Preview

Comparison Piece Essay Example

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
350 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Comparison Piece Essay Example
The discussion herein compares two stories which are The Odyssey and Much Ado About Nothing. The comparison shall take a look at one theme that is similar in both stories and will explain how the theme has been brought out in both stories. The theme selected is that Women are Powerful. In both stories, it is very clear that women are powerful. The power that is referred to herein is not physical but rather emotional. The power that women have over men makes them make mistakes some of which turn out to be costly. In Much Ado About Nothing, the main female character Hero seems to be at the center of all the controversy that goes on throughout the story. Claudio who had earned recognition by his army leader Don Pedro in the last couple of battles has his eyes on the daughter of the Governor of Messina, Leonato. Don Pedro, however, offered to woo Hero on behalf of Claudio (Shakespeare, p. 32). One cannot help the great efforts that the men in this story have put for the sake of women. Don John, the bastard brother Don Pedro makes Claudio believe that Don Pedro is in fact wooing Hero form himself and not for Claudio as agreed (Shakespeare, p. 24) In The Odyssey, Odyssey is believed to be dead after he failed to return from war. His wife Penelope has attracted many suitors all of who are interested. They all hope to get a chance to court even if she has made it clear that she does not want to remarry (Parks, p. 28). They are all patient and they are hoping that Penelope is going to change her and consider one of them. When Penelope is asked by the many suitors why she will not give them consideration and yet her husband is already, she argues that she needs to complete funeral arrangements (Lister, p. 14). They still wait even if the funeral arrangements do not seem to come to an

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    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
  • Good Essays

    I craved love, for I had been a trustworthy servant for twenty years. I was, or I thought I was, Penelope’s cornerstone. If Penelope had not told me, her trusty servant, the secret about her and Odysseus’ bed, what was stopping her from keeping plenty of other secrets from me? One of these days, I will embark on a journey of love for myself. I am worthy, after all. I stayed by Penelope’s side for twenty years and listened to her cries for love, and complaints of loneliness. If anything, I deserve love more than Penelope……

    • 1317 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Penelope has suffered in this story, for time thinking if her husband Odysseus will not come back from his adventure with his crew. With the idea of her husband, Odysseus, not returning, Penelope has been stressed out not knowing the answer of his return, leaving her going to sleep at night crying to herself.…

    • 133 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    i. Penelope was determined to delay choosing a suitor because she was hopeful that her husband Odysseus would come home and the suitors would no longer try to come anywhere near Penelope again.…

    • 528 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Greeks value loyalty very high in women. You can tell throughout the book that its just fine for men to run off and be with whomever they please, but women must be loyal to their husbands. That is just the Greek culture. Right from the start, anyone can tell that Penelope is extremely loyal. As soon as her husband leaves for Troy, she never even sets eyes on another man, not for years, and is struck with grief every moment he is not with her. Then, when he finally does come home, she is the happiest she has ever been in the Odyssey. The more [Penelope] spoke, the more a deep desire for tears welled uphe wept as he held the wife he loved, in his arms at last. Joy (259-262.23). Even though everyone says that her beloved husband is dead, she refuses to believe it. And while he isnt home yet, the suitors try to marry her but she is firm in her position. She even expresses her loyalty verbally: [my] pain [and] my tears have streaked [my bed], year in, year out, from the day Odysseus sailed away to seeDestroyI hate to say its name! (471-473.19) Penelope is always waiting for him to come home from Troy. She never stops believing in Odysseus. This proves she is loyal because if she wasnt, she would have married a suitor years and years before Odysseus finally got home and if she didnt, then when Odysseus came disguised as a beggar, she wouldnt have been nearly as interested.…

    • 660 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    However, the dividing factor between the women in both the Odyssey and The Catcher in the Rye is the setting and the time of each storyline. The Odyssey women are the given the opportunity to have magical powers and monstrous bodies to aid them in their struggle for power, whereas the women in the Catcher in the Rye are simple everyday girls in 1940’s without any equality to men or respect from men. Women in the Catcher in the Rye can’t help aid the men because they aren’t given the chance. Nothing important was expected from the women in the 1940’s, except to care for the house and the children. The capability of women to gain power and simply want power all depends on what they’re given in order to make it…

    • 2216 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    As Odysseus’ friend Agamemnon told him, that Penelope is “’much too steady, her feelings run too deep...that wise woman”’(263 - 64). Penelope contains the qualities of a trustworthy and cunning wife, a perfect match for Odysseus, however the suitors continue to woo her into marriage. Every night with the suitors ends as Penelope “fell to weeping for Odysseus...till watchful Athena sealed her eyes with welcome sleep”(435). Penelope also represents support for Odysseus; a crutch for him to lean on, a reminder of home. Ithaca is truly where the heart…

    • 1537 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Indentured servants were an important piece of establishing colonies in North America. They first arrived in America in the decade following the settlement of Jamestown by the Virginia Company in the sixteenth century (PBS, n.d.). The growth of tobacco and other crops created a tremendous need for labor in the early colonies. With this need came many changes, problems and unintended consequences of using indentured servants.…

    • 653 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The plot of Much Ado About Nothing is based upon deliberate deceptions, some malevolent and others benevolent that functions the main and sub plot. But also Deceptions are used by Shakespeare to reveal a lot about characters and attitudes.…

    • 1139 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Piety In The Odyssey

    • 1171 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Helen attempts to seduce Hektor in order to keep him out of battle, however he unwaveringly turns her down: “Do not, Helen,/ make me sit with you, though you love me. You will not persuade me./…I am going first to my own house, so I can visit/…my own people, my beloved wife”. (Iliad Book Six lines 359-366) Hektor, rather than even considering adultery, leaves quickly in order to speak with his own wife before he leaves again for battle. The charm that Helen has over Menelaos and Paris holds no sway over Hektor, who is faithful to Adromanche and his own people. The attempts to seduce Penelope are far more persistent and by many men. As Odysseus is held up on his voyage home, he is presumed dead and therefore Penelope a widow. As a widow she is expected to remarry. Yet in spite of the social pressure to remarry, she keeps hope that Odysseus is still alive and remains faithful to him by any means possible. For instance, in order to stall the marriage, Penelope tells the suitors that she will marry after completing a burial shroud for Laertes, Odysseus’ father, but every night unravels the work that she had done that day. This shows her hope that Odysseus is still alive, as Laertes is a metaphor for Odysseus and her refusal to believe him dead. Penelope is also always modest when dealing with the suitors, as a married woman…

    • 1171 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Penelope is the wife of Odysseus, who is the main character in the Odyssey by Homer. She is the daughter of Icarus and Peritonea. She gave birth to Telemachus the day Odysseus was called to fight at the Trojan War. She waited for twenty years for her husband to return. Even when she was told that…

    • 689 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Obstacles in the Odyssey

    • 540 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Odyssey, written by Homer, shows many triumphs and frustrations of human life. Odysseus, the hero, endures battles and obstacles on his twenty year journey home. There is tragedy and victory throughout. Inevitably, some of these obstacles are caused by his men and their desires while others are caused by Odysseus himself. From physical obstacles to emotional obstacles, many parts of The Odyssey represent the challenges in life, such as decision making, temptation, and self restraint.…

    • 540 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Much Ado about Nothing is a dramatic comedy written by Shakespeare between 1598-1599 and published in 1623. During the Elizabethan era, women were raised to believe they were inferior to men. The quote “Women in her greatest perfection was made to serve and obey man” was written by a protestant leader of the time, who believed this was the way Elizabethan women should act. Stereotypically, women were expected to be very domestic and seen as less worthy compared to males. Shakespeare’s character ‘Hero’ in Much Ado about Nothing is the perfect example of the expectations of Elizabethan women. Her polite and submissive attitude portrays her as vulnerable and dominated by her father. However, the other…

    • 1522 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Penelope, the Odyssey

    • 911 Words
    • 4 Pages

    While Penelope is not the principal character in Homer’s The Odyssey, Odysseus’ perception of her is optimal. The relationship between them is not based on loyalty, we, the audience, have the privilege to understand his genuine feelings towards her. Throughout Odysseus’ journey, Homer assures us that he loves Penelope regardless of the fact that he has his episodes of infidelity. Homer also insinuates that Odysseus, although maybe not immediately, acknowledges the sacrifices that she makes for him. He also elaborates that Penelope is dedicated to Odysseus by constantly reminding us of how she refuses to give up on her marriage and settle with one of the many suitors that plague her estate.…

    • 911 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    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