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Theme Of Loyalty In The Odyssey

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The Odyssey: Prompt Six
Loyalty is a quality that’s earned through trust and love. It can be created from a relationship or acts of kindness and friendship. All of these types of loyalty are shown in The Odyssey, but the one that stands out the most is between Odysseus and Penelope. Throughout the stories they both long to be together, even when tempted to be unfaithful. In The Odyssey, Homer reveals the theme of loyalty using character’s actions and emotions; this becomes clear when Odysseus is determined to get home to his family. First of all, for twenty years Odysseus is away from his wife, Penelope, but throughout that time he is dedicated to her. When he is tempted with a beautiful woman, all he wants is to go home, “Though you wanted her forever, …show more content…
While Odysseus is dressed as a beggar, he and Penelope talk and she refuses his proclamation of love, “If he returned, if he were here to care for me, I might be happily renowned!” (27) For the past ten or more years she has been getting marriage offers and everytime she declines even with more time passing. This is another way Homer shows the theme loyalty by Penelope’s nonstop hope in Odysseus coming home. Another time she stays faithful to him is when he has doubt that someone else has seen their bed, yet she reassures him, “No other man has ever laid eyes on it.” (31) Odysseus had built the bed by himself and made it so no one but a god could move it. This shows that although he was gone for a long time, she continued to be loyal to him and their relationship. Penelope is faithful and loyal to Odysseus even when he has been away for twenty years and probably would be for a lot longer. Loyalty is hard to keep because there can be many temptations. This is shown throughout The Odyssey while Odysseus is gone. Homer uses different actions and emotions to show this theme of loyalty and

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