Friday, August 24, 2012

What love does Odysseus and Penelope share in Homer's Odyssey?

If you are
writing a paper on this topic, it might be interesting to argue that the love that Odysseus and
Penelope share is not the same. Let me explain.

Penelope has been a model of
faithfulness. There is no doubt about this. She waited twenty years and she was faithful all
throughout. She was under enormous stress to marry one of the suitors and all indicators pointed
to the fact that Odysseus was dead, but she still held out in hope. She even concocted various
schemes to ward off the suitors. In a word, her love for Odysseus was true and it showed in her
faithfulness.

When it comes to Odysseus. His twenty years was a bit more
complicated. He stayed with Calypso for seven years as a love slave - somewhat willingly.
Eventually he had to go through great struggles to get home, but the Calypso episode could be
seen as a blemish.

In the end, I suppose that you can say that Penelope and
Odysseus share the love that is found in marriage and it is evidenced in
sacrifice.

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