The Odyssey Compare/Contrast Essay

Quarter 3 BM(The Odyssey Compare/Contrast Essay)-we had to pick a character from “The Odyssey” and  a movie or book that had a character that acted just like the one you had to pick and compare , contrast them.

  Penelope and Penny are the same character in different situations. Penelope is the wife of Odysseus in the book” The Odyssey”, Penny is the same character but in the movie. Penny and Penelope have a lot of similarities that all connects to their husbands Odysseus in the book “The Odyssey” and Everett in the movie “O brother where art thou”. Penelope and Penny are married to men of adventure, the ways they handle their relationship reveals the kind of woman they are.

     Penelope and Penny are woman connected to Odysseus and Everett. Two men were unheard of for years. When, Eurycleia (the old nurse) told Penelope that Odysseus came back from his journey, she didn’t believe her, and she said “the gods have made you mad. They have that power putting lunacy into the clearest head around”. (Page 455, line 12) This shows that Odysseus was away for so long that Penelope made herself think that her husband was not coming back.  The old nurse told her more information Odysseus and him disguised as a beggar, Penelope started to believe her, but she still needed to prove that, the beggar was really her husband Odysseus. Penelope believed the nurse but at the same time was unsure. When Everett and Odysseus comes unexpectedly back to his old town where Penny and Penelope lives, Penny moved on without Everett, by moving on she told her children that Everett (their father) that he got hit by a train. Penny even got engaged with a suitor. Everett tried to tell Penny everything that happened, how he wanted another chance, but being gone so long Penny just didn’t want to hear it after a while. Sooner Penny forgave him and they got engaged. In both of these scenarios Penelope and Penny reveal that they are some what forgiving wives towards their husbands even though they were away for years.

  Penelope and Penny handle their relationships differently.  When Penelope finds out   by the old nurse that Odysseus was disguised as a beggar, she wanted to prove that it was really Odysseus. She finds out that it was Odysseus when she tells Eurycleia to move the sturdy bedstead out of the their bridal chamber. Odysseus replies by saying “Woman-your words, they cut me to the core! Who could move my bed, impossible task, even for some skilled craftsman.”(Page 461 line 205) that’s when she knows its him. There relationship picks up from where they left it years ago. Neither does she ask Odysseus questions that might tear up there relationship/marriage. When Everett comes back he too wants to start where he left off with Penny. Penny wasn’t very forgiving at first; she didn’t want to give him a chance. When she finally gives him a chance to re-marry Everett, she wants her husband to get her old ring, as long as he doesn’t get her old ring she won’t marry him. Penny is somewhat of a selfish person; if she doesn’t get her way then everyone else suffers with her. It seems like Everett tries to make Penny happy, but it always fails. Its like Penny sees his effort but, until everything is perfect and the way she wants it to be then, everyone will suffer with her. The movie Penny is the same person, who knows her husband Everett is trying his best to please her, but still pushes him away. Unlike Penny, Penelope changes during the book “The Odyssey”, she is at first hopeless, because she couldn’t do anything with her life because the suitors were over powering her, then towards the end Penelope had power, and she was more confident.

 How Penelope sees waiting for Odysseus is, after years when her husband doesn’t come back form his adventure she decides to marry a suitor who can bow-and arrow like Odysseus. She says “all day long I indulge myself in sighs and tears as I see to my tasks, direct the house hold woman. When night falls and the world lies lost in sleep, I take to my bed, my heart throbbing about to break anxieties swarming, piercing. She wants to marry a man similar to Odysseus. Penelope obviously misses Odysseus; she thinks he’s dead so she wants to replace him with a man who is just like him.  Penny on the other hand marry’s a suitor and tells her daughters that their father got hit by a train. Honestly Penny, seemed like she fully moved on from Everett, and blocked him out from her life.  Penny hardly changes through out the movie. At the beginning she doesn’t care about her husband coming back, neither does she want to have a conversation with him. Towards the end, she’s the same. Penelope and Penny might be based on the same situations, but their attitudes toward their husbands are different.

    Penny and Penelope are both connected by their husbands (Everett and Odysseus). They are mostly different, not much alike because of their attitudes towards their husbands Penelope changes through out the book, a woman who is afraid to over power, but begins to feel her power strengthening once Odysseus comes back from his 20 year journey. Penny hardly changes she ignores her husband Everett, stays that same way towards the end even when she gets back together with Everett she has no feelings for what her husband does to make her happy. Even though Penny and Penelope are based off of the same book “The Odyssey” they are different in many ways. Though Penny and Penelope go through the same situation with their husbands not being there for years, they learn to be powerful, strong and forgiving women at the end.