Penelope hears about the disappearance of her son for the first time and is distraught. Hence, she questions Eurycleia who dissuades Penelope from notifying Laertes about his grandson’s departure. While all the females in Homer’s epic are different, they all endure the aspects of a patriarchal society, a civilization in which males hold primary power and predominate in roles of leadership. Penelope proves to be a central character throughout the poem. Through examining her role as the wife of Odysseus and how she is represented, readers comprehend how females may have been treated in Homeric Greece. The wife of Odysseus proves to possess a complex, contradictory character, layered with meekness, submission and vulnerability, yet later on
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The intense conflict between Penelope and the suitors, unfortunately, reflects how a patriarchal society can be oppressive against females. Although the queen is respected by most Ithacans, the self-possessed woman is powerless in the face of mutiny against her kin. For instance, circumspect Penelope merely watches as her own citizens ravage the palace of her husband, Odysseus. In fact, the radiant woman plays along with the suitors, stating that she will marry after the completion of Laertes’ shroud. Clearly, Penelope lacks the authority to have her suitors banished …show more content…
With the prior books, Penelope has been portrayed to be easily perturbed by information and unable to properly control or overcome those anxieties. For instance, in Book 1 of The Odyssey, Penelope is consumed with apprehension regarding Odysseus’s return. Her misery over her husband’s absence prevents her from moving onward with her life, resorting to being stagnant. Gazing at his mother’s hopeless state, Telemachus rebukes Penelope for her rapid judgment and inability to conquer her plaguing thoughts. Ultimately, while showing Penelope’s inability to control her emotions and ideas, the situation simultaneously reveals that Telemachus is aware of such traits of his mother. As a mother would not wish for her son to suffer, likewise, a son would not want to see his mother undergo stress. Realizing his mother’s sensitivity could have been Telemachus’s motive to hide his voyage from Penelope, realizing that she would not respond
The intense conflict between Penelope and the suitors, unfortunately, reflects how a patriarchal society can be oppressive against females. Although the queen is respected by most Ithacans, the self-possessed woman is powerless in the face of mutiny against her kin. For instance, circumspect Penelope merely watches as her own citizens ravage the palace of her husband, Odysseus. In fact, the radiant woman plays along with the suitors, stating that she will marry after the completion of Laertes’ shroud. Clearly, Penelope lacks the authority to have her suitors banished …show more content…
With the prior books, Penelope has been portrayed to be easily perturbed by information and unable to properly control or overcome those anxieties. For instance, in Book 1 of The Odyssey, Penelope is consumed with apprehension regarding Odysseus’s return. Her misery over her husband’s absence prevents her from moving onward with her life, resorting to being stagnant. Gazing at his mother’s hopeless state, Telemachus rebukes Penelope for her rapid judgment and inability to conquer her plaguing thoughts. Ultimately, while showing Penelope’s inability to control her emotions and ideas, the situation simultaneously reveals that Telemachus is aware of such traits of his mother. As a mother would not wish for her son to suffer, likewise, a son would not want to see his mother undergo stress. Realizing his mother’s sensitivity could have been Telemachus’s motive to hide his voyage from Penelope, realizing that she would not respond