![]() Penelope declares: “Sweet hearts…Ulysses is indeed dead, still do not press me to marry again immediately, wait- for I would not have skill in needlework perish unrecorded- till I have completed a pall for the hero Laertes, to be in readiness against the time when death shall take him” (Homer). ![]() Yes, she did entertain the suitors, but she imposed a condition: she will pick one of the suitors and marry him after she has done making the shroud of Laertes. We never yet heard of such a woman we know all about Tyro, Alcmena, Mycene, and the famous women of old, but they were nothing to your mother, any one of them” (Homer). In the words of Antinous 2: “…She gives herself on the score of the accomplishments Minerva has taught her, and because she is so clever. However, her intelligence proves that she is indeed a dynamic character. This is because she exerts no effort in searching for her missing husband, nor does she do anything to dismiss the suitors bothering her home. Indeed, Penelope shows her weakness when she fails to drive the suitors away, or when she cannot prevent them from taking advantage of her household.Īt this point, the character of Penelope seems static. While Odysseus was gone, it was Penelope’s task to guard the household, but she has failed to do so. She delays choosing a suitor as she is still undecided to whether remarry or not. As a result, when she was faced by the sudden appearance of unwelcome suitors, she welcomes them but refuses to make a decision. Two decades is a long time but she still considers the possibility that he may come back. Why did she entertain suitors if she still awaited for Odysseus’ return? This part of the story exhibits her hesitation in dealing with the suitors, which is again the result of her faithfulness to Odysseus. It is her accommodation of suitors that leave several readers baffled. Due to his lengthy absence, suitors from all over Ithaca came to her home, eager to take the throne of Odysseus. Penelope waited and waited for news about Odysseus, as she does not know whether her husband had died or not. Nevertheless, I want to get home, and can think of nothing else.” (Homer). She is only a woman, whereas you are an immortal. I am quite aware that my wife Penelope is nothing like so tall or so beautiful as yourself. In Book 5, he tells Calypso: “Do not be angry with me about this. Her loyalty was never in vain, though, as Odysseus reciprocated this faithfulness despite the distance. No other woman could bear to keep away from her husband when he had come back to her after twenty years of absence, and after having gone through so much” (Homer). In the words of Odysseus: “Heaven has endowed you with a heart more unyielding than woman ever yet had. In fact, her faithfulness to Odysseus is one of her character’s strengths. Despite his long absence, Penelope stayed faithful to him. Odysseus was absent from Penelope’s life for twenty years. In Book 23 of “The Odyssey,” Penelope spoke to the maid Euryclea: “I have never slept so soundly from the day my poor husband went to that city with the ill–omened name” (Homer). She is overcome with so much grief upon his long absence that she cries herself to sleep. The duration of the Trojan War was also a decade, but soon after, there was no more news about Odysseus’ whereabouts. Prior to the war, they spent ten years of wedded bliss. In her conversation with the minstrel Phemius 2 in Book 1, she said: “…Cease this sad tale, for it breaks my sorrowful heart, and reminds me of my lost husband whom I mourn ever without ceasing, and whose name was great over all Hellas and middle Argos” (Homer). Early on in the story, she is faced with a dilemma as her husband had failed to return after the Trojan War. ![]() In “The Odyssey,” Penelope is the wife of Odysseus and the mother of Telemachus. ![]() Upon closer analysis, however, one could see her incomparable strength and faith, as well as her admirable intelligence. Unlike the other characters which reveal physical strength or supernatural capabilities, Penelope seems to be weak and powerless. Penelope may not be as prominent as the other characters in Homer’s The Odyssey, but she still is one of the most crucial major characters in the story. ![]()
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