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The Influence Of Minor Characters In Homer's Odyssey

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“Those in power write the history, while those who suffer write the songs.” -Frank Harte. In The Odyssey, readers learn how most of the events unfold from Odysseus’ point of view or as the center of attention. He has power and therefore readers are easily influence by what he, and Homer, want them to see and focus on. The minor characters become backgrounds, objects that are simply “there” to add bits to the story and are without much attention or empathy from readers. The Penelopiad relieves this shameful act of the readers, forcing them to see the humanity of the minor characters, more specifically the twelve hanged who mostly tell their stories through song. While reading The Odyssey, the event of hanging the maids is shared in such a cold, …show more content…
However when reading from Penelope’s point of view, she describe a closed bond between herself and the twelve hanged maids. In “The Shroud,” she describes their late night accompaniments as having “a touch of festivity about them, a touch — even — of hilarity”. She paints a picture of them sharing snacks and gossip that seems like best friends having a sleepover. She even goes as far as to say “We were almost like sisters.” This friendly bond is not something that is never portrayed by the maids. In “The Perils of Penelope, A Drama” and “The Birth of Telemachus, An Idyll” an intense loathing can be seen from the twelve hanged maids towards the royal family. The “The Perils of Penelope, A Drama,” the maids present Penelope in a crude and cruel manner. The emotion in this drama depicts the betrayal they feel towards Penelope for allowing them to be murdered. They were risking themselves by being “spies” to the suitors for her and were hung because of the act they were (supposedly) putting on. The maid playing Penelope in this drama portrays her as using the maids to save herself from Odysseus’ wrath because she was sleeping with the suitors. She tells Eurycleia (played by another maid) to “point out those maids as feckless and disloyal” so they cannot tell Odysseus of Penelope’s affair. This also raises the question of did Penelope have relations with any of the suitors. …show more content…
However, their voices, no matter how loud, could not enact the actions they wanted. This inner turmoil caused the maids to break free during their final song, “Envoi” and become owls. Their human voice and song were not giving them power, so it was exchanged for the hope of a new and different song and power in the form of an owl. While an owl is not representative of a bird to be feared, it is associated with wisdom and symbolizes Athena. In the end The Odyssey, Odysseus is resolved by Athena for killing almost a whole generation of men when she makes the people forget he did so. However, she doesn’t include the twelve hanged maids in her forgetting spell, probably because even she, who represents justice, did see them as worthy of acknowledgment. So by becoming owls, the maids resolution is still associated in their eyes with justice through symbolism. The Penelopiad helps readers to see these tricks in The Odyssey Homer and Odysseus try to use to slide over the terrible actions towards the minor characters. While voice is given to the maids, their station makes it weak, so they incorporate song of powerful genres to form connections with the readers, who in turn will view them in a more humanistic manner, which provides deeper understand to The Odyssey and The Penelopiad as a

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