Arts Assignment help on : Character of Penelope in The Odyssey
Penelope is the wife of the heroic Odysseus, she is the one who has deep respect for her husband and awaits for him and his princely coming back from the war of Troy. She is the one who has the faith in the relationship she shared with her husband, but is also the one who is somewhat clever in her ways. Though easily excitable but the character of Penelope is such who is more sensitive and drawn towards the conjugal relationship. Penelope is somewhere more giving in nature, because the relentless wait for Odyssey never tires her and thus she never gives up to marry even after multiple forceful urges by the suitors, on the other hand she is even polite and never outright in her refusal so that it doesn’t hurt the suitors (Penelope, 2012). She covers her grief by saying that she is waiting for the right time and then she would move on to choose a new husband, on this basis it can be analysed that she has a diplomatic side to her personality who is yet innocent. There can be seen an artful side to her personality who holds the capacity to manipulate the conversation (Reece, 2011). She has been portrayed as a perfect epitome of Greek woman who is perfect for the household chores as is depicted by her ability to weave a shroud for Laertes, on the other hand the same depicts that how deceptive and tricky this woman could be so as to win over Odysseus. We never find Penelope to be superstitious, though she is seen to be somewhat sceptical about Odysseus not coming. Penelope can be seen as a lady who is much balanced and therefore still keeps her scepticism and faith well in balance (Vlahos, 2011).
The critics have seen her as a person who has no specific identity as is only being recognised throughout the epic as someone’s wife or someone’s mother, as an individual she is the one who has no enthusiasm for life and therefore doesn’t live for herself. The metaphor of weaving garments in the epic can be seen as parallel to the weaving of the plots. Her overt indulgence and the protection for the son, has almost made Telemachus lacking strength and power to expel out the invaders at their house. Through her character she symbolises many things, like the story of the loom means the visibility or the superficial appearance of Penelope’s tactics which have a hint of cleverness (Elmhirst, 2011). The contest of the bow and the arrow was the one which was interesting, because she was playing a game in a game, it has to be seen that with the game of the bows and the axes the main aim was not to find the best out of the wooers for herself but to see I any of them was under the guise and was Odysseus. There is seen a continuous hint at the values and the customs of the society it is seen that it is somehow for the people of the state to pay attention to the conventions. In Book XVIII Penelope speaks “ But I have a bitter humiliation of to bear, Your way of wooing a wife was never seen before. Those who would win a woman of rank and wealth……..and feasting the lady’s friends, and heaping gifts one her; they do not devour the wealth of another without compensation..” This assertion is significant because it makes the people to think about the state and its condition and that all in known to her. This in fact doesn’t work out for her but makes the wooers to in fact compete with each other thus it means that it could have caused even much chaos to the same (Warren, 2006). All the time she has been shown as yearning or mourning, it is all for the love of her love who is now lost for the past two decades. Under the cover of her mourning the critics also see her as making the best of the times by fooling around men or playing the role of the seductress at the other hand. A point which is noteworthy of her character is that if Penelope had been so pious in her ways and dedicated in her love for Odysseus then being a queen she could have strongly refused the suitors over their continuous approaches to make her remarry. In fact it can be seen as something which is cleverly being executed. She neither refuses the proposal nor accepts, but she keeps them waiting. There are clear bifurcations in her personality who is a true beloved but a seductress to the other men (Storace, 2012).
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