Penelope As A Wife In Homer's Odyssey

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Penelope’s role as a wife gives her agency, while her role as a host with Xenia gives her power. Agency is when people have control over an option, making them have decisions to choose from. Meanwhile, power has the capability to control the way others or yourself act. Penelope shows both of these through her identity. Penelope’s role as a wife shows agency by having the decision to choose what she does when she meets her husband, Odysseus, again after years of him being gone. “With that thought Penelope started down from her lofty room, her heart in turmoil, torn.should she keep her distance, probe her husband? Or rush up to the man at once and kiss his head and cling to both his hands?’ (23.96-99) Penelope has heard the news that her husband