Through reading the Odyssey and “Medea,” I recognized parallel patterns in both the marriages between Penelope and Odysseus and Medea and Jason. Odysseus left Penelope with a newborn baby while he went to war. During this period, many suitable suitors, ready to prove their position and take Odysseus's place as a husband, constantly gathered in the palace. Medea was abandoned and left for another woman of higher status. The way Medea and Penelope carry out trickery and deception is different. Medea and Penelope, both wives left by their husbands, transformed into women consumed by deceit, deceit and cunning, although they differed in the way of realizing their desires, one through murder and the other through games mental. In the Odyssey, Agamemnon recounts his death and how his wife took part in his murder. He believes there is nothing worse than a woman "filling her mind with deeds of this kind, as this one did when she thought of this act of dishonor and plotted the murder of her lawful husband" (11.428-430). . Agamemnon gives advice to Odysseus about what secrets he should keep from his wife. He explains that it's best to leave Penelope in the dark because no matter how many secrets he keeps from her, she will always be by his side. We see this when Agamemnon says, “yet you, Odysseus, will never be killed by your wife” (11.444). We see here that Agamemnon is comparing his wife to Penelope and since they both had to deal with abandonment by their husbands, Odysseus will always have a place in his palace. In the Odyssey, we see further instances where Penelope is consumed by deceit, trickery, and cleverness. In book nineteen, Penelope devises a plan to put off the suitors. Penelope's true love for O...... middle of paper...... and awaits her husband's return. Although both wives have something in common, their behavior is very different. This could be due to their past and their relationship with their husbands. When Odysseus went to war, he promised Penelope that he would return for her. He never gave up this hope of their reunion. Thanks to this promise, she never felt violent towards her husband, because he never hurt her directly. Medea, however, was completely abandoned and there was no hope that she would ever return. This caused in Medea the anger that Penelope had never felt. Because of Medea's anger, she resorts to murdering her two children and her husband's wife while Penelope has never felt this anger and has never felt the need to resort to murder. Although their situations were similar, Medea and Penelope dealt with their feelings in different ways. Works Cited Madea Odyssey