It is clear Penelope believe not just anyone can have her and Ithaca. She wants someone who is as skillful and honorable as her husband. It could also be asserted that she still believed that Odysseus was alive, thus creating a task that he who is blessed by the Gods can achieve.

What contest does Penelope propose for the suitors? What is the prize if they win the contest? She proposed that whoever can string Odysseus’s rigid bow and shoot an arrow- but through a dozen axes, they will win her hand in marraige.

She proposes an archery contest to the suitors, with marriage to her as the prize. She enters the storeroom and takes down the heavy bow that odysseus left behind.

Penelope proposes an impossible task: the suitors must _________________________________ __________________________________________________, which is a task that can only be done by Odysseus.

To assure herself of Odysseus’ identity, Penelope tests him. As he listens, she asks Eurycleia to move the bedstead out of the couple’s chamber and spread it with blankets. The king himself had carved the bed as a young man, shaping it out of a living olive tree that grew in the courtyard of the palace.

How do the suitors treat the beggar? Why is Penelope nice to him? They taunt him. Penelope is nice to him because she was told that the beggar had news about Odysseus.

Why does Penelope consider storytelling “a low art”? She considers it a low art because she knows that stories can be altered through the change of point of view. It’s an art of gossiping, a revised story-telling. It is mainly because in the Odyssey (poem by Homer) , only Odysseus’ point of view is being presented.

The bed is a permanent piece of furniture, representing the stability of the marriage between Odysseus and Penelope. Like a tree, solid and long-lasting, Odysseus and Penelope refuse to uproot themselves and join with another partner to create a new family.

scar

Summary: Book 19 Telemachus tells Eurycleia that they are storing the arms to keep them from being damaged.

In Homer’s epic The Odyssey, Odysseus returns to the island of Ithaka disguised as a beggar. However, Odysseus does not reveal himself to his wife, Penelope. She recognizes the beggar as her long lost husband and chooses not to unveil his true identity.

How does Penelope test Odysseus? Penelope has not seen her husband for many years. When Odysseus returns, Penelope doesn’t recognize him and cannot be sure that Odysseus is really who he says he is. She tests Odysseus by ordering her servant Eurycleia to move their marriage bed.

He didn’t have a good reason for not answering her questions, he just skirted them thinking as a beggar he could be considered a man of little importance.

Why does Penelope feel the need to test Odysseus, even though he has abandoned his disguise? No, Odysseus needs to regain all the belongings the suitors took from him. The suitors’ parents are after him too.

How does Eurymachus try to persuade Odysseus to spare the lives of the suitors? What epic convention is included in Book 22: Death in the Great Hall? Penelope doubts Odysseus’ identity, so what does she do? She helps him by telling him he must go see Tiresias, a blind prophet of Thebes, in the land of the dead.

Terms in this set (17) How do Odysseus and Telmachus plan to handle Penelope’s unwanted suitors? Penelope said that before she married, she had to weave a burial shroud for Lord Laertes. At night, she would in weave what she had done during the day to hold off the suitors.

Why does Penelope invite the “beggar” to visit her later that night? How must this make Odysseus feel? She believes the “beggar” has news about Odysseus.

It is in Penelope that Homer more purely explores the possibilities and limitations of Odyssean cleverness. The emblem of Penelope’s cleverness is the device by which she tricks her suitors for three years, her weaving. She uses the weaving to buy herself time, but the weaving is itself an image of time.