Being faithful
In book 11, while Odysseus is talking to Agamemnon, there comes a point when he mentions how his wife was unfaithful, but Odysseus has no need to worry about this because his wife is clever, and always honourable to her husband, but why does that rule only apply to the wife? Why is it reassuring that Penelope is faithful and clever, all the while Odysseus has slept with every women who has tempted him. The balance confuses me, becuase Odyssues has no guilty concious.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
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I think it's quite possible that Odysseus has never wanted to break his loyalty to his wife, but realizing that he must to so in order to fulfill his true desire is to go back to his "native land" and to Penelope. This is prominent (especially near the very beginning of the book) when we read:
ReplyDelete"But one man alone... his heart set on his wife and his return-Calypso, the bewitching nymph, the lustrous goddess, held him back."
~Narrator
Book 1, page 78, line 16-18
So maybe it's not that Odysseus is being unfaithfull to his wife and Penelope is still loyal, maybe it's just that Odysseus recognizes what he has no choice to do in order to achieve nostos; to go home.