オデュッセウスとその妻

Abstract

In the first half of the Odyssey, both the hero's longing for his wife and her attachment to her absent husband are emphasized. This could suggest to the audience that the poet would reproduce the original naive world of the homecomer, but in the second part the hero manifests mistrust of women in general, and would not confide his true self or intention of revenge to his wife. It is only after he successfully fights off the suitors that Penelope acknowledges him as her husband. She was excluded from the fighting but, in the underworld the ghost of a suitor tells of Penelope's assistance to her husband with the plot. Thereupon, Agamemnon praises Odysseus for having Penelope as his wife, which again reminds us of the romantic world of the folk tale. It would have been easier and his victory more certain, if Odysseus had really gotten Penelope's aid, as may have occurred in the original tale. But to Odysseus, who represents the modern man, such a world was alien. The discrepancy between the two worlds creates irony.