Summary Of Odysseus In Homer's Odyssey '

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Penelope’s Wait “Odysseus, you mustn’t leave! Is it truly worthwhile to wage war for an adulteress?” I, the queen of Ithaca, pleaded my husband not to leave. It was too late though. Understanding that it was by force, and not will that he was leaving, I calmed myself. I watched helplessly as the king’s ship and crew, along with a dozen others, sailed off into the seemingly-everlasting sea. Slowly, I paced back to the castle, hearing all sorts of whisperings about Penelope and Odysseus from common goers. Already, agony had started to dwell inside my heart and mind, longing for Odysseus’ return. Arriving home, I heard the cry of an infant; our son, yet to be named. After a few days of pondering, I settled upon Telemachus, meaning ‘far-away…show more content…
Each of them trying, day after day, year after year, to have me marry one of them. They had overtaken the hall, nearly a hundred of them, none paying restitution for the anguish they had caused me. Most, not even having the decency to be clothed in my presence, laid around in the nude during their revelry. The throng of suitors was overwhelming; making it travailing for me to believe Odysseus was to return home. The suitors became more ravenous by the day, wanting me to select my new husband. I had to think of something to keep the eager suitors occupied; thus, I told them I would choose one of them after I was done weaving a shawl for Laertes, Odysseus’ father. I would weave all day, in front of those suitors, and then unweave the shawl at night, giving me more time to await my husband’s return. However, as time pressed on, my hope for Odysseus’ return, started to slightly dwindle. It had been nearly twenty years since the king had left for…show more content…
He had cleaned up since the last that I had seen, and was noticeably more handsome. This man, whoever he was, had strung my husband’s bow and slain the suitors to an appropriate death. And now he had started to bellow at me, accusing me of becoming hard, and not recognizing my husband. “Do you not understand, strange man, that so many as a hundred suitors have proclaimed to be Odysseus?” I asked. I started to have Eurycleia make up his bed separate from mine, when he went into a terrible frenzy. “You dared to move my bed, woman!? No builder, unless by having the help of the gods, could have the skill to do that! I built our bed, I built our bedroom, all around that bed! The trunk of an old olive serves as the bedpost, my handiwork, and no one else’s could’ve done that! Penelope, that is our sign!” As I heard him speak these words to me, I almost fell to my knees before I reached him. My arms wrapped around him like a serpent smothering its prey. “Odysseus, calm down! I believe you!” I cried. “You’ve been missing for two decades. The gods did not grant us our youth together, but none of that matters now that you have returned. My heart has ached for you, and I have been faithful that you would someday return.” And with that, Odysseus and I returned to ruling Ithaca in peace, happily together at

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