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Poetic analysis of the odyssey part 1
Weaving symbolism in the odyssey
The Odyssey literary analysis
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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...
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.... 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).
Athena disguises him as an old beggar and he meets up with his son, Telemachus. They form a plan to beat the suitors and then Odysseus goes to meet them. Finally, it is decided that whoever can use Odysseus’s bow to shoot an arrow through twelve axes. Odysseus, unsurprisingly, wins and starts fighting the suitors. He kills them all and reveals himself to Penelope. To make sure it’s him, she asks him to move their bed. Knowing it can’t be moved, he tells her that part of the headboard is a tree. Penelope and Odysseus are reunited and they live the rest of their lives together.
When Odysseus returned home to his wife and son, he took a very brutal approach to rid his home of the suitors who had invaded his household. This revenge was also taken out upon the servants and maids who had been unfaithful to Penelope and had slept with the suitors. Some may say this punishment was too harsh, and made Odysseus less than an honorable man. However, Odysseus’s actions were justifiable.
In Odysseus's mind he has very good reasons to kill the suitors. He decided to kill them when he found out that they wanted to marry his wife. The suitors has all assumed that he was dead, for 20 years. As a result they tried to marry his wife. Penelope also believed that he was still alive and she tried to delay any marriages. Odysseus's idea to kill them all is not very logical especially because while he was away on his 20 year expedition he cheated on his wife two times. Odysseus actions were very rash. The reader can see this when Eurymachus says, “Rash actions, many here,” (Homer 818). Eurymachus knows that Odysseus has made rash decision and he is trying to show him his ways and how it is bad. Later the reader reads that Odysseus doesn’t really see that and he is just excited to be reunited with his wife.
a.) “She said I was wild and that I had no direction in life” (59).
...lts of the insolent suitors in his own home. The anger of Odysseus is only matched by Telemachus whose restraint is forcefully elevated in order to hamper his new mature instinct of defending his father. Meanwhile, Odysseus is forced to couple this with control over holding his love, Penelope, in his arms. Yet, both characters are able to avoid the impediments and at last battle side by side against their foes.
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...
... master finally made it home. While Odysseus was gone, the suitors in Ithaca wanted to take over, but Penelope and Telemachus persevered. Most of Ithaca have lost hope for Odysseus but still “Penelope does not believe that Odysseus is dead (Father and Son).” Penelope has not yet given up on Odysseus. She has remained loyal to him and did not let the suitors take over Ithaca. She stood up for her husband that she has not word of for 20 years. Her strong loyalty allowed Odysseus to rule his kingdom once again when he arrived home.
"The book ends with another sign of the great sympathy that exists between the two, as Penelope admits she could gladly spend all night talking with Odysseus. The beggar has accomplished his mission of winning her confidence and now can see the means by which he might kill the suitors -- the bow" (chss.
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.
Atwood is playing with two levels of myth here: the Homeric myth of ‘faithful Penelope’ and cultural myths about women as either submissive or domestic (Howell 9). After marriage Penelope spends most of her time alone in boredom and Eurycelia, former nurse of Odysseus, often reminds her duties as wife by saying, “So you can have a nice big son for Odysseus. That’s your job” (63). Furthermore, Atwood recounts the vulnerability of alone woman in the male dominated world. To grab opportunity of being king, a number of suitors assemble at Ithaca, to marry Penelope, and she thinks, “They all were vultures when they spot the dead cow: one drops, then another, until finally every vulture for miles around is tearing up the carcass” (103). Moreover, Atwood argues about the partiality of sexual of freedom along with the vexed relationship between man and woman, as the former can do sex with any other woman such as Odysseus’s affairs with the goddess and whores, but the woman is restricted to marriage like Penelope. The foremost fatuous allegation makes on Penelope is about her faithfulness and loyalty for her husband Odysseus, and she defends herself from any sexual conduct in the chapter, “slanderous gossip”. The death of Amphinomus, the politest suitor among all, leaves the question of marital infidelity among the genders.
Secondly, Odysseus has great self-control, which allows him to deeply contemplate his decisions. Moments before Odysseus falls asleep, he spots a “covey of women laughing as they [slip] out…to the suitors’ beds” (Homer 375). Seeing this, Odysseus is angered and wants to kill every one of the suitors right then and there. But Odysseus retains his self-control and does not strike yet. At that moment, if he did strike, he would have lost because he would not have been prepared. He retains all his anger for the final battle with the suitors. In that battle, Odysseus is fully prepared and ready to fight, resulting in all the suitors’ deaths. Next, when Antinoos throws a footstool at Odysseus, “Odysseus only [shakes] his head, containing thoughts of bloody work” (Homer 326).
The character of Penelope in Homer's Odyssey reflects the faithful wife who waits twenty years for the arrival of her husband. Only a strong woman could sustain the stress, anxiety and confusion resulting from the chaos of a palace with a missing king whose fate is unknown. Her responsibilities and commitments toward the man she loves are particularly difficult to keep, under the strain of the situation. Although she does not actively pursue an effort to find him, her participation in the success of Odysseus' homecoming can be seen in her efforts to defend and protect the heritage, reputation and the House of Odysseus in his absence. As Odysseus withstands his trial, Penelope withstands her trials against temptations to give in to the many anxious suitors, to give up on her faith and respect for her religion, her husband and even her self. Penelope's strength in keeping the highest standards in her function as a wife, woman and mother contributes to the success of Odysseus' homecoming by keeping the home and family for him to come back to.
In book eight of Homer’s The Odyssey, Odysseus is on the island of the Phaeacians and is waiting to return home to Ithaca. Meanwhile, Alcinous, the Phaeacian king, has arranged for a feast and celebration of games in honor of Odysseus, who has not yet revealed his true identity. During the feast, a blind bard named Demodocus sings about the quarrel between Odysseus and Achilles at Troy. The song causes Odysseus to start weeping, so Alcinous ends the feast and orders the games to begin. During dinner after the games, Odysseus asks Demodocus to sing about the Trojan horse and the sack of Troy. This song too causes Odysseus to break down and cry. Homer uses a dramatic simile to describe the pain and sorrow that Odysseus feels as he recalls the story of Troy.
Odysseus has been stuck on the island of Kalypso. At first he loved being there but he soon dreads it. Hermes tells Kalypso to let Odysseus leave. Kalypso still in jealous rage seeks Odysseus who sits weeping looking over the vast sea that separates him from his home for”...The sweet days of his life time / were running out in anguish over his exile, / for long ago the nymph had ceased to please”(5.159-161). Odysseus loves his wife even though he is cheating on her; he is still a good man.’ Odysseus has been with many women but that does not change his love for Penelope. After their night of love and restoration of his men, “Kirke, loveliest / of all immortals, I counseled Odysseus saying “ remain with me and share my meat and wine;/ … your cruel wandering is all you think of,/ never joy, after so many blows”(10.509,513-514). Odysseus let his current emotions over power who he truly loves and does not consider his wife for a year. Odysseus lands on an island with one ship left and half his men are turned into pigs so he must make love to kalypso to get his men back to men. Odysseus allows the ghost of his mother, Anticlea, to drink the black blood, and she speaks of her death saying “only my loneliness for you Odysseus, / for your kind heart and counsel, gentle Odysseus, / took my own life away”(11.225-227). Odysseus travels to hades, land of the dead, to see a dead prophet to
The 'Iliad'; by Homer is a book that deals with many emotional issues. I am going to talk about a few emotional parts of the Iliad and compare them to the emotional life of today. I have chosen a section of the book and will talk about the emotions that come up there. The section that I have chosen to talk about is in book 18 when Achilles is very angry and very sad about Patroclus death. After that he wants revenge by killing hector.