gives
the impression that he's as bored with his "aged wife" as he is with all other aspects
of his kingly life. Penelope reminds him just how old he is and how far away he is from that
golden youth of heroism and adventure. There's more than an element of misogyny in Ulysses's
lamentations. He gives the impression that a life of wedded bliss is no such thingthat marriage
saps what little energy he has left. The only real life for a man, it would seem, is a life away
from his wife. A real life is one spent on the high seas in pursuit of new worlds and new
horizons.
In Ancient Greece, women were forced to occupy very limited roles
in society; their lives were largely restricted to home and hearth. Ulysses's complaints about
his life of stultifying domesticity could be said to express fears that, as well as losing his
energy so long as he remains at home with Penelope, he's also losing his masculinity.
Essentially, he's becoming feminized. For a noble Greek warrior like Ulysses, that's a
humiliation too hard to bear. The only conceivable way he can regain his masculinity is by
leaving Penelope behind to embark upon yet another epic voyage.
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