Role of Penelope in The Odyssey Essay

the power of narration to the female characters of the myth Penelope is giving them an opportunity to “spin a thread” (4) of their own and to shift the focus to their emotions and their understanding of various occurances. The main narrative by Penelope, the wife of Odysseus, traces her life from her birth to the return of Odysseus from the Trojan war. In this narration readers are provided with a new understanding of the life of Penelope and how she was confined to the image of a…

by day she’d weave at her great and growing web- by night, by the light of torches set beside her, she would unravel all she’d done.” (2:115-117). At last the gears in the head of Penelope were turning, for she was upholding her plan of deceiving the suitors and leading them to believe her desire is marriage. The Odyssey is an epic telling the tale of Odysseus’ life and journey back to the land where he came from. On the way he faces tests of wit and loyalty and in order to reach his homeland…

was courageous. He had made himself known as a great warrior. Where Achilles is a simpler, hero, Odysseys is a more complicated hero. Odysseus lives by guiles and courage with a devotion to get back home to his people and his wife. He is also very intellectual in how…

In The Iliad and The Odyssey, Homer has strikingly different opinions on the roles that women play in each epic. The differences are so striking that some readers have argued that a woman could have possibly created The Odyssey, modeled after Homer’s Iliad. In The Iliad we see women as war prizes and slaves, vulnerabilities to men, and in positions of limited power. In The Odyssey however, we see women capturing men and keeping them as prizes, rising from a status of limited power to dominating…

The Archetypal Pattern in Stars Wars: Episode 4 In many novels, there are archetypal patterns, this is shown prominently in The Odyssey. The Odyssey’s archetypal pattern consists of a returning wanderer, a waiting women, and a parent-less child. This archetypal model is reflected in Star Wars: Episode 4. The returning wanderer is Obi-Wan Kenobi, as until Luke found him, Kenobi lived in isolation. This was due to the loss of a battle with Darth Vader. Through conversation Obi-Wan Kenobi…

characters in The Odyssey, Odysseus is one of the best military leaders, fathers, and he is a great husband to Penelope. He is a very, very important and main character in Greek mythology, and in The Odyssey. He is a hero because of all the heroic things that he has done up to the point of when he gets re united with his family. The things that he does throughout The Odyssey, is what classifies Odysseus’s roles as a military leader, father and a husband. As you read The Odyssey, you will even…

Little White Lies Here and There is Human Nature! Lies and deceit plays a vital role in the story of Odyssey. In the Odyssey, Odysseus has to lie or disguise himself at times so he can solve the problem he is facing. Odysseus and his men were stuck in Cyclops' cave and Odysseus had to figure out a way to get his crew and himself free. When the Cyclops asked what his name is, Odysseus very cunningly lies and says his name is Noman (Lombardo 135). In this part of the story, Odysseus has planned…

but of all humanity, while Penelope in The Odyssey embodies the ideal woman who is able to prove her loyalty to her husband despite a separation of twenty years. In both ancient texts, women serve as a vessel that highlights stereotypical expectations. However, women in The Odyssey submit to the stereotypical expectations, while Clytaemnestra breaks the conventional mold within society and is able to act upon her own greatest desires. The cruelty behind…

important epics and mythological tales, specifically The Iliad, The Odyssey, The Aeneid, and Sinbad the Sailor, readers can see that women play a far different role than men. In each of these texts, the protagonist is always a male character, who is brave, strong, and determined. The women never play these roles, but instead are an accessory to these protagonists, as well as flat and static characters; such as Eurycleia in The Odyssey, with her main goal being to tend to Odysseus, and she shows…

The Role of Klytaimnestra’s Story in The Odyssey Being a hero can mean many things, but nothing defines a hero more clearly than an antihero. So often, being a hero is defined by “doing good deeds”, but good deeds cannot be understood without their bad equivalents. Good could not possibly exist without evil, otherwise there would be no way to define it. That is the role that the story of Klytaimnestra fulfills in The Odyssey. The story is used to express the scope of Penelope’s loyalty to…