Literature

In the great book The Odyssey, family, loyalty and faithfulness are issues that come up often

throughout the epic story. We encounter family between father and son, faithfulness between wife and husband, and between the gods and man. We experience loyalty also between father and son, and a lack of loyalty between wife and husband.

To me the ultimate example of family, loyalty and faithfulness is between Odysseus, Telemachus and Penelope. Throughout the entire epic these three never once strayed from one another, always kept hope and never turned on each other. Penelope is faced with twenty years of suffering when Odysseus is away from Ithaca, and yet she kept the faith for all twenty years. When faced by all the suitors that wanted to marry her, Penelope devised a plan to keep them away from her. She said she would marry one when she was finished making the quilt. She would quilt and then undo the quilt to delay her having to choose a suitor. The whole time she kept her faith to Odysseus, never losing hope. Telemachus also never lost hope. When first approached to take over the thrown he refused, he wanted to know for sure if his father was truly dead. A great story of family, faithfulness and loyalty in The Odyssey that kept being repeated was the story of Orestes. Agamemnon leaves his wife Clytemnestra in the hands of a poet. Aegyptius, send this poet away and sleeps with Clytemnestra. Later Agamemnon is killed by Aegyptius. Orestes shows his loyalty to his father Agamemnon by revenging his death by killing Aegyptius and his own mother. This is a story told by Zeus, Nestor and Menelaus which helps show Telemachus how great he could be.

Another example of family, faithfulness and loyalty in The Odyssey is whenever someone introduces themselves they announce their name and the name of their father. Often times Odysseus announces himself as Odysseus, son of Laertes. This shows respect and loyalty; both by the one announcing themselves and the ones the announcement is being made to. Families in the Odyssey are under the control of males usually. One part of The Odyssey where we see this is when there is a song about Troy in front of Penelope and Odysseus. Penelope becomes sad after hearing the song and tries to stop them from singing the song that she believed to take her husband. Just then Telemachus takes control and tells his mother