Prompt: While Odysseus is clearly the protagonist, which character would you argue is the
true hero of The Odyssey?
In Homer’s epic, The Odyssey, Penelope is the true heroine as her loyalty, cunning mind,
and intuitiveness leads to reunification of her immediate family.
Regardless of their constant harassing, Penelope denies marrying any of the suitors in
order to preserve her familial bond. Although Odysseus has been gone twenty years, without
proof of his death, Penelope stays loyal to her husband. The royal queen of Ithaca demonstrates
her loyalty as she separates herself from the suitors. Penelope “rarely appears these days; what
with those suitors milling in the hall” (15.576-577). The Queen keeps to herself in order to avoid
committing to a marriage between her and one of the suitors, thus preserving her marriage to
Odysseus. Odysseus and Penelope’s marriage is not intact without Penelope’s loyalty to her
husband.
Penelope uses her cunning mind to trick her suitors, which buys Odysseus time to make
his way back to Ithaca to reunite with his family. She creates obstacles for the suitors to
overcome in order to hinder their badgering of her to choose a man to wed, thus giving Odysseus
the time he needs to arrive home. She displays her cunning mind as she tricks the suitors with
the weaving and unweaving of her web. “So by day, she’d weave at her great and growing web,
by night, by the light of torches set beside her, she would unravel all she’d done” (2.116-118).
Penelope seduces her suitors and plants false hope that she will soon be ready to be wed, while
her intention remains to stall the suitors long enough for Odysseus to come home. Odysseus
does not receive the time he needs to return home if not for Penelope’s thoughtful schemes to
prolong the awaiting marriage.
Using her intuition, Queen Penelope sets the stage for Odysseus to reunite with his
family. Penelope is without her husband for twenty years, but once Odysseus, disguised as a
beggar, arrives in Ithaca, she is ready to offer the opportunity for a man to win over her heart.
Penelope’s intuition is at its sharpest when she creates the competition of shooting through the
axes. “I set before you the great bow of King Odysseus now! The hand that can string this bow
with greatest ease, that shoots an arrow clean through all twelve axes, he is the man I follow”
(21. 85-88). Penelope creates the competition relying on her intuition that King Odysseus is in
Ithaca, which grants him the chance to regain his rightful place alongside his wife and son. The
ruling family is not reunited if not for Penelope’s intuition that her husband has reached home to
Ithaca at last.
Although Penelope is not the protagonist of The Odyssey, with further dissection,
Penelope is clearly the hero of Homer’s epic as she is loyal, cunning, and intuitive. Penelope
brings these traits justice as she uses them to reunite her family after twenty years. Penelope is
heroic for sticking to her strong moral code which guides her through difficult situations and
ultimately reunites her family.
KEY:
Black and Underlined-Thesis Statement
Red-Topic Sentence
Blue-Developing Idea
Purple-Quotation
Green-Analysis of Quotation
Orange-Conclusion
Navy Blue- Conclusion of entire essay