Odyssey by Homer - Books

¶ … Odyssey by Homer - Books I, II, and V. Specifically it will discuss Penelope's character and her faithful trust that her husband will someday return to her. Penelope is a faithful wife and a good mother who serves as the impetus for Odysseus return home from the war and his stay on Calypso. She is an interesting and vital character who is not only the love interest in the play, but indicates the status of women at the time the play was written.

Penelope makes a brief appearance in Book I, when she tires of the suitors' music and tells how she misses her husband. She says, "Sing the suitors some one of these, and let them drink their wine in silence, but cease this sad tale, for it breaks my sorrowful heart, and reminds me of my lost husband whom I mourn ever without ceasing, and whose name was great over all Hellas and middle Argos" (Homer, 2000).

Even though her appearance is brief, it sets the stage for her character and her purpose in this epic play. Her son dismisses her and tells her to let the "man" of the house worry about the music. Here, Homer shows the status of women in Greece at the time. Penelope is vital to the play, but she was still a second-class citizen in her home as long as there was a man around. She has waited faithfully for her husband for twenty years, and she still misses him desperately.

This is a woman in love with her husband, and whose love inspires her son and her husband to do great things. Without her love, Odysseus might have been content to stay on the island with Calypso, but he is not. She means everything to him, and so, even though she is often absent during the play's action, she is the impetus for Odysseus' journey home and his reason for living. In Book V, Odysseus reveals his feelings about Penelope, again indicating her importance to the overall story.

He says to Calypso, "Goddess,' replied Ulysses [Odysseus], 'do not be angry with me about this. I am quite aware that my wife Penelope is nothing like so tall or so beautiful as yourself. She is only a woman, whereas you are an immortal. Nevertheless, I want to get home, and can think of nothing else" (Homer, 2000). Thus, Penelope serves as the catalyst for bringing Odysseus home, and shows that beauty is not all a man looks for in a wise and loving mate.

A literary critic writes of her, "Penelope is famous in myth as the waiting wife, faithful -- or otherwise. Odysseus' return will end that phase of her existence and her fame rivaling that of famous women of the past" (Ahl & Roisman, 1996, p. 31). However, that does not stop her from longing for Odysseus' return and their reuniting. She is a good, decent woman, who raises a good son alone, makes a living, and never gives up hope.

In that, she is an engaging heroine and a fine match for Odysseus, who deserves a woman who respects and trusts him, as well as loves and cherishes him. Penelope is also exceedingly clever. To keep the suitors at bay, she looms a death shroud, but never completes it. Antinous tells Telemachus "This was what she said, and we assented; whereon we could see her working on her great web all day long, but at night she would unpick the stitches again by torchlight'" (Homer, 2000).

Thus, she can remain true to Odysseus when she cannot choose.