Daughter of Necessity

Daughter of Necessity-- This poem feels like a behind the scenes look at what Penelope is feeling and doing just before her son and husband return.  I find it to be a wonderful take on the story of Odysseus that answers the question of why does Penelope weave and unweave the funeral shroud for her husband to delay the suitors.

This story really expresses how clever and loving Penelope is.  It also puts her into taking an active role in her fate and the fates of her husband and son.  She feels trapped and lied to by the suitors.  “This time she is shaking with rage.  To be so manipulated, so trapped…she would die before she allowed this to happen.”  Specifically picking the test of the bow that only Odysseus can string is a good example of her controlling the outcomes Homer mostly portrayed her as a passive woman, where this poem puts her in control.  Using her godly gifts she weaves the shroud to tell the story of how Odysseus and Telemachus will conquer the suitors.  “There is a reason this gift is a thing of gods and not mortals.”  If it wasn’t for Penelope’s perseverance, strength, and of course her divine gift the suitors would most definitely have won and Telemachus would have been killed.

Virgil Book7—Book 7 begins with the Trojans sailing towards Italy.  They get their first look at Latium, where they plan to found a new city.  Virgil explains it as the home of the Latins and the future location of Rome.  King Latinus is seeking a husband for his daughter Lavina who is entrapped by a flame that surrounds her, which is delaying her being married to a Latin. “Truly it was talked of as shocking and miraculous sight: for they foretold she would be bright with fame and fortune, but it signified a great war for her people.”  King Latinus sacrifices 100 sheep to the God Faunus and is told that she is be married to a foreigner.  The flame here is significant because it is similar to the flame that surrounded Aeneas’ family as they were deciding to leave Troy.  Another point where characters decided their fate based on sign instead of the easiest path.  The way King Latinus respects the gods and loves his daughter suggests that he will make a good father in-law to Aeneas.  

        As the Trojans make land fall they prepare lunch on top of pieces of bread.  Ascenius jokes that they are eating their tables.  Cealano’s seemingly dark prophecy has come true which is good news.  Also when Aeneas visited the underworld his father told him that where they would eat their tables would be place where they would build their new home.  The Trojans arrive at the city and meet King Latinus.  They learn that the people of Troy can trace their ancestors back to Latium which makes them almost like family.  This bond is deepened by the passing of the Priams robes to Latinus.  Latinus realizes that Aeneas must be the foreigner that was to marry his daughter so he tells them they can stay but he must meet Aeneas.  Meanwhile this bond has angered Juno; much like the destruction of ships she is plotting her vengeance.  She calls on Allecto to throw evil snakes at Amata.  Juno has once again chosen to use women as the instrument of evil, showing an understanding that the peace of a city is not only dependent on men.   Allecto then turns her efforts towards Turnus, who resists at first but ultimately gives in and agrees to attack the Trojan ships.  As Ascanius is chasing the hinting dogs enchanted by Allecto he shoots a deer, which was a pet of two local people.  Juno seems to take a relatively insignificant event to be the catalyst for a war. Juno not fully confident that this will begin the war takes it a step further and opens the Gates of War and the Latium soldiers rush to arms.