Preview

Penelope Suffering In The Odyssey

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
344 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Penelope Suffering In The Odyssey
At the time of Penelope’s life, the majority of the greek population believed that the gods were superior to immortal being. However, Penelope disagrees against this belief. In fact, she argues that the popular view of the gods, or Olympians, is inappropriate. Penelope views the gods as malevolent beings that chose to cause pain and suffering for their own amusement. Penelope’s contempt towards the gods originates from her troubled life. Penelope blames her suffering on those who control everybody’s lives: the gods. She complains she was “doomed by the gods to a life that is living death”(page 113). Penelope’s suffering in Ithaca is a result of losing her husband Odysseus. She believes the gods are culpable for his delay in returning. As Odysseus

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    think Odysseus and his wife Penelope are perfect for each other and were meant to be together. I also believe Odysseus and Penelope's story is a very good example of how most military families function. I can relate to their story just a little bit because my husband was in the Air Force for six years. My husband served in the Air Froce from 2001 until 2007. He left for basic training just a couple months after the attack on September 11. The six years that he was in the military we got to experience one deployment.…

    • 214 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Bias In The Odyssey

    • 1096 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The first person perspective is limited and often times truths will be stretched and personal biases will be present in their testimonies. This idea can best be summed up by literary critic, M.H Abrams, who wrote in his 1957 book, A Glossary of Literary Terms, that the first person narrative, “limits the matter of the narrative to what the first-person narrator knows, experiences, infers, or can find out by talking to other characters” (Abrams 233). The limited nature of the first person means that the entire story cannot be told from just one perspective. It is ironic that Penelope chooses to berate her husband for being a liar and questioning the legitimacy of her story when her own narrative is just as dubious. Odysseus and Penelope are what Abrams would call a “fallible or unreliable narrator” (Abrams, 235). These types of narrators are ones whose “perception, interpretation, and evaluation of the matters he or she narrates do not coincide with the opinions and norms implied by the author.” Penelope’s biases are prevalent throughout the text. After being thrown into the sea by her father, she became unable to fully trust anyone and saw people only for their flaws such as Odysseus lies and Menelaus’s “very loud voice” (Atwood, 34). Her reliability is constantly in question, especially due to her personal vendetta against Helen, who she claims ruined her life by taking away her husband. It is sometimes difficult to differentiate between the truth and hyperbole in Penelope’s narration. The bias Penelope has against Helen is blatant and bitter. She is deeply jealous of Helen who was “...much in demand.” what she, “never got summed much by magicians” (Atwood, 20). Penelope is hurt by the idea that she has been constantly overshadowed by Helen, in life and in death. Due to this jealousy,…

    • 1096 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Greek mythology, gods are seen as mystical, all-knowing and almighty, but what if it is not always true? In the novella Penelopiad, by Margaret Atwood, Penelope, the wife of Odysseus, is in her grave while she is narrating what happened in her life. Atwood retells The Odyssey by Homer, from penelope’s point of view. In this section of the book, she is informing the readers about the characteristics of the gods and how their actions were not god like. She is using the chance to reveal the true nature of the gods, because if have spoken illy of the gods she would have faced severe punishment.…

    • 524 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    My two subtopics are about Ithaca and the Underworld. First, Ithaca is the main place of the plot of the Odyssey. Ithaca is the home island of Odysseus, the husband of Penelope and the father of Telemachus. Odysseus struggled 10 years to return home after the decade-long Trojan War. After Odysseus returned, he took back Ithaca's throne. In addition, his wife Penelope and his son Telemachus stave off suitors’ competition for Penelope's hand and Ithaca's throne for Odysseus to return. Furthermore, Eumaeus and Eurycleia were two important characters who lived in Ithaca. They helped Odysseus to reclaim his throne after he returned to Ithaca. The final battle in the story happened in this place when Odysseus reclaimed Ithaca’s throne and killed…

    • 214 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Considering the extent of his absence, it reveals to the reader just how loyal Penelope is as a spouse. When she refers to the stories the minstrels tell her about Odysseus’s, she denies since she feels that the minstrels, “took up these themes and embroidered them considerably.” (Atwood, 84). In her mind, “supernatural monsters and beloved of goddesses” are the reasons Odysseus is yet to return. The diction in the passage gives a emphasizes the power of the forces that are keeping her husband from returning home, which highlights the trust she has for her husband; she gives him the benefit of the doubt. She believes that “...only a strong divine power could keep my husband from rushing back…” (Atwood, 84) and not her husband’s own curiosity; she refuses to have that thought cross her mind. She is incredibly loyal to her husband. This loyalty to Odysseus stems from her inability to trust people and from Odysseus being the only person that respects her for who she…

    • 974 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The gods seem to be aware of her emotional state and sometimes even keep information from her to avoid panic; a good example of this is when Eurycleia was washing the feet of Odysseus and Eurycleia discovers from a scar it is Odysseus and wanted desperately to tell Penelope it was her husband right there but “she could not catch the glance, she took no heed, Athena turned her direction elsewhere” (Homer 19.540). Penelope’s life is an interesting example of more Greek values that are fidelity and patience. The fact that Athena did not want Penelope to know also shows an important quality of the gods, that they are able to see the bigger picture, and have everything well planned…

    • 776 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Love is a powerful word. It has been told that through love, you can conquer all things. Like Odysseus, who traveled for years, for miles, and would endure any pain for the love of his family. Odysseus and Penelope had a very strong connection and marriage compared to others whom lived in this era. An era in which the definition of marriage was not one that we are quite used to. People of this age did not marry someone because they necessarily “loved” their spouse- but for the other things that the man or woman would bring to the table. Women looked for a suitor who would bring in the best gifts along with someone that would take care of the household. Men sought out for a certain reputation. They compete for the one they had laid eyes on by…

    • 1043 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the vast tellings of Homer’s The Odyssey, many character comparisons can be made. Few are more pressing however, than the heroism of Odysseus and his wife, Penelope. Although both Penelope and Odysseus displayed heroic characteristics in The Odyssey, Odysseus was more of a hero than his wife was in the epic. Penelope, while somewhat of a heroine, simply was not depicted by Homer to be the hero that her husband was.…

    • 684 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In addition, Odysseus slays the dozens of suitors plaguing the halls of his palace. After returning to his palace in Ithaca, he commences a bloodbath. He begins by shooting the villainous Antinous through his neck. The text describes that “The point passed clean through his tender throat...His life-blood gushed from his nostrils in a turbid jet.” (Homer, 329) Odysseus begins to take back his right as the master of the palace. The lifeless state of Antinous stresses his looming wrath. In spite of the suitors’ attempts to bargain their wealth for being spared, Odysseus asserts the punishment which they deserve for their crimes. He says “...not if you made over all your patrimony to me...would I keep my hands from killing until you Suitors had…

    • 328 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Penelope is shown to be contsently in emotional termilol over odyessus throughout the Odyssey. For much of the book she is seen to be crying until a god take pity on her and allows her to fall asleep. But while Penelope is seen to be very leaky, she is also shown to be very rational, and very bounded to many things. One of this things is the funeral shroud that she uses to trick the suitors for three years by unraveling it at night. This was a very interseting part, because in some way it reence backs to Zues putting a viel on chaos and giving it form. Rather in this intsence the viel is a shroud, Penople is Zeus, and the chaos she is bounding is her solution to keep her husbands home without remarrying, or having to give it up, and to move back in with her parents. Penelope is and intersecting character because she mirrors Zeus first wife in many ways, such as tricking her suitors for three years, and by rational finding out that is Odysseus was the true Odysseus, and not and…

    • 604 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    During the Odyssey alot of good advice is given to one another. Unfortunatley this good advice is usually ignored and results is disaster. Due to this theres many unfortunate events during this story just on the act of stubborness.…

    • 360 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Heroism In The Odyssey

    • 1497 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Movies, which show more and tell less, allow potential heroes to prove their heroism with actions and not words. Each movie that we watched for class showed heroism in a different way, much like the ancient Greek and Roman poems told about heroism in a different way. Partially a product of their time, each movie approached a World War in a way that reflected the values of their time, much like how Odysseus’s cunning was praised by the Greeks and condemned by the Romans. However, I think that the sequence of movies matches up quite nicely with the sequence of poems. Comparing The Grand Illusion to the Iliad, Saving Private Ryan to the Aeneid, and Inglourious Basterds to the Odyssey brings out contrasts, like the definition of heroism, between…

    • 1497 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Pain In The Odyssey

    • 409 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In the epic, pain precedes greatness. The gods often time cause the pain of the great ones in the epic, allowing them to overcome their struggles and therefore become great. When talking about Demodokos, Homer wrote, “ By [the Muse’s] gift [Demodokos] knew the good of life, and evil--- for she who lent him sweetness made him blind” (127). Although the Muse takes away Demodokos’s eyesight, she shows him “ the good of life” and makes him an amazing minstrel. In this passage, there is a direct relationship between suffering and success. “She who lent him sweetness made him blind” shows how the Muse both made Demodokos great and caused him suffering. Although being blinded causes Demodokos pain, it allows him to be great. By causing Demodokos pain,…

    • 409 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Iliad and The Odyssey are tales written by Homer centered on the drama of the Trojan War. First poem deals with the time during the end of the war, while the latter, which occurs roughly ten years later, explains the disastrous journey of Odysseus fighting his way back home. The character of women in the Odyssey is to exhibit the many and diverse roles that women play in the lives of men. These functions vary from characters such as the goddess ' that help them to the nymphs who trick them. Women in the Iliad exhibit their significance in the lives of the ancient Greeks because they are so prominent in a world so dominated with military relations.…

    • 825 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    After the war of Troy, Odysseus was lost at sea and Penelope gave up most of her hope after years of waiting for her husband to return home. Later on Suitors came to court her in the castle where Penelope and her son Telemachus lived. There are so many ways that Penelope showed her loyalty to her husband while he was away. One way Penelope shows her loyalty is no matter how the suitors courted her and wanted to marry her she never went with a suiter. Another reason is that she never completely gave up hope that her husband was alive. The final reason is that she defended Odysseus's memory. In The Odyssey, Penelope showed her loyalty to her husband multiple times throughout the epic poem.…

    • 847 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays