In the eyes of the suitors, Penelope is a really tough nut she stands up to them and they admire her trick to delay her marriage (claiming to be weaving a shroud for Odysseus’s father). More broadly throughout the Odyssey, far from being ‘silenced’, Penelope engages sympathetically with her son, who (as the poet makes clear) is attempting to grow into his destined position of family head. Dame Mary concludes that here, from the very beginnings of western literature, we have a precise example of the thesis she is proposing.īut is it? This is Penelope’s home, not ‘the public sphere’ she wishes to change her son’s choice of music and is refused and though surprised (the first time this has happened?) she takes his words seriously. She is ‘surprised’, ‘takes his words to heart’ and retires. Rejecting her request, he orders her back to her bedroom. That is the situation when the Odyssey begins, and in the first book, while the suitors are munching their way through Odysseus’s livestock over dinner, Penelope descends from her bedroom and orders Telemachus to stop the bard Phemius from singing what is to her a painful song about the Trojan war. During Odysseus’s 20-year absence at Troy, she had been left to run the home and the estate and raise their son Telemachus (Telemachus was now 20) and for the last four years, she had been besieged by 108 suitors who, reasonably assuming Odysseus was dead, were seeking her hand in marriage. The problem exists in the first example of her thesis, to which she returns four times - Penelope, the wife of Odysseus. Brighton rock bottom: How the Greens nearly destroyed the city I love
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |