How does Penelope get rid of the suitors?

How does Penelope get rid of the suitors?

For three years, Penelope has put off choosing a husband among the suitors by saying that she must first finish weaving a shroud for Laertes. Each day she weaves and each night she unravels her day’s work. Thus she delays for three years until a treacherous maid spills the beans.

How was Penelope deceiving the suitors and why?

Penelope tells her suitors that she will marry when she has completed weaving a shroud for her father-in-law, Laertes. Each day she works on it, and each night she unravels her work. Consequently, the shroud would never be completed. Penelope fools her suitors for three years until they finally learn of her deception.

What challenge does Penelope give to her suitors?

She then takes her husband’s weapons to the main hall and presents them to the suitors. Penelope addresses the suitors and offers them a challenge to win her hand in marriage. She challenges the unscrupulous suitors to shoot an arrow through twelve ax heads aligned in a straight row using Odysseus’s renowned bow.

What happened to Penelope’s suitors?

The SUITORS were killed either by Odysseus or by someone in his team, that is, Eumaeus 1, Philoetius or Telemachus. Eumaeus 1 was Odysseus’ servant and swineherd.

Why does Penelope allow the suitors to stay?

Bereft of their husbands, they were expected to remarry. If they chose to remain single, their sons (as in The Odyssey) would become their de facto guardians. So, another reason Penelope has suitors is because she is expected to remarry. So, her suitors have chosen to take advantage of her reticence on the matter.

Why do the suitors want to marry Penelope?

Odysseus’ wife Penelope has suitors because of Odysseus’ long absence. They assume that he is dead, and they hope to marry Penelope to inherit all that she has. The suitors believe Odysseus to be dead. Upon Odysseus return, the suitors pay for their treachery.

Why can’t Penelope send the suitors away?

Penelope didn’t have a choice. She may have been Queen of Ithaca, but she had little actual power. All men loyal to Odysseus had followed him to Troy, she simply had no way of forcing the suitors to leave the palace. And of course she feared that antagonizing the suitors in any way would put Telemachus’ life in danger.

What test does Penelope give the suitors?

The test was that Penelope says that she will marry whichever suitor can string the bow and then shoot an arrow through 12 axe handles. None of the suitors can even string the bow so none of them even gets a shot at the axe handles. So this is a way of showing that Odysseus is much stronger than any of the suitors.

What happened to Odysseus and Penelope?

A large and rowdy mob of suitors who have overrun Odysseus’s palace and pillaged his land continue to court his wife, Penelope. She has remained faithful to Odysseus. Unknown to the suitors, Odysseus is still alive. The beautiful nymph Calypso, possessed by love for him, has imprisoned him on her island, Ogygia.

Why does Penelope allow the suitors?

Odysseus’ wife, Penelope, has suitors because she is physically attractive and possesses great wealth. So, another reason Penelope has suitors is because she is expected to remarry. At the beginning of the story, we are told that Penelope has not made her intentions clear to the suitors.

Does Penelope want to remarry?

1. On the one hand she does not want to remarry: (a) respect for Odysseus, who may just be alive: (b) respect for public opinion -the public do disapprove when they think she has remarried (344):

Does Odysseus cheat on Penelope?

When Odysseus left Ithaca for the Trojan war he was married to Penelope. After that Odysseus traveled to Calypso’s island. Not only did he cheat with Calypso in addition to Circe, but he stayed on her island for seven years until Zeus ordered her to release him.

Why did Penelope turn away from the suitors?

Which isn’t to say that the suitors would have abducted Penelope per se, but that this was an environment where people easily resort to violence to get what they want. Given this context delaying tactics was probably the better option than risking a confrontation with oturight rejection.

How did Penelope delay the return of her husband?

For three years, Penelope weaves the shroud during the day and unravels it at night, awaiting her husband’s return. The suitors learn of Penelope’s delaying tactic when one of her maidservants, Melantho, reveals it to her lover Eurymachus.

How did Penelope delay the courtship of Odysseus?

Rather than simply rejecting the suitors, Penelope devises a plan to delay their courtship. She claims she will choose a husband after she has finished weaving a funeral shroud to present to Odysseus’ father, Laertes. For three years, Penelope weaves the shroud during the day and unravels it at night, awaiting her husband’s return.

Who was the second suitor of Penelope in the Odyssey?

Eurymachus, son of Polybus, is the second of the suitors to appear in the epic. Eurymachus acts as a leader among the suitors because of his charisma.