Penelope Lively

When you think about heroes, who do you think about? Do you think about the character that climbs buildings and releases spider webs from his hand? Or maybe the character that flies everywhere, giving parts of his head to people who are hungry? In the Iliad, the warriors display the aspects of heroism. Some characters are portrayed as great warriors who are loyal to their country, and some are written as cowards who do not have enough courage to fight. The Homeric heroes are meant to be skillful…

Title In the epic, The Odyssey, Odysseus went on a 10 year journey back home from the war. When he got back from the war, he came back to men trying to take his wife. Both the conflict during the journey and the conflict at home were very difficult, but the journey back home is what really shaped Odysseus into the character he is. During the journey, Odysseus “weathered many bitter nights and days in his deep heart at sea, while he fought only to save his life” (Homer 1045). Odysseus had many…

message reveals itself in the subplot regarding Telemachus, Odysseus’s twenty-year old son. As the man of the house, he has to take on the responsibility of running the household and defending his mother Penelope and himself from the dangerous appetites of the hundreds of suitors who nag Penelope. Even though he still has a long ways to grow, Telemachus, from what we see in Homer’s Odyssey, has potential to become a worthy successor to Odysseus, his father. I believe that if Telemachus has to…

The Homecoming The Odyssey by the ancient Greek writer Homer takes us into the life of a man called Odysseus. Odysseus, the son of Lartes, has left both his son, Telemachus, and his wife, Penelope, to fight a war in Troy. After 10 years of fighting the war, Odysseus and his men were finally ready to return home to their families, however, the Gods were not finished with Odysseus. They needed to test his wisdom, honor, piety and prudence to prove that he is truly a noble hero. While Odysseus was…

(all his crew has died) and has lost all hope. However, Odysseus is an “unwilling FIND QUOTE” , and like Circe, she prevents him from finding a way home. When he finally gets help from Hermes, Calypso tries to manipulate him by comparing herself to Penelope; “Calypso’s final a priori comparison between her own beauty and Penelope’s… is also judged as sound reasoning, based on the assumption that there is no room for a real contest between goddesses and mortals” (Pontani). However, Odysseus sees…

is a strong masculine-feminine balance in the Odyssey, where the women are able to survive without depending on a man. The women all show individual versions of strength and all have contrasting relationships with Odysseus throughout his journey. Penelope is one of the strongest feminine characters…

In ancient Greece, hospitality it is an unspoken rule of their culture. This theme of respect for both host and guest is carried throughout Homer’s The Odyssey. Hospitality was the glue that held Greece together, seeing as it (in retrospect) maintained order among the Greeks from different regions. The Greeks used the term “Xenia” as a way to describe the generosity or courtesy shown to strangers, no matter the condition, and creating a relationship between guest and host. It is postulated…

In Ancient Greece a heroic woman was loyal to her husband and family above all. Odysseus’s wife, Penelope was left at home with her son when Odysseus went off to war. In the opening of The Odyssey the book describes her house being plagued by suitors. Throughout the book Penelope comes up with clever ways to keep the suitors at bay while keeping her family and house safe. She even tells the suitors she cannot marry until she finished making…

Odysseus’s Leadership Essay According to the epic The Odyssey by Homer, losing his entire crew on his journey back to Ithaca does not preclude Odysseus from being considered a good leader due to the circumstances in which he was helpless to prevent the loss of his crew and his aptitude for wisdom. To begin with, Odysseus is a good leader despite the fact that he lost his entire crew because he was rendered completely powerless such a catastrophe. Examples of this include the crew’s stay on…

seven years to keep him safe because she loves him. Calypso’s role in the Odyssey is rather seductive. She is a very beautiful female goddess, even Odysseus is impressed by her beauty and he addressed that she was more pretty compare to his wife Penelope. Odysseus and Calypso were lovers for years until the order of Zeus separated them. Another seductive goddess female character that has an affair with Odysseus is Circe, the daughter of the sun god, Helios. She made Odysseus and his man stay in…