Everyone seems to think that Odysseus is some kind of hopeless romantic that longs for Penelope unendingly and will stop at nothing to get back to her. He is almost always portrayed as this man of great faithfulness. But when Kalypso was trying to tempt him into staying with her, he admitted without any hesitation that she was Penelope's Superior in "beauty and stature". He went on to say that he wasn't pining for her so much as "to go back to my house and see my day of homecoming". So, really, he cared nothing (or, very little) about his wife and son. He just wanted to be at his welcome home party and revel in the glory of his return. As heroic as he's supposed to be, I'm really not a huge fan of Odysseus. Maybe he'll redeem himself later but that would require a serious change of attitude and I don't see that happening.
P.s. I commented on Collin's post
My thoughts are similar to yours. I feel like Homer reveals a double standard that we still deal with today in these books. Odysseus is portrayed as being normal for having affairs with other women, while Penelope is sort of judged harshly for having relations with other men while Odysseus is gone. It relates to society today in some ways.
ReplyDelete