The Odyssey By Homer, By Robert Fitzgerald

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The Odyssey by Homer, translated by Robert Fitzgerald

Question 4.

A. Yes, Penelope experiences joy as the result of Odysseus’s return.

B. Separated from her husband in their prime years, and hardened from the frauds of men, Penelope, unlike her son, does not welcome Odysseus back with open arms. She refuses to acknowledge him as her Lord until she tests his knowledge of their secret sign. Uncertain whether he is true, she tries him by ordering to her maid to make up a bed for him and move it back to the bedchamber Odysseus had built with his own hands, therefore stating that she had moved their pact and pledge, even though it was mortally impossible. At this, Odysseus, stung and outraged at his wife for moving his handicraft and their secret sign, describes their special bed, an old trunk of an olive tree as a pillar for the building plot, a stump he carved and used as their bedpost, inlaid them all with silver, gold and ivory, and the stretched bed in between, which was a pliant web of oxide thong dyed crimson. Penelope runs to him, throwing her arms around his neck, kisses him, and immediately apologizes for her mistrust and suspicion, and promises that her heart is his. Through this, she rejoices her husband’s return, and that she no longer had to arm herself from suitors who seek to replace her husband, whom she faithfully waited for. She was finally reunited with her husband, and could love again.

C. “With eyes brimming tears she ran to him, throwing her arms around his neck, and kissed him…’You make my stiff heart know that I am yours’....and so she too rejoiced, her gaze upon her husband, her white arms round him pressed as though forever. (Homer 879 & 880)

Question 8.

A. Yes, Odysseus remains hopeful in a part...

... middle of paper ...

.... There, they taunted him and agreed with Penelope that whoever could prove himself worthy in a shooting contest with Odysseus’s bow would be determined as Penelope’s new husband and the new King of Ithaca. However, when it was his turn to shoot, he turns on the suitors and his arrow hit Antinous, the rudest of the suitors, under the chin, and kills him. Then together, with his son and the assistance of Athena, attacks the suitors, one by one, punishing them for disrespecting him and his home. Through this, Odysseus receives a personal satisfaction as a result of his diligence in taking back his home, and avenging his wife. His personal satisfaction was his revenge.

C. “There will be killing till the score is paid. You forced yourselves upon this house. Fight your way out, or run for it, if you think you’ll escape death. I doubt one man of you skins by” (Homer 872).

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