Through the readings of the Odyssey and “Medea,” I have recognized parallel patterns in both the marriages between Penelope and Odysseus and Medea and Jason. Odysseus left Penelope with a newborn child while he went off to war. During this time, many eligible suitors, ready to prove their standing and take Odysseus’ place as husband, congregated in the palace constantly. Medea was abandoned and left for another women of higher standing. The way Medea and Penelope carry out deception and trickery differ. Medea and Penelope, both wives whose husbands left them, turned into women consumed with deception, trickery, and cleverness, while differing in their way of implementing their desires, one through murder and the other through mind games. In the Odyssey, Agamemnon recounts his death and how his wife took part in his murder. He believes that there is nothing worse than a lady “who stores her mind with acts that are of such sort, as this one did when she thought of this act of dishonor, and plotted the murder of her lawful husband” (11.428-430). Agamemnon gives Odysseus advice on what secrets he should keep from his wife. He explains that it is better to leave Penelope in the dark because no matter how many secrets he keeps from her, she will always be by his side. We see this when Agamemnon says, “yet you, Odysseus, will never be murdered by your wife” (11.444). We see here that Agamemnon is comparing his wife to Penelope and the fact that both were faced with abandoning husbands, Odysseus will always have a place in his palace. In the Odyssey, we see further instances where Penelope is consumed with deception, trickery, and cleverness. In book nineteen, Penelope devises a plan to defer the suitors. Penelope’s true love for O... ... middle of paper ... ... and wait for her husband’s return. Although both wives have something in common, their behavior is very different. This could be due to their past and their relationship to their husbands. When Odysseus went to war, he promised Penelope that he would come back for her. She never gave up this hope of their reunion. Due to this promise, she never felt violent towards her husband, because he never directly hurt her. Medea, on the other hand, was completely abandoned and there was no hope that he would ever return. This caused the anger in Medea that Penelope never felt. Due to Medea’s anger, she resorts to the murders of her two sons and her husband’s wife while Penelope never felt this anger and never felt the need to resort to murder. Although their situations were similar, Medea and Penelope dealt with their feelings in different ways. Works Cited Madea Odyssey
...t, she prays to Artemis so that she may die and escape her remarriage. Penelope’s prayer reveals that she would rather die than remarry because she understands that she will never love anyone more than Odysseus. Her refusal is unlike Clytemnestra, who betrays her husband by having a lover. Penelope remains loyal to her husband and she is ecstatic when she realizes that he has returned from his twenty years of absence.
Penelope’s husband, Odysseus has been at war for the past twenty years and is presumably dead. During this time, Penelope and her son Telemachus end up living amongst numerous suitors who attempt to court Penelope. However she continues to mourn the “loss” her husband
She is loyal, having waited for Odysseus for twenty years, not remarrying, though she thought he was gone for good. She also plays a much more active role in the marriage she has with Odysseus. Perhaps the most defining characteristics attributed to Penelope involve her role as a woman, in marriage and as a presumed “widow”. First, there seems to be a double standard, like described in Calypso’s case, between the loyalty of Penelope and the loyalty of Odysseus. Penelope is physically and emotionally loyal to Odysseus, while Odysseus is only emotionally loyal, meaning he has had sexual relations with other women within the twenty years he has been gone. During this time period in Greek culture, this was not frowned upon and was quite normal, suggesting that women were held to a different standard than men. In addition, as Penelope is presumed to be a widow, at least by the suitors, she is prized solely for her beauty. The suitors speak only of her beauty and none of her intelligence or of her personality or soul. This suggests that marriage was not always about love, and that women were judged and valued merely for their beauty. This idea further proves the act of sexualizing women during this
Marriage is considered as one of the most important decisions and events in a woman’s life, even though; she has no direct control over this romanticized idea, especially in this typical patriarchal society. The wisdom and cleverness of Penelope, which she uses in The Odyssey to free herself from the traps set up by the greedy and ruthless suitors, have distinguished her from the female supporting characters in the epic poem and hence, dismissed her from the assigned role as a female in a patriarchal society that the Greek’s culture had unequally attached for thousands of years. Penelope demonstrates her intelligence at the beginning of the epic poem when she cleverly esc...
...lyphemus knows who blinded him so Odysseus calls back to the Cyclops to tell him that his name is Odysseus despite his men begging him not to. Because of his arrogance Poseidon punished Odysseus and his men and delayed their journey back home and caused a storm that made Odysseus shipwrecked. His arrogance also portrayed by Homer when he decided to listen to the Sirens instead of putting wax in his ears. He took a risky decision and his decision could have put him and his men in harms way. In contrast, throughout the story, Penelope appears to be humble. Instead of acting like Odysseus, Penelope never intends to make her name well known throughout the suitors. Instead she stays calm and encourages the suitors to stay home and make them think that they are welcome. Of course she hate the suitors but she never tells them to leave. This behavior contrast with Odysseus.
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.
There are many points throughout The Odyssey in which one might believe that Penelopeia is not strong or smart enough to handle, but she finds a way around each occurrence and comes out on top. As the intelligent and faithful companion of one of the greatest heroes to ever live, Penelopeia humbly but surely remains on top of every situation, without letting anyone know about it.
Homer’s epic, The Odyssey is one of the most influential tales to date. It is believed to be written during the twelfth century B.C.E and since then Homer continues to leave his audience in awe as he tells the story of Odysseus’ journey home after the Trojan War. This classic piece of Greek literature serves as a symbol for Greek culture. For example, Homer the relationships between host and house guest/parent and child/man and woman as well as the moral rules of ancient Greece. As the audience reads this epic they join Odysseus on his journey home and they are taught about the definition of heroism but, what is often over looked in this epic is the admiration he shows for women throughout this epic. His main character is Odysseus, yes, but he often highlights his wife, Penelope. She plays just as important role as Odysseus since she is his “love” and mother of son Telemachus.
“Though he was longing to return to his wife and country, was detained by the goddess Calypso, who had got him into a large cave and wanted to marry him” (Homer Book1). After, he left Calypso and ended up with a witch goddess, Circe, which he been with for a year. While all of this happening, he have a wife and child in Ithaca. Odysseus is intelligent, strong, and brave man some people will call him a hero, but he is also a cheater and a liar. When he left to go fight in the Trojan War, he left behind his wife and his only son. While he lived the double life sleeping with Calypso and Circe; Penelope was being a thoughtful wife. She stayed faithful to her husband because she could not see herself being with anyone else. Penelope husband was gone for twenty years, so she became celibacy until her husband came back. When suitors came to her door for her hand in marriage, she turn them down because she knew she took a vow to stay commit “in sickness and in heath through death do us
Charlotte Bronte once said, “Women are supposed to be very calm generally, but women feel just as men feel. They need exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts as much as their brothers do. They suffer from too rigid a restraint, too absolute a stagnation, precisely as men would suffer; and it is narrow minded in their more privileged fellow creatures to say that they ought to confine themselves to making puddings and knitting stockings, to playing on the piano and embroidering bags” (Bronte). In the play Medea, Euripides diverged from the traditional role of Greek women through Medea’s characteristics and response to her plight. In delineating the role of women, Medea was unlike any other Greek character. Medea was portrayed as capable and resilient woman who would refuse to back down no matter the obstacles. Nevertheless, women in the Greek culture had very few rights. Housework and bearing children were their main obligations. They were basically no better than slaves. In the ancient Greek society, Medea would not fit well among fellow Greek women. Her role as a woman in the play was downtrodden. However, her determination and courage caused people to fear her. She was a woman who turned her back on her family and killed her own brother in order to help her husband.
One of the very important motifs Homer uses in The Odyssey is the concept of loyalty. The reoccurring example of this trait is of Penelope, Odysseus’s wife, who waited patiently for nearly two decades for the return of her husband. A lot can be said for the perseverance of Penelope concerning her endurance of the elapsed time between her and her husband. Through her beguiling ways, Penelope was able to confront the suitors from her time well spent weaving the shroud for Odysseus’s father, Laertes. The significance of Penelope’s weaving of the shroud conveys the theme of loyalty to one’s family by foreshadowing events that take
Euripidis’ Medea, is the story of Jason’s betrayal and Medea’s ambition for revenge,where in Ancient Greece, women were not seen as equal to men. In the play Medea, by Euripides, the setting reinforces the difference in gender roles, but Medea’s character confronts the social norm, constructing her to be a strong impending female protagonist. Euripidis also uses satire to deliver the theme of women rights in a gender divided society.
The play Medea by Euripides was written to entertain readers with the intriguing story of the revengeful Medea and her unfaithful husband Jason. The play begins with Medea being betrayed by Jason and being filled with this revengeful rage and murderous thoughts. Medea does whatever she possibly can to satisfy her need for payback, even if it means hurting her own flesh and blood. In her eyes, no vengeance would ever make up for the pain inflicted upon her by the one person she risked it all for. While the play portrays Jason as egotistical, Euripides presents Medea as devious in order to prove that at some point they both are very similar because they are both out to achieve a personal goal and they both only care for their own gain. Yet, they
Penelope's story, set in the time immediately proceeding the Trojan War, is one of strategic waiting. The Odyssey begins with stasis; simultaneously, Odysseus' departure from Ogygia and Telemachos' coming of age set the events of the epic in motion. As a woman, Penelope has no momentum of her own, but must operate on that of her kyrios. This is not to imply that Penelope is by definition powerless, but it is worth noting that the sphere of her effectiveness is actively determined by the wishes of the men responsible for her. In fact, Penelope faces a drastically reduced role whether Odysseus returns or...
Homer’s epic great poem, The odyssey, shows the readers various samples of women deceiving men within this literature. The Greek goddess of wisdom and war, Athena, was the first to show deception within this epic poem. Although Athena was helping Telemachos, she did it with trickery and deceiving him. When Athena was attempting to tell Telamachos about his father still being alive, she did it by changing her appearance, deceiving him, in order to help lead him towards his father (Odyssey 1.178-220). Athena finds herself using a changed appearence to deceive Telemachos, again in order to help him voyage for his father. Although she is again disguising herself, this time as Mentor, she is deceiving him in efforts to aid him (Odyssey 2.267-271). Another leading lady within The Odyssey is Telemachos’ mother, Penelope. Penelope finds herself being very deceitful throughout this reading. Penelope shows her abilities in trickery in efforts to stay faithful to Telemachos’ father, Ody...