Table of Contents
What does Penelope do to reject the suitors request for her hand in marriage?
For three years, Penelope has put off choosing a husband among the suitors by saying that she must first finish weaving a shroud for Laertes. Each day she weaves and each night she unravels her day’s work. Thus she delays for three years until a treacherous maid spills the beans.
What is the test Penelope devices to choose a suitor to marry?
The test was that Penelope says that she will marry whichever suitor can string the bow and then shoot an arrow through 12 axe handles. None of the suitors can even string the bow so none of them even gets a shot at the axe handles. So this is a way of showing that Odysseus is much stronger than any of the suitors.
What instrument did Penelope use to trick the suitors?
weaving
The emblem of Penelope’s cleverness is the device by which she tricks her suitors for three years, her weaving. She uses the weaving to buy herself time, but the weaving is itself an image of time.
Who won Penelope’s challenge?
When Telemachus is an adult, Odysseus returns disguised as a beggar. He beats Penelope’s challenge for the suitors, which was that whoever can string Odysseus’s bow and shoot it through 12 axe handles can have her hand i marrige.
What means does Penelope decide she will use to choose a husband?
What means does Penelope decide she will use to choose a husband? Penelope says that she will marry whoever can string Odysseus’ bow and shoot an arrow through twelve ax handle sockets. Odysseus is angry because the suitors have plundered his house and tried to claim his wife while he was gone.
How many suitors does Penelope?
108 suitors
Once Odysseus returns home (whom Athena initially disguises as a beggar so he can plot his revenge in secret), his son Telemachus tells him that there are 108 suitors: 52 from Dulichium, 24 from Same, 20 Achaeans from Zacynthus, and 12 from Ithaca.
What kind of challenge does Penelope give the suitors?
She then takes her husband’s weapons to the main hall and presents them to the suitors. Penelope addresses the suitors and offers them a challenge to win her hand in marriage. She challenges the unscrupulous suitors to shoot an arrow through twelve ax heads aligned in a straight row using Odysseus’s renowned bow.
How did Penelope delay the decision to marry Odysseus?
Odysseus, king of Ithaca, is gone for twenty years. After a certain amount of time, it’s assumed he is dead. Penelope, his wife, finds herself with 108 suitors. She holds to her faith, however, that her husband will return. She doesn’t want to marry any of these suitors, so she devises strategies to delay having to make a decision.
Where does Penelope take odysseus’bow and arrows?
In book 21, Penelope goes to the upper chamber of the palace to retrieve Odysseus’s famous bow, several arrows, and twelve ax heads. She then takes her husband’s weapons to the main hall and presents them to the suitors.
Why is Penelope weaving a death shroud for Odysseus?
Penelope claims to be weaving a death shroud for her father in-law Laertes, or in some translations, Odysseus himself. Each night she unravels the shroud, forcing herself to start work over the next night. There is another tactic, which may or may not count.