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Penelope Review

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Submitted By quachemily
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The tragicomedy play, Penelope, by Enda Walsh focuses on four men—Fitz, Burns, Dunne and Quinn—who all share the same desire of winning over Penelope’s heart while her husband, Odysseus, has been hiatus to fight in the Trojan Wars for the past twenty years. As the play progresses, the men’s hopeless conquest for love erupts into a violent competition amongst each other. Towards the end of the play, Burns makes a speech to Penelope asking for their redemption through love and affection. Despite everything, the suitors fall to their deaths as Odysseus returns home and reunites with his queen. These characters’ actions and interactions illustrate the overall thematic message of the play: love’s triumph over hate. This message is relatable to the world we live in today. Through economic, social and environmental realities, love always triumphs over hate. Despite the reality of the economy’s downfall within the past decade until today, love continues to prevail. This economic downfall has impacted nearly everyone countrywide. The largest issue caused by this downfall is poverty—millions of Americans lost their jobs and many others lost their homes and became homeless. Although competition exists within the economy, many of us have never ceased to lend our helping hands to those who are less fortunate. There are homeless shelters, soup kitchens and health clinics within communities that are designed to specifically reach out to those affected by poverty and provide them with aid through love and kindness. There are many social issues worldwide that prove that love is ruling over hate. An important issue that has occurred recently is gay marriage. For more than a decade, the battle over same-sex marriage and other rights for gay couples has been a tough struggle in the United States. Many people—especially religious leaders and followers—expressed a strong hatred

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