In Margret Attwood's The Penelopiad, It covers the of Penelope, wife of Odysseus and queen Of Ithaca, from her point of view in the underworld, long after her death. Penelope said that after people die they have a choice of reincarnation back into the normal world. She says that many people use this for many different reasons such as trying to relive their youth or adventure. Penelope does not reincarnate, however Odysseus does very often. He will stay with Penelope and they seem to enjoy themselves and have a good time, but he always leaves to reincarnate. He always eventually leaves without an explanation. There could be many reasons as to why he leaves, because Odysseus has always been a strange person. One reason could be that he doesn't love Penelope and doesn't want to spend time with her. As crude as it would be, it is a real possibility. Maybe after all the time he spent away he fell out of love with her . Perhaps he loved someone more like Circe. Maybe he just never loved her in the first place. He could have only married her for her political power. That could be a reason as to why it took him so long to get home. While this is a possibility I don't think this is the reason why. I think Odysseus has some level of love towards Penelope. If he didn't, there would be no reason at all to spend time with her. Another reason that he doesn't spend time with her is that the 12 maids are haunting them because they hold a grudge towards Odysseus and Penelope (rightfully so). The 12 maids could be interfering with Penelope and Odysseus because they do not want them to be happy. They could be doing this to get at Penelope because they blame her for their deaths. I think that this is a real possibility because half of the story is from the maids perspectives. The maids held distain towards the two and it makes sense to try and mess up their relationship. Odysseus may have left Penelope in order to get the maids to leave them both alone. I think the most likely reason Odysseus kept leaving Penelope is because this love for thrill and adventure outweighs his love for Penelope. All throughout his life Odysseus loved the thrill of outsmarting people and adventuring. I think that he couldn't stay in the underworld while he knows there's countless adventures waiting for him. At the end of the day he still loved Penelope but she couldn't satisfy his thirst for adventure.
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AuthorZach Knackstedt Archives
November 2021
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