelope as she really desperately please for Odysseus as he is off on his journey.

Charles Frazier wrote his debut novel, Cold Mountain, nearly 2,600 years after Homer’s Odyssey. Despite this time span, many would argue that certain characters in Frazier’s novel are analogous to those in the Odyssey. One such comparison could be made between Ada Monroe and Queen Penelope. Both of these women married army soldiers who went off to battle. Ada’s husband, Inman, is a Confederate soldier of the American Civil War. Penelope’s husband, Odysseus, is a Greek hero at Troy. Although Ada and Penelope face difficulty in managing their households during war, they both remain loyal to their husbands and provide motivation for them to return.

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 background of the main plot, Penelope struggles with a very important decision throughout the time Odysseus remains lost at sea. After many years without Odysseus’ return, the prospect of a new marriage inclines itself onto Penelope. The sons of the noblest families come to live with Penelope in order to court her for marriage. 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

At a very young age, Penelope, daughter of Icarus and a Naiad, was thrown into the sea by her father, for an unknown reason. Luckily, being the daughter of a naiad, she was swiftly rescued by a flock of ducks, hence earning her the nickname “duck.”

While the maids voice their opinion about Penelope and pretend to be her, they display their viewpoint on what Penelope’s actual actions are: “Point out those maids as feckless and disloyal, / Snatched by the Suitors as unlawful spoil” (Atwood 150). In other words, the maids accuse Penelope of saying awful things about them so that they are killed. Again, the rhyming shows that the maids claim this, not Penelope. Their perspective is that Penelope turned on them when Odysseus returned home, even though she loved and supported them. Based on what they know, they conclude that Penelope indirectly tells Odysseus to kill them; she does not want them to share her secrets. However, Penelope’s stance is that Eurycleia tells Odysseus to kill the twelve maids without her input. There is no proof the maids have ever lied, and they have nothing to lose, so they should be trusted more than Penelope. Thus, Penelope does not tell the truth about what happens regarding their deaths. Although, the maids are not the only ones who have a different story than Penelope, “The Odyssey” does

Appropriation is defined as being able to shift ideas, visuals, key concepts, characters and settings from one context into another in order to manipulate old notions into new innovated ones, for example the Odyssey by poet, Homer in comparison to Margret Atwood’s the Penelopiad. The Penelopiad as a modernized, fresh view of a vaguely described character, which originated from the Odyssey named, Penelope. Penelope is an obscure or cryptic female character who is interpreted to be a cunning, sly, secretive, intelligent, passionate character that can be compared to Shakespeare’s Juliet. Penelope goes through stages of enlightenment, struggle and happiness and questions the way society works as well as trustworthy relationships. The Penelopiad

Do you have an epic hero or think anyone is a hero? Well, I think that Penelope is an epic hero. For me Penelope is an epic hero because of everything she did for people in Greek. Penelope was a strong woman, brave, and also immortal. She waited for her husband for twenty years. She also showed people that she was brave by being faithful and trying her best to to things. Penelope was immortal because she was a complicated woman with a sense of destiny and she never wanted to die. However, not all epic heroes are perfect. Penelope had a weakness it was that she got upset very easily.

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. While she obviously does this to her suitors, Penelope may have also done the same to Odysseus. Although Odysseus finally confirms her suspicions with the wedding bed, Penelope may have figured out who he was in disguise as earlier as their first

After a journey for more than twenty years, Odysseus finally went back home with an identity of a strayed beggar and met his wife Penelope in book 19 of the Odyssey. In light of the love philosophies mentioned by several speakers in another book, the Symposium, the love relationship between Odysseus and Penelope can be further discussed by examining the dialogue between the couple in Book 19.

Odysseus and Penelope’s relationship is different from the other two in several ways. They are the oldest couple, are more trusting and open with each other, and exhibit more traditional man-and-wife roles. While Odysseus was away, Penelope revealed to be intelligent and cunning. Despite that, Odysseus treated her like a possession. His main fault was pride, shown when he reunited with Penelope as the beggar and boasted

In the novel The Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus ventures on a life-changing journey where he comes to realize the things and people that make his life so special. The people who are loyal to Odysseus, including Penelope, Eumaeus, and Eurycleia, always believe he is coming home, and they never stop thinking about him. Their actions show their commitment to him throughout his journey, which they maintain no matter which hardships arise in their own lives. Through the loyalty of those who waited for Odysseus, he is able to maintain a place in the community, and complete his odyssey.

It is, in part a sequel to the Iliad. In the Odyssey, Odysseus and his men face many perils