![]() ![]() In the words of Odysseus: “Heaven has endowed you with a heart more unyielding than woman ever yet had. In fact, her faithfulness to Odysseus is one of her character’s strengths. Despite his long absence, Penelope stayed faithful to him. Odysseus was absent from Penelope’s life for twenty years. In Book 23 of “The Odyssey,” Penelope spoke to the maid Euryclea: “I have never slept so soundly from the day my poor husband went to that city with the ill–omened name” (Homer). She is overcome with so much grief upon his long absence that she cries herself to sleep. The duration of the Trojan War was also a decade, but soon after, there was no more news about Odysseus’ whereabouts. Prior to the war, they spent ten years of wedded bliss. In her conversation with the minstrel Phemius 2 in Book 1, she said: “…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). Early on in the story, she is faced with a dilemma as her husband had failed to return after the Trojan War. In “The Odyssey,” Penelope is the wife of Odysseus and the mother of Telemachus. Upon closer analysis, however, one could see her incomparable strength and faith, as well as her admirable intelligence. Unlike the other characters which reveal physical strength or supernatural capabilities, Penelope seems to be weak and powerless. Penelope may not be as prominent as the other characters in Homer’s The Odyssey, but she still is one of the most crucial major characters in the story. ![]()
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