Comparing Athena And Penelope In Homer's Odyssey

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Goddess or Mortal

Can an author make two characters so similar that readers could say they are the same? In Homer’s epic The, Athena, and Penelope are two strong supporting women. But Athena’s pushiness and disguise make the goddess different than Penelope. Although Athena and Penelope are both wise, when it comes to Telemachus, Athena is selfish compared to Penelope’s unselfishness. The men in the epic let the readers see the true colors of the two women. The two women are both wise because, the wisdom goddess making a multiple layered plan to help Odysseus come back home; Athena comes to Ithaca and comforts the people, and then goes to Scheria to convince Nausicaa to host Odysseus. On the other hand, the way Penelope postpone her marriage to the suitor shows that she is wise. The …show more content…
Three whole years” (2.116-8). The quotation shows that Penelope is wise on how she makes the suitors wait. Not just make then wait but making them think the day they can marry Penelope is coming closer. How she figured a way to drag on for so long makes Penelope wise. It is very tricky to run a continuous act under people’s noses and not get caught. People need to use their wits and creativity to make a plan that works, such as Penelope’s, for three years. As much as the goddess and mortal are similar they share a big difference when handling Telemachus. When Athena first comes to Ithaca disguised as Mentor helping Telemachus set sail the goddess said, “Lots of ships in seagirt Ithaca, old and new. / I’ll look them over, choose the best in sight, / we’ll fit her out and launch her into the sea at once!” (2.127-9). Athena sounds very desperate; how she is willing to do everything by herself to make the process faster. Athena is pushing Telemachus to grow up and be a
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