Marriage And Infidelity In The Odessey
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In this paper I am writing about marriage and infidelity in modern life and the books we have read in class. Marriage is a mutual bond in which a man and a woman decide to be with each other until they die. Infidelity is basically when the man or woman in a relationship cheat on the other person, without them knowing.
The Odyssey by Homer is a very good example of fidelity and infidelity. The odyssey is a tail of love, courage, and hope. It focuses on “a man of twists and turns.” Odysseus is a man whom gets lost at sea because of Poseidon, the god of the sea, he tries to get back to his wife and son in Ithaca. But he is put through so much trouble to get there.
In real life we dont really hear gods talking to us in the ocean telling us that we have angered them. We have husbands/wives, boyfriends/girlfriends, to tell us that we have gotten on their nerves or just done something completely wrong! Relationship now and days arent the same as they used to be.
Before, when people used to like someone, it was for their personality. Now we just look at people for the way they look, dress, talk, and for what they have. Things have changed so much over the years, from good to worst. Now if u talk to any random person in the streets and ask them “Have you been married and divorced before?” and many of them would say “yes.” I asked this one lady “How long were you married for?” she said “11 years.” So I asked her why she had gotten a divorce, she had told me it was because her husband had cheated on her with a twenty- six year old. She had started wondering a few months before she found out about “the other woman” why he wasnt showing her the same affection he had shown her for many years in the past? She would ask him how he was, and how his day went at work and instead of having a full on conversation he would just reply “it was okay” or “nothing big happened, just the same old same old.”
They tried counseling because one of their friends had recommended it. They tried it but he still acted the same way. It came to a point where she thought she was doing something wrong. She felt as if she wasnt doing enough to please him. So she went to counseling on her own. She told the psychologist what was going wrong in their marriage. She had explained to her how she felt she wasnt doing enough for him.
Marriage counseling stopped after a month. He had told her it was pointless for them to go to counseling anymore because their relationship was “just fine.”
Her psychologist had told her that maybe her husband wasnt in love with her any more. All she could think about was “Why? Why me? I promised him I would love him forever, but in return I have to suspect hes cheating on me?! What went wrong?” her psychologist recommended that she talked to her husband and ask him if he was cheating on her and if so to ask him why, or what went wrong in their relationship.
The next day, I interviewed the lady again. I asked her to compare her situation with Penelopes and Odysseuss problem. I had given her my point of view on how I thought that Odysseus should have told Penelope what he was doing while he was at sea. I thought he should have told her how he slept with all these other women while she was being faithful to him. Even thought she still teased the suitors, but as far as I know she didnt sleep with any.
The lady agreed with me. She told me that if she were Penelope she would have wanted to know also, because he got to spy on her and see if she was faithful or not. But if Penelope would have found out about the other women I dont think she would have gotten back with Odysseus.
The lady continued to tell me her story. She told me how this continued on for a while. She didnt want to believe that her husband was being unfaithful to her. But now not only was her husband coming home late from work, he was also going on “business trips.”
She explained to me how when he would leave on these “business trips” how he used to call her and let her know if he was okay and made it safely, but now he wouldnt even call her to tell her if he made it alive or not.
So then she started asking his co-workers if they knew anything about what was going on. One of his closest friends at work “Allen” told her that when he would be in his office, sometimes he would walk in and “John” would be talking very strangely on the phone, when he was supposedly talking about “very important business” with a client.
I stopped “Jane” at this point and asked her if she was okay telling me the rest of her story? She told me she was okay and that she really didnt mind.
So she continued telling me how “Allen” was telling her what was going on at work. He had told her that the office supervisor made frequent visits to his office. But he told her that they had never done anything in the office, or else “John” would have told him so.
He told her that he and other co-workers at the office suspected something between “John” and the supervisor. At this point she told me that she didnt know what to believe. She didnt know what to do; she tried leaving the house before he got home from his trip. But then she thought that why should she leave if she wasnt the one cheating.
I asked her how this part of her story had to do with “The Odyssey?” It was funny how she told she had “no idea!” So then I asked her “what if The Odyssey were to be based upon life today? In other words what if it were modernized?” she said “Hmm, Ive never thought about that. I guess Penelope would have been going through the same problem I went through.”
So “Jane” told me how it all ended. She told me that she eventually confronted him and kicked him out, staying with their little girl whom was 10 years old at the time and the house.
Its sort of like how Penelope stayed with Telemachus, while Odysseus went off to the war, and cheated