Penelope As A Hero In Homer's The Odyssey

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Why do people tell stories? People tell stories to convey a message, to get a point across, or to share experiences. Stories are more than just words, they are a medium that can bring out some of the deepest thoughts and feelings we may have. Homer's epic poem has been told over and over again because it is a simple story that covers a lot of main tropes in storytelling and is related to Greek mythology. The story tells the tale of Odysseus, who leads his crew on a journey across the ocean. People consider this story to be about heroism because there are a lot of characters who show heroic traits and do heroic things. A hero is someone who has good intentions, does acts of good for others over themselves, and does things out of the good of their heart. Penelope from “The Odyssey” by Homer is a hero because she …show more content…

Up until this point Odysseus has been absent, until his return to his wife Penelope in which she is unsure if it is actually him because it has been so long. For example, when Penelope says to move his bed, Odysseus says “no builder had the skill for that unless a god came down to turn the trick” Penelope responds saying “there's our sign! I know no more than that. Could someone else’s hand have sawn that trunk and dragged the frame away?” (Homer 1017) Here we can see how Penelope says to move the bed, knowing Odysseus was the only one who could do it, proving it was really him because only he would know that. Her smarts are shown best when she says “there's our sign!” because it shows she was waiting and plotting to see if it was truly odyssey. This positively portrays her as a hero because it shows how Penelope is smart enough not to immediately believe that Odysseus is who he claims to be. She follows this up with a test safely and easily, determining if it is really him. Without her testing him on something so specific, she may not have been able to prove his

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