Grief In The Odyssey Analysis

The word “grief” shares many similarities to “sadness”, but just as both terms are used to describe a state of unhappiness, to be grieving carries with it connotations of a deeper-rooted pain stemming from the mourning of a loss, or an emotional loyalty to the subject of the grief. The characters in the Greek epic The Odyssey are no strangers to grief, as it is a word woven throughout the text both physically and as an underlying theme. Just as the heroes of the Trojan War long for home, the women they left behind pine for their missing loved ones through constant articulation of grief, bouts of weeping, and sometimes even the need of literal unconsciousness in order to forget their pain. For the wives of The Odyssey, the amount of grief they …show more content…
Be that as it may, those attributes that contribute to the complexity of her personality arise from her sorrow, which often manifests as a motivator. Two traits that stand out in particular are Penelope’s cunningness and wisdom. The story of her fooling the suitors is one that appears three times in great detail. Following her namesake, she is able to tangle the unwelcomed guests in a lie for close to four years as she weaves Laertes’ funeral shroud by day only to unravel her work by night. Antinous calls her the “matchless queen of cunning” (II, 95) with a “fine mind/... and subtle wiles too” (II, 129-130), calling to attention the fact that Penelope is well aware of her circumstances and is able to leverage her strengths as much as possible. Another instance of this skill coming to play is when she proposes for the suitors to try and string Odysseus’ bow in order to “test their skill and bring their slaughter on” (XXI, 5). Outmatched in strength but not in mind, Penelope comes up with these ingenious ploys to foil the suitors’ pursuits— all for the sake of remaining faithful to Odysseus because she is still too overcome by grief to remarry, as seen when she says, “I yearn for Odysseus, always, my heart pines away./They rush the marriage on, and I spin out my wiles.” (XIX, 151-152) At the same time, the woe she feels gives rise to the wisdom others describe her possessing, because she is wise for not letting her emotions cloud her judgment. While moved to tears by the disguised Odysseus’ story about meeting himself, she isn’t quick to assume that he is telling the truth, testing him with questions even up to the moment that he finally reveals his identity— to the bemusement of Odysseus who says, “Leave your mother here in the hall to test me...” (XXIII, 128). Many have tried to utilize Penelope’s grief to