Loyalty is faithfulness to a commitment, obligation or person. To many people, loyalty is an important quality and without it there would always be backstabbing. From all the Greek literature read in class, readers can can infer that loyalty was an important quality to possess in Grecian society. In both The Odyssey and “The Quest of the Golden Fleece” loyalty between characters is tested and those that remain loyal are rewarded as oppose to those who are disloyal, but in each piece of literature the reward for loyalty and the punishment for disloyalty are dealt with in different ways. In The Odyssey Penélopê and her maids all have their loyalty tested towards Odysseus. Odysseus has been away for away for 20 years and as according …show more content…
Penélopê gives the suitors a task and says that whoever is able to complete it she would marry. “Here is my lord Odysseus’ hunting bow. Bend and string it if you can. Who sends an arrow through iron axe-helve sockets, twelve in line? I join my life with his” (Homer 393). Penélopê gives the suitors this task knowing that only Odysseus could complete it. Prior to that Penélopê had come up with a plan to stall the suitors by making a burial and said she would marry only after it was done, but each night she undid it. “Young men—my suitors, now my lord is dead, let me finish my weaving before I marry… So every day I wove on the great loom, but every night by torchlight I unwove it; and so for three years I deceived the Akhaians” (Homer 358). This was one of Penélopê’s attempts to stall the suitors and wait for Odysseus’s return. This attempt would have probably lasted longer if her maids had not exposed her …show more content…
Loyalty in The Odyssey is rewarded in happiness. Penélopê and Odysseus are reunited after twenty long years. “so she too rejoiced, her gaze upon her husband, her white arms round him pressed as though forever” (Homer 436). However, in “The Quest of the Golden Fleece” Medea was loyal to Jason but she was disloyal to her own family. By the end of the myth Medea is exiled and childless. She was punished for her disloyalty to her family though she was loyal to Jason but look at where that got her. Her punishment is an example of the phrase “blood is thicker than water” and shows that loyalty towards family is more important than loyalty towards outsiders. As for Jason his punishment for his disloyalty to Medea was death. It may not have been his death but the death of the people she killed greatly affected him. “When Jason came full of fury for what she had done to his bride and determined to kill her, the two boys were dead, and Medea on the roof… he cursed her” (Hamilton 155). Jason’s disloyalty was rewarded in death just as the maids in The Odyssey. As part of their punishment, the maids were all hung for sleeping with the suitors which in turn encouraged them to stay long, for not being proper maids and also for troubling
In the story The Odyssey, Odysseus showed many traits. I believe the most important trait he showed was loyalty. He showed it in multiple situations. Odysseus showed loyalty when dealing with the sirens, the louts eaters, and the cyclops.
In the book The Odyssey the character Odysseus goes to fight in the Trojan War. The war has ended, but King Odysseus never returns back home. Since the King has been away, his home is being invaded by suitors. Prince Telemakhos, son of Odysseus, wants to find his father. The Prince knows he cannot go on this journey alone. He needs help, so Telemakhos decides to give a speech to the men of Ithaka. Unfortunately, Telemakhos cannot convince the men enough.
A very obvious example of loyalty is, Penelope. She is faithful to Odysseus for over 20 years and does not give up for long time. Even when the suitors came to her house and ate her food and overstayed their welcome she did not budge and still stayed faithful to Odysseus for the whole time he was gone. She told the suitors that when she finished her tapestry she would choose who she wants to marry, but every night she would undo a piece of the tapestry just so it would take longer and it would give Odysseus more time to come back just so she would not have to choose one of the suitors.
In Book XIX of Homer's The Odyssey, Odysseus, posing as a poor beggar, has a discussion with Penelope regarding Odysseus himself, and how the "two" met. Readers may question why Penelope does not recognize her own husband. Later on, one sees that at least Eurycleia distinguishes Odysseus. Penelope reveals a dream she has had to Odysseus, asking for an explanation. This Book of The Odyssey brings forth an envisage regarding the death of the suitors that is soon to come.
Firstly, Penelope who plays Odysseus’s wife is alone tending to her city Ithica until her husband returns. Meanwhile Odysseus is out fighting in the Trojan War and against many of the Greek God’s who are trying to make his trip back home as eventful and hard as possible; “…work out his journey home so Odysseus can return” (Homer 276). While King Odysseus is away Penelope is to deal with a bunch of suitors who are eating and trashing out Ithica, “…if those suitors have truly paid in blood for all their reckless outrage” (559). In order for Penelope to keep peace until Odysseus returns she has to come up with a clever plan to keep the suitors from completely taking over. For almost 2 years Penelope was able to keep the suitors from getting out of hand by saying she will find someone to marry and replace Odysseus after she is d...
However, his journey isn’t over yet. This last leg of Odysseus’s journey is perhaps the most important and crucial. Odysseus’s nurse and maidservant, Eurycleia is the first woman in Ithaca to know that Odysseus is back after she recognizes the scar on his leg while she is washing him. Eurycleia vows to keep his identity a secret. Odysseus’s wife, Penelope has stayed faithful to Odysseus for all the years that he was gone. Penelope was consistently unweaving her web to the delay the suitors. The reader even grows sympathetic for Penelope as “we see her struggle to make the virtuous choice about her marriage, despite pressures from her suitors, her son’s endangered situation, and her own uncertainty about Odysseus’s survival” (Foley ). Finally, Odysseus reveals his identity and Penelope is bewildered, but quickly embraces her husband after he tells her the secret of their immovable bed. It is the faithfulness of Penelope and nurse Eurycleia that insures Odysseus’s survival to the very end.
In The Odyssey some of the central values of early Greek society are honor, hospitality, faithfulness, and revenge. Honor continues to be an important element in epics as it is the most detrimental thing to strip from a man. As Odysseus voyages in attempt to reach Ithaca he is taken in by many foreigners he meets along the way, he doesn’t always remain consistent with his tasks and unfortunately allows a lot of time to pass during some of the hospitality he enjoys. Faithfulness is another central value that can be seen indefinitely in The Odyssey especially from queen Penelope that remains faithful to Odysseus throughout his absence. By the same token, Odysseus seeks revenge against the suitors and reclaims his land and his wife making revenge a prominent value in early Greek society.
Throughout the Odyssey, there are many relationships that represent love between two people. These relationships show loyalty, compassion, and the wanting to be near one another. Two of these kinds of relationships are between Odysseus and Telemakhos, and Odysseus and Penelope.
For hundreds of years, psychologists have attempted to understand why toddlers selfishly refuse to share. Recently, many experts in the field agree that toddlers are incapable of sharing because of their lack of integral brain development. From birth through early childhood, a child can only recognize his own wants and needs. Around the time a child begins kindergarten, he starts to development his understanding of abstract concepts, such as empathy, and sympathy. However, some believe that humans never rid themselves of that original selfishness. In essence, humans are born selfish and hopefully become compassionate later on. The idea of a natural tendency towards selfishness
In The Odyssey, book nine and ten written by Homer, Odysseus constantly embodies the principal characteristics of a hero which are : cleverness, leadership, and selflessness. Thus, this character is regarded as an idol among the other characters and greatly captures the reader’s sympathy for his choices and the fruit to his actions in life. First, Odysseus displays cleverness in Book Nine when he tricks the Cyclops Poluphemus that his name is “nobody” in order to escape the horrors of the cyclop’s cave. He states: “Nobody--so my mother and father call me, all my friends” (Homer, 18). Second, Odysseus is a brave leader of his army especially in book ten when he displays leadership by motivating his comrades in keep trying to sail despite the
Such a society obviously places severe restrictions on the position of women and what is considered to be acceptable behaviour for women”. (Whittaker 39) Penelope is forced to step out of the typical Homeric Greek woman role in order to make sure Odysseus has a success homecoming. She does this by proving to be clever, like her husband, when she tricks the suitors, claiming that she will choose one once she finishes a burial shroud for Laertes. Every night she undoes the weaving she has done for the day. This works until some of her house servants catch her. Another example of this trickery, is her promise to marry any suitor that can string and shoot Odysseus 's bow. Penelope knew no one but Odysseus could do this. There are many different interpretations of Penelope 's role as a woman in this moment of the epic. Homer has Penelope show a role that isn’t what you would normally see in a Homeric Greek woman. She depicts that she can be just as manipulative as a man can
_The Odyssey_ is believed to have been written by Homer and is infused with loyalty throughout the entire epic story. Odysseus is the most faithful, loving, and loyal husband, to Penelope, that any woman could dream of. Odysseus, in the beginning of his description of the trials and tribulations that he has endured, pledged his eternal loyalty to his ever-faithful wife Penelope. ?We are mortal weary and sick at heart/? [if only] now may I see once more/ my hall, my lands, my people before I die!? (Homer 7:233-240). Thought Odysseus did lie with the goddess his loyalty to Penelope held true. The ?Enchantress in her beauty? (Homer 7:274) enslaved the grand Odysseus to her will; yet Odysseus ?in [his] heart [he] never gave consent.? (Homer 7:276) The goddess offered Odysseus a choice, the ?promise [that he] should be/ immortal, [and] youthful, all the days to come? (Homer 7:275-276) or to continue his long continuous voyage to his queen Penelope. Because Odysseus chose to return to his devoted Penelope instead of gaining immortal life he has provided...
The relationship between Odysseus and his wife Penelope is one of loyalty, love, and faith. Both characters are driven by these characteristics. Odysseus displays his loyalty in his constant battle to get home to his wife. This love helps him persevere through the many hardships that he encounters on his journey home. Odysseus spent 20 years trying to return to his home in Ithaca after the end of the Trojan War. Along the way he manages to offend both gods and mortals, but through his intelligence, and the guidance of Athena, he manages to finally return home. There he discovers that his home has been overrun by suitors attempting to win Penelope’s hand in marriage. The suitors believed that Odysseus was dead. Odysseus and his son, Telemachus,
Often times in life we search for a companion, someone to share our love and life with. Odysseus and Penelope's lasting relationship is an obvious representation of love in the Odyssey. Although Odysseus is gone for twenty years he never forgets his faithful wife in Ithaca. This love helps him persevere through the many hardships that he encounters on his journey home. Penelope also exemplifies this same kind of love for Odysseus. At home in Ithaca, she stays loyal to Odysseus by unraveling his shroud and delaying her marriage to the suitors that are courting her. She always keeps the hope that her love, Odysseus, will return. Odysseus and Penelope's marriage clearly illustrates the theme of love.
Intro: There are a wide variety of themes present throughout the Odyssey, written by Homer. Be it hospitality, perseverance, vengeance or power of the Gods, loyalty is truly the theme that brings the whole book together. Being 10 years after the Trojan War, many have forgotten about Odysseus and his men as they constantly brave what the gods throw their way. This essay will be talking about Odysseus and Penelope’s mutual loyalty to one another, the loyal relationships between Gods and men and finally, the loyalty Odysseus’ men show for him until death. This essay with prove to us that without loyalty, Odysseus’ legendary journey would have been put to an end near where they started. The general theme of loyalty is what kept Odysseus motivated and determined.