Theme Of Excellence In The Odyssey

In the epic the Odyssey, the three main characters, Penelope, Telemachus, and Odysseus, are a family, and they each show what it means to show arete. Arete by definition means somebody who shows excellence, not about being the best, or right. The ways you can show excellence is by having passion, loyalty, strength, commitment, self-awareness, creativity, and contributing. The characters show their own excellence in different ways. Each of these main characters, Penelope, Telemachus, and Odysseus has the characteristics of being an excellent person.

Penelope is the wife of Odysseus, and the mother of Telemachus. She shows excellence by her loyalty to Odysseus while he is away fighting the Trojan War and after the Trojan war end he still

doesn’t come home for another 10 years. He is gone a total of twenty years but she still doesn’t marry one of the suitors that are pressing for her to pick one of them. She said that she would pick one of the after she finished weaving a burial shroud for Laertes, Odysseus father, who is still alive. She would unweave it at night to delay having to select one of the suitors. This shows her loyalty and her excellence.
Telemachus is the son of Odysseus and Penelope.

After losing hope that his father isn’t alive anymore, he lets the suitors into his house even though he doesn’t like them. It is Greek custom to show hospitality to guest, so he welcomed them in being in charge since his dad left for the Trojan War. After a while and Penelope still hasn’t decided who she was going to select, the suitors want Telemachus to force her mom to pick or throw her out of the palace. He doesn’t do this and instead goes to his weeping mother, who is crying about Odysseus not returning home and thinks that she is dead, he tells her that he is still alive and not to give up hope. This shows his loyalty to his father and his

excellence.
Odysseus is the husband of Penelope, and the father of Telemachus.

He shows excellence many times throughout the epic. In Book Seven, he is at the Phaeacians’ court participating in sports against many of their best athletes. He shows there that he is the best at what he does. In Book Twelve he overcomes many obstacles that the rest of his crew dies form, he is the only one who survives. Later in the epic, when he reaches his homeland, he is disguised as a beggar and does an excellent job at that, he does this to see who is still loyal to him and who is not. Nobody knows who he is when he is wearing the disguise. He then is encountered by another beggar who says that he has to leave because there isn’t enough room for the two of them and he was there first. He beats him in the challenge and shows his dominance over the suitors. He then finds out if Penelope still loves him and is still loyal to him and the answer is yes she is still loyal and loves him. After being gone for twenty years she still loves him. He challenges the suitors at stringing the bow and he is the only one to do it because the others are to weak. A battle breaks out between him and the suitors when he reveals who he is and he wins, with the help of his some Telemachus. The last time he portrays excellence is when the suitors’ families attacks and he defeats

them.
Penelope, Telemachus, and Odysseus each have what it takes to be an excellent person. They each have their flaws. Odysseus has too much pride, hubris. Telemachus makes a difficult situation worse during the battle where he forgets to lock up the weapons and the suitors get them and make the attack much more difficult for them, but they win the battle anyway. Penelope has to lie to the suitors and unweaves the shroud every night and delays the city of having a king. They each have their flaws, but the good they show in their excellence outweighs their flaws and we remember them as being excellent people.