Rejoice!

I found the way Homer describes Penelope and Laertes’ reactions to figuring out Odysseus is alive. “Then his/her knees and the heart within him/her went slack.” Basically, their knees buckled and their heart began to pound (since I can only guess this is what happens when your heart goes slack). They are both so overjoyed that Odysseus is home that they can’t move or breathe because they are overwhelmed.

These reunions, especially the one between Laertes and Odysseus, remind me very greatly of the story of the Prodigal Son. Yes the circumstances are quite different, but the emotions behind the reactions are the same. Joy, excitement, incredulousness, and astonishment at the fact the person you thought dead is standing there alive. I believe that if someone I believed to be dead were to appear before me and tell me they were still alive I would probably fall to the ground and start crying. Those emotions would overtake me and I would be unable to form a coherent thought. I believe this is exactly what Penelope and Laertes must have felt when Odysseus proved to them that he really was Odysseus and he had come home at last.

Tantum e tenebris receptum constabit

~Meghan

PS. I commented on Jamie’s “What is ‘ethical’ anyway?”