Preview

Penelope As A Moral Agent In Homer's Odyssey

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
500 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Penelope As A Moral Agent In Homer's Odyssey
Eliana Nunez, CL 101 ‘Homer’s The Odyssey: ‘ 2-16-15 WC #1=469 WC#2= 6 WC #3=11 In Homer’s Odyssey, in what fundamental way IS, or IS not, Penelope a determining moral agent in her own destiny? I shall argue that Penelope IS a determining moral agent in her destiny by fulfilling her promise to wait for her husband, giving all suitors a chance to marry her, and allowing Odysseus to prove himself to her. A moral agent IS a person capable of acting with reference to right and wrong. For 20 years, Penelope remained faithful to her husband in hopes of keeping her family together. She attempted to win Odysseus some time by weaving and unweaving Laertes’ shroud (2.112-4). However, her suitors caught on to her trick, which forced her to make …show more content…
612-13). The suitors take advantage of Odysseus’ absence and plot to kill Penelope’s son. Despite the threat they pose to her family, Penelope decides to challenge the suitors to a bow and arch contest that will determine who she marries (19.669-70). By challenging the suitors to shoot the bow her husband did, she gives them a fair chance to prove themselves worthy of taking her husband’s place (19.664-67). Penelope eliminates the competition of money, prestige, and charm. In addition, Penelope’s judgment remains unclouded by preference for specific suitors (1. 296). She did not maintain a relationship with any of them and thus would not know of any special talents that could aid them in winning the contest. After Odysseus slays all of the suitors, he begs Penelope to recognize him as her husband (23.187-92). Unfortunately, Penelope has hardened her heart in order to protect herself from falling for a trick (23.242-45). In order to believe that Odysseus has returned, she must test the beggar (Odysseus) with knowledge only she and her husband WERE privy to (23. 253-54). Fortunately for Penelope, her morality earned her the united family she longed
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Comparing Homer's Odyssey And O Brother Where Art Thou?
    • 1261 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Comparing Homer's Odyssey And O Brother Where Art Thou?

    Penelope seemed like the epitome of a loyal wife in The Odyssey. She waited years for Odysseus to return, only marrying when it became a necessity. Penny however, not only chose to get married, but she told Ulysses’s daughters that he died in a train accident so she could cover up the fact that he was in prison. Even with that discrepancy, Penny and Penelope both chose to marry for their children. Penelope decided she needed to choose a suitor, so the suitors would leave. She believed that her son, Telemakhos, needed to start his own life, and her marrying would allow him to live in peace. Penny needed someone to provide for her seven daughters. When Ulysses incredulously asked about her engagement, she replied “I gotta think of the Wharvey gals! They look to me for answers!” (O…art thou) Similarly, Penny and Penelope both needed convincing before they returned to their husbands. When Odysseus had returned, Penelope believed a suitor disguised as Odysseus . To test him, Penelope asked one of the maids to move their bed into the hallway so Odysseus could sleep in it. Odysseus became enraged because the bed was carved in an oak tree that grew through the bedroom, therefore rendering it immovable. Penny knew that only Odysseus would know this, so she welcomed him back. Ulysses disguised himself as a poor musician, snuck…

    • 1261 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Bias In The Odyssey
    • 1096 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Bias In The Odyssey

    The first person perspective is limited and often times truths will be stretched and personal biases will be present in their testimonies. This idea can best be summed up by literary critic, M.H Abrams, who wrote in his 1957 book, A Glossary of Literary Terms, that the first person narrative, “limits the matter of the narrative to what the first-person narrator knows, experiences, infers, or can find out by talking to other characters” (Abrams 233). The limited nature of the first person means that the entire story cannot be told from just one perspective. It is ironic that Penelope chooses to berate her husband for being a liar and questioning the legitimacy of her story when her own narrative is just as dubious. Odysseus and Penelope are what Abrams would call a “fallible or unreliable narrator” (Abrams, 235). These types of narrators are ones whose “perception, interpretation, and evaluation of the matters he or she narrates do not coincide with the opinions and norms implied by the author.” Penelope’s biases are prevalent throughout the text. After being thrown into the sea by her father, she became unable to fully trust anyone and saw people only for their flaws such as Odysseus lies and Menelaus’s “very loud voice” (Atwood, 34). Her reliability is constantly in question, especially due to her personal vendetta against Helen, who she claims ruined her life by taking away her husband. It is sometimes difficult to differentiate between the truth and hyperbole in Penelope’s narration. The bias Penelope has against Helen is blatant and bitter. She is deeply jealous of Helen who was “...much in demand.” what she, “never got summed much by magicians” (Atwood, 20). Penelope is hurt by the idea that she has been constantly overshadowed by Helen, in life and in death. Due to this jealousy,…

    • 1096 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Examples Of Eurycleia In The Odyssey
    • 426 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Examples Of Eurycleia In The Odyssey

    Book nineteen of the Odyssey tells how Penelope, Odysseus’ wife, questions her curious visitor whom claims to have met her husband. He describes Odysseus in such perfect detail that Penelope begins to cry. Penelope offers Odysseus, who is still disguised as a beggar, a place to stay and a bed to sleep in. He turns down the bed and sleeps on the floor like he is used to. Eurycleia, a servant of Penelope, washes Odysseus’ feet where she discovers a scar on his one foot. She recognizes the scar and throws her arms around Odysseus. Odysseus had received the scar from when he had gone boar hunting with Autolycus, his grandfather. Eurycleia keeps what she has found out away from Penelope. Before going to bed, Penelope shares a dream she had had…

    • 426 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Odysseus Lack Of Power In Homer's Odyssey
    • 716 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Odysseus Lack Of Power In Homer's Odyssey

    Odysseus revolts against them due to the trouble Penelope faced all these years . Odysseus forewarns the…

    • 716 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Role Of Penelope In Homer's Odyssey
    • 713 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Role Of Penelope In Homer's Odyssey

    He tells Penelope that he was born on the island of Krete. He also tell her that he saw Odysseus in a coastal city and says that he was his caretaker for a short amount of time. After hearing this story, Penelope begins to cry. Nevertheless, Penelope is still skeptical so she decides to ask the beggar Odysseus what her husband was wearing. The beggar Odysseus says that Odysseus was wearing a double thick purple cloak, a gold pin that resembled a hunting dog, and a fine white tunic. Penelope cries again and says that those were the clothes she had dressed him in on the morning of his departure. Despite these two stories from Odysseus, Penelope still believes that her husband is dead. Trying to rid her of these thoughts, Odysseus begins to tell his story from the point of a spectator. He describes the majority of his journey and then mentions how Odysseus is on the island of the Phaikians and therefore, will be returning very shortly. But, Penelope is still in denial and does not believe that her husband will…

    • 713 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Isolation In The Penelopiad By Margaret Atwood
    • 974 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Isolation In The Penelopiad By Margaret Atwood

    Considering the extent of his absence, it reveals to the reader just how loyal Penelope is as a spouse. When she refers to the stories the minstrels tell her about Odysseus’s, she denies since she feels that the minstrels, “took up these themes and embroidered them considerably.” (Atwood, 84). In her mind, “supernatural monsters and beloved of goddesses” are the reasons Odysseus is yet to return. The diction in the passage gives a emphasizes the power of the forces that are keeping her husband from returning home, which highlights the trust she has for her husband; she gives him the benefit of the doubt. She believes that “...only a strong divine power could keep my husband from rushing back…” (Atwood, 84) and not her husband’s own curiosity; she refuses to have that thought cross her mind. She is incredibly loyal to her husband. This loyalty to Odysseus stems from her inability to trust people and from Odysseus being the only person that respects her for who she…

    • 974 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Heroic Hero Of Odysseus In Homer's The Odyssey
    • 307 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Heroic Hero Of Odysseus In Homer's The Odyssey

    Odysseus eventually wants to return to his home and admits that his wife doesn't compare with Calypso. He shows the characteristics…

    • 307 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Challenges Of Homecoming In Homer's Odyssey
    • 508 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Challenges Of Homecoming In Homer's Odyssey

    Penelope, Odysseus’ wife, tests him to assure herself of his identity. As he listens, she asks Eurycleia to move the bedside out of the couple’s chamber and spread it with blankets. The king himself had carved the bed as a young man, shaping it out of a living olive tree that grew in the courtyard of the palace. He built the bedroom around the tree and would know that the bed cannot be moved. When Odysseus becomes upset that the original bed may have been destroyed, Penelope is relieved and accepts him as her long absent husband. For the first time in twenty years they spent a blissful night together. In relation to a soldier some have trouble stepping back into relationships with family and friends after an experience that sent home a different person.…

    • 508 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Personal Virtue In The Odyssey
    • 254 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Personal Virtue In The Odyssey

    A personal virtue that is a major theme in the epic, The Odyssey, is loyalty and perseverance. The best example of loyalty in of the epic, Penelope, who waited faithfully in Ithaca for 20 years for her husband, Odysseus’, to return. Odysseus’ son Telemachus, who also showed loyalty by standing by his father against the suitors who are after the throne. The two analytical lenses that I will use to interpret this epic, is the Psychological and the social class lens. The psychology lens focuses on the internal struggles of a character in a text. This could be seen by the three main characters, Odysseus, Telemachus, and Penelope. All three character, psychologically, have their mind set on their longing reunion throughout the epic which ties to…

    • 254 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Heroism Of Penelope In Homer's The Odyssey
    • 684 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Heroism Of Penelope In Homer's The Odyssey

    In the vast tellings of Homer’s The Odyssey, many character comparisons can be made. Few are more pressing however, than the heroism of Odysseus and his wife, Penelope. Although both Penelope and Odysseus displayed heroic characteristics in The Odyssey, Odysseus was more of a hero than his wife was in the epic. Penelope, while somewhat of a heroine, simply was not depicted by Homer to be the hero that her husband was.…

    • 684 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Women In Anne Carson's Putting Her In Her Place
    • 604 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Women In Anne Carson's Putting Her In Her Place

    Penelope is shown to be contsently in emotional termilol over odyessus throughout the Odyssey. For much of the book she is seen to be crying until a god take pity on her and allows her to fall asleep. But while Penelope is seen to be very leaky, she is also shown to be very rational, and very bounded to many things. One of this things is the funeral shroud that she uses to trick the suitors for three years by unraveling it at night. This was a very interseting part, because in some way it reence backs to Zues putting a viel on chaos and giving it form. Rather in this intsence the viel is a shroud, Penople is Zeus, and the chaos she is bounding is her solution to keep her husbands home without remarrying, or having to give it up, and to move back in with her parents. Penelope is and intersecting character because she mirrors Zeus first wife in many ways, such as tricking her suitors for three years, and by rational finding out that is Odysseus was the true Odysseus, and not and…

    • 604 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    the portrayal of women in the Odyssey
    • 897 Words
    • 4 Pages

    the portrayal of women in the Odyssey

    Although women in ancient Greece are often portrayed as meek and weak, this is not the case in Homer’s epic; The Odyssey. Instead, women in the Odyssey are often described as either cunning, intelligent, sexually alluring, or powerful, dangerous and fatal. Some of the most typical female characters are Athena, Circes and Penelope, where Athena is a powerful goddess and a skilled warrior, Circes is a cunning witch who tricked Odysseus’ men into drinking her potion and turning into swine, and Penelope, the extremely clever, yet loyal wife of Odysseus who outsmarted the suitors for 20 years. Most of these female characters fall under the category of “femme Fatale”, Latin for fatal-woman, which perfectly portrays their powerfulness and how lethal they are.…

    • 897 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Odysseus Is An Epic Hero Essay
    • 479 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Odysseus Is An Epic Hero Essay

    While Odysseus is an epic hero there are a few things about him that are not so heroic; such as his loyalty to his wife. He enjoys a luxurious life with Calypso all while Penelope, his wife, fights off suitors in order to remain loyal to Odysseus. While he does want to return home, he also admits that not even his wife can compare to Calypso.…

    • 479 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Penelope And The Suitors Analysis
    • 1420 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Penelope And The Suitors Analysis

    Penelope is making a cloth for her father in law, and suitors of all cities near Ithaca wanted to marry her. Penelope is smart and feels miserable without her husband, she is smart by using smart tactics to push back her announcement of marrying one of the suitors, and she feels miserable because she has not seen her husband in a long time. The mood can be described as the center of attention and beautiful, these tell that men are savages when it comes they only want to marry someone who is in grief and take their belongings (Analysis). The painting shows how Penelope is not paying attention to anybody because she does not care of anybody there and she wants Odysseus to come home (Analysis). The painting also shows how Penelope is loyal to Odysseus by not marrying any of the suitors and waiting for him to come home (Analysis). John is portraying that Penelope is the center of attention of the painting by, she is the the main character in the painting from his point of view…

    • 1420 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Examples Of Penelope's Loyalty In The Odyssey
    • 847 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Examples Of Penelope's Loyalty In The Odyssey

    After the war of Troy, Odysseus was lost at sea and Penelope gave up most of her hope after years of waiting for her husband to return home. Later on Suitors came to court her in the castle where Penelope and her son Telemachus lived. There are so many ways that Penelope showed her loyalty to her husband while he was away. One way Penelope shows her loyalty is no matter how the suitors courted her and wanted to marry her she never went with a suiter. Another reason is that she never completely gave up hope that her husband was alive. The final reason is that she defended Odysseus's memory. In The Odyssey, Penelope showed her loyalty to her husband multiple times throughout the epic poem.…

    • 847 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics