The Role of Penelope in Homer's Odyssey

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Odysseus's wife, Penelope plays a very important role in Homer's Odyssey. She provides the motivation for Odysseus's return to Ithaca. She is also the center of the plot involving the suitors and the fate of Telemakos and Ithaca itself. The objective of this essay is to analyze the important role of Penelope in Odyssey.

Penelope is the reason for Odysseus's return to Ithaca. He is driven throughout his entire journey to go back and see his wife. He turns down immortality with the beautiful Kalypso to return home:

"My lady goddess, here is no cause for anger.

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...ohen, ed., The Distaff Side (Oxford 1995), pp. 93-115.

Homer. The Odyssey. Trans. Robert Fagles. New York: Penguin, 1996.

Marilyn Arthur Katz, Penelope's Renown: Meaning and Indeterminacy in the Odyssey (Princeton 1991).

Nancy Felson-Rubin, Regarding Penelope: From Courtship to Poetics (Princeton 1994).

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