With Athena’s guidance, she proposes a contest. She needs to find yet another clever solution. The bow is a symbol of the importance of friendship.Īfter the suitors expose her weaving deception, Penelope is forced to finish the burial shroud. Instead, he left it in his palace to represent the Ancient Greek tradition of xenia, hospitality. It is a precious gift, and Odysseus did not take it to war. The fabled weapon serves a critical role in the story. The shroud is the symbol of her endless devotion to her husband, as well as her intellect and resourcefulness. This is why Penelope is forced to come up with a different way of stalling for time. With Odysseus believed to be dead, she was running out of excuses for not marrying one of them. Being a woman in Homer’s time, she also cannot decline their advances. The shroud is one of the essential symbols in The Odyssey because it represents Penelope’s cunning.Odysseus’ wife is not capable of making the suitors leave by force. For three years, she has been tricking the suitors, giving her husband time to return home. Every night she would sit by the loom, undoing her work. Eventually, her secret becomes known.Įvery day Penelope would work on the shroud. The suitors are at a loss why the shroud is not getting any longer. We find out that Penelope’s weaving has been going on for three years, fruitless. Yet, she cannot do so until she finishes the burial shroud for her father-in-law Laertes. The queen of Ithaca promises her restless suitors that she will eventually choose one of them to marry. Only by surviving and fighting through can we truly achieve our goals. It tells us that no matter the problems or the hardships, we have to keep on persevering. In this regard, the sea is also symbolic of life itself. In the end, his journey brings him back to Ithaca despite all the difficulties. The Odyssey serves as a reminder of the dangers of the natural world. The Ancient Greeks were excellent and capable sailors, but even they would have been helpless against a raging storm. Using his wit and strength, Odysseus manages to overcome his obstacles, but he suffers throughout the voyage.The sea is endlessly wrathful and perilous. The sea is their symbol – Cyclops, Scylla, and Charybdis, and the sirens are all connected to water. The Odyssey is full of monsters that try to prevent the hero from coming home. However, the open waters are where Odysseus encounters most of his dangerous enemies. The Odyssey ’s setting takes us across many islands of the Aegean and Black seas, across Ancient Greece, and even to the Underworld. The sea, again and again, keeps representing Odysseus’ suffering and struggle. There are many instances where he nearly drowns but survives with Athena’s help. Odysseus is forced to travel by raft, and it too suffers through storms and wrecks. The storm that follows in retaliation destroys all the ships and kills everyone except for the king of Ithaca. Hermes warns Odysseus not to touch the sun god Helios’ cattle, but his men do not listen.
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