What Ways Are Penelope’s Struggles Similar To And Different From Those Of Odysseus?

by | Last updated on January 24, 2024

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Penelope takes care of the threat by acting discreetly, while Odysseus fixes the problem with hostility

. Penelope’s deference of her remarriage in hope of Odysseus’s return shows a deep dedication.

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How is Penelope different from Odysseus?

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.

Who suffers more in the Odyssey Penelope or Odysseus?

In the Odyssey, Odysseus and his wife,

Penelope

, both suffer in different ways. Furthermore, Penelope suffers more than Odysseus as she has to battle her struggles mentally rather than physically. One reason Penelope suffers more is because she has to live with uncertainty and loneliness.

What is Penelope’s challenge Odysseus?

In Book 21 of The Odyssey, Penelope holds a contest. She

brings out Odysseus’ bow and tells the suitors she will marry the first one who can string it and shoot an arrow through 12 axes

. Telemachus and the suitors try and fail to even string the bow.

In what ways are Penelope’s struggles similar to Odysseus?

Penelope and Odysseus both

show tremendous willpower and emotional endurance

. Just as Odysseus exhibits these qualities in his struggles to return to Ithaca, so does Penelope in her enduring of the Suitors. In addition, they are both very intelligent, and they both show a particular gift for trickery and deception.

Are Odysseus and Penelope well matched How why?

Their

loyalty allows Penelope to wait for Odysseus

, and his loyalty keeps him focussed on returning home. Their cunning is used to take advantage of the suitors and protect themselves from lasting harm. Penelope’s loyalty and cunning make her the ideal woman for Odysseus.

Does Penelope cheat on Odysseus?

Pausanias records the story that

Penelope had in fact been unfaithful to Odysseus

, who banished her to Mantineia upon his return. … Other sources report that Penelope had sex with all 108 suitors in Odysseus’ absence, and gave birth to Pan as a result.

How does Penelope change in the Odyssey?

Though she has not seen Odysseus in twenty years, and despite pressure the suitors place on her to remarry, Penelope never loses faith in her husband. … Instead,

she puts off her decision and leads them on with promises that she will choose a new husband as soon as certain things happen

.

What are some characteristics of Penelope from the Odyssey?

In the beginning of the story, Penelope’s most prominent qualities are

passivity, loyalty, and patience

(along with beauty and skill at the loom) – the age-old feminine virtues. She does very little but lie in bed and weep.

How does Odysseus suffer in the Odyssey?

In the first few years of his journey, Odysseus suffers

the loss of much of his crew

. He loses men while plundering a small island; he loses some to the lotus esters; and a few to Polyphemus.

Is there a point to Odysseus suffering?

In the Odyssey,

suffering always comes from bad actions

. If you could manage to live without angering the gods, you’d be able to avoid suffering entirely. In the Odyssey, suffering doesn’t serve a purpose: it’s a senseless burden that all mortals must bear.

How did Odysseus win Penelope’s challenge?

When Telemachus is an adult, Odysseus returns disguised as a beggar. He beats Penelope’s challenge for the suitors, which was that

whoever can string Odysseus’s bow and shoot it through 12 axe handles can have her hand i marrige

.

How does Odysseus suffer physically?

But his suffering is not limited to his physical trials on the sea — when we first meet him on Calypso’s island, he’s crying a river (or perhaps, an ocean), and even after returning home he

suffers abuse after abuse by the suitors

as they wander through his halls.

How did Penelope help Odysseus?

Every night for three years, until one of her maids reveals the secret, she unravels the piece that she has woven by day so that she will not have to give up hope for the return of her beloved husband and remarry. When at length Odysseus does

return

, she makes him prove his identity and finally accepts him.

What is special about Odysseus and Penelope’s bed?

This bed, which is unmovable and unchangeable, represents

the constancy of the relationship between Odysseus and Penelope

. … When Odysseus says that only a god could move their bed, he communicates the idea that only a superhuman power could tear him and Penelope apart.

What does Odysseus compare Penelope’s name to?

Terms in this set (9)

What is revealed through the epic simile on lines 1289-1297: (Odysseus is comparing Penelope’s name to

the honor of a good king

.)

How does Penelope trick Odysseus what similarity does this show between the married couple?

She tests Odysseus by ordering her servant Eurycleia to move their marriage bed. … Penelope’s determination to test Odysseus shows that

she is intelligent and not easily tricked

. In this way, she is very like Odysseus. Penelope’s test reminds us that the two characters are soulmates.

Why did Penelope stay loyal to Odysseus?

Penelope shows her loyalty in several ways. She shows loyalty to

Odysseus by waiting for his return for twenty long years

. She did not choose a suitor until she knew for sure that Odysseus was dead. … He also shows loyalty to Penelope by trying to protect her and keeping the suitors away from her.

How are Penelope and Athena similar?

Amongst the many women portrayed in the book, the two most important women are Athena and Penelope. … Though both these women are two different characters,

their roles are similar

, and they both are equally powerful. They are cunning; teach Xenia; develop Odysseus’ character; and an important role in their families.

Does Odysseus cheat on his wife?

When Odysseus left Ithaca for the Trojan war he was married to Penelope. … After that Odysseus traveled to Calypso’s island. Not

only did he cheat with Calypso

in addition to Circe, but he stayed on her island for seven years until Zeus ordered her to release him.

Who was more loyal Penelope or Odysseus?

Odysseus is truly loyal to Penelope because he leaves Ogygia (where he was trapped) as soon as possible, puts all of his effort into making it home to his wife, and even flirts with Princess Nausicaa to get him home. …

Who betrayed Penelope in the Odyssey?

She is Penelope’s maid and the sister of Melanthius in Odyssey. In the poem,

Melantho

betrays Penelope. She appears to be more loyal to the suitors. The maid is sharp-tongued and ungrateful in her actions towards the queen.

Did Penelope sleep with the suitors?

Penelope recognised him immediately and instructed her maids not to reveal his identity. After the suitors were massacred, Odysseus instructed Telemachus to execute the maids who he believed were in league with them.

Twelve were hanged while Penelope slept

.

Who all did Odysseus sleep with?

Three confirmed:

Penelope, his wife, the witch Circe, and the goddess Calypso

. Some say he slept with Nausicaa, a princess of Phaeacia. This is only slightly implied, however, and there’s not enough in my mind to suggest they had sex. Here’s a page that pretty much details Odysseus’s life and family.

What was Penelope’s role in the Odyssey?


Odysseus’s wife

, Penelope plays a crucial role in Homer’s ‘The Odyssey’, with not only providing the motivation for Odysseus’s return to Ithaca, but she is also the center of the plot involving the suitors and the fate of Telemakos and Ithaca itself.

How was Penelope portrayed in the Odyssey?


Wife of Odysseus and mother of Telemachus

. Penelope spends her days in the palace pining for the husband who left for Troy twenty years earlier and never returned. Homer portrays her as sometimes flighty and excitable but also clever and steadfastly true to her husband.

What traits do Odysseus and his wife Penelope share?

what characteristic do odysseus and penelope share? they are

both clever and loyal

. they will do anything to return to each other.

What are two adjectives that describe Penelope throughout the epic?

Penelope’s main three characteristics are

faithfulness, patience, and cunning

.

How old was Odysseus when he returned home?

I would loosely estimate that Odysseus was

45–50 years old

upon his return. There isn’t much said about Odysseus’ pre-Trojan War deeds that can date him — he is only notable for his role in negotiating the pact among Helen’s suitors and his feigned madness to stay out of the war.

What can we learn from Penelope?

  • The need for a change to take place within the main character.
  • In a romance, the satisfaction of a heroine and hero who can do things on their own … but are better together.
  • The satisfaction of REAL conflict.

How does Penelope describe Odysseus?

Before she retires, Penelope describes to Odysseus

a dream that she has had in which an eagle swoops down upon her twenty pet geese and kills them all

; it then perches on her roof and, in a human voice, says that he is her husband who has just put her lovers to death.

Why does Odysseus have such a hard time getting home after the Trojan War?

Odysseus, because

he angered Poseidon when he blinded his son, the cyclops Polyphemus, and bragged about it, is forced to wander for another 10 years

.

Who is causing trouble back in Ithaca Odyssey?

Returning to their ship, Odysseus jeered at

Polyphemus

, telling him that he, Odysseus, had blinded him. In a rage the giant hurled two great boulders at the ship that nearly swamped it. Then Polyphemus prayed to his father Poseidon to cause Odysseus as much trouble as possible.

Which would be most helpful when comparing Penelope with Odysseus and how they changed in?

Which would be most helpful when comparing Penelope with Odysseus and how they changed in The Odyssey? It would be most helpful to

consider both characters’ reactions to the suitors

. he changes in important ways over the course of his journey.

What is the conflict in the excerpt the Odyssey?

What is the conflict in the excerpt?

The sea is compared to a boiling pot, emphasizing its churning

. The sea is compared to a boiling pot, emphasizing its churning. What theme is Homer presenting when Odysseus has his men tie him so that he will ignore the call of the Sirens in Part 3 of The Odyssey?

How many plot strands are in the Odyssey?

The

three

main story strands then of the ODYSSEY are: one, the final stage of Odysseus’s journey; two, Penelope and the pestering suitors; and three, Telemachus’s search for his father.

What did Odysseus endure?

He has angered several of the gods, and he must

face a variety of obstacles and monsters

before he successfully returns home. After his arrival in the land of the Lotus-Eaters, he moves on to the island of the Cyclops, where he outwits and blinds the one-eyed Polyphemus.

What does the journey of Odysseus teach us?

In this journey, Odysseus learns several life lessons that applied to our lives. At one time in our lives, Odysseus and I have learned how

vital using self-control can be

. When Odysseus wanted to listen to the Sirens after the goddess Circe told him he shouldn’t, that was a lack of self-control on his part.

How I wish chaste Artemis would give me a death so soft?

Weeping Willow

She even wishes for death: “How I wish chaste Artemis would give me a death so soft, and now, so I would not go on in my heart grieving all my life, and longing for love of a husband excellent in every virtue” (18.202-204).

Who is the first person killed by Odysseus?


Antinous

, son of Eupeithes. One of the leaders of the suitors and the first to be killed by Odysseus, he helps instigate the plot to kill Telemachus as he returns from the mainland, and helps spur the fight between Odysseus (as the beggar) and Irus, a notorious beggar.

Why does Penelope create this specific challenge?

What challenge does Penelope create for the suitors?

Whoever could string Odysseus’ bow and fire an arrow through twelve axe handles would be able to marry her

. … They think the killing is an accident and still do not realize Odysseus’ identity or intentions.

What were the two parts of Penelope’s proposed competition?

The two parts are to

string the bow and shoot an arrow through twelve axe handles

. 3.

Leah Jackson
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Leah Jackson
Leah is a relationship coach with over 10 years of experience working with couples and individuals to improve their relationships. She holds a degree in psychology and has trained with leading relationship experts such as John Gottman and Esther Perel. Leah is passionate about helping people build strong, healthy relationships and providing practical advice to overcome common relationship challenges.