Cougar or Coyote Essay

The hoaxer is an important archetype in all devotion or myth because it provides an step forwardlet for all of the chaotic and insalubrious emotions and tendencies of a nation that argon controlled by a larger fond construct. It is through a oilskin digit that people of a religion or high society are able to explore the more intractable side of their nature musical composition additionally presenting them with the consequences of those desires. The cheater is a put down that at once both mocks social morals and at the comparable time also reinforces those morals by uttering the pandemonium and bickering that arises if the people do non follow the rules that are in place.The trickster also allows the people of a religion to express ideas and desires that might non ordinarily be acceptable in their society. In this expressive style the trickster plays a very important and cathartic role in a religion or myth. genus genus Penelope, from Homers The Odyssey, is a clean ing lady of grit and spirit. Ellen Shull declares in her try Valuing Multiple Critical Approaches Penelope, Again and Again that Penelope is the paragon of peppy womanhood (32). However, a trickster god, corresponding scalawag from Wu Cheng-ens falsehood monkey around, and a mortal woman exchangeable Penelope appear to break nothing in common.Their roles are so different and their apparent purposes are scour more so. On the surface it may seem as though Penelope from The Odyssey shares very small-scale resemblance with a trickster god. However, when one takes a closer look the similarities become more obvious. Penelope is at once a powerful see that adheres to the social norms of her patriarchic society while still rebelliously challenging the acknowledged rules of how a woman should behave. This tail end be seen as how a trickster like meddle is used in myth to subvert a societys bear beliefs.Penelope is the separate side of the coin of what it heart to be a tric kster. She is the female version as it were. Penelope may not be male, amoral, beast, or unearthly nevertheless she is cunning, childish, inventive, and she also a subversive figure within her time-worn society. The most obvious seeded player of incompatibility of Penelope being a trickster is that she is female while the trickster is usually a male like Monkey. Now, unless Penelope was compensate more deceitful than anyone had ever imagined then it is safe to say that she is not a trickster god based on that one shade alone.Leeming states that the trickster is always male (163). Obviously, Penelope is not male which means that she is, according to Leeming, not a trickster god, no exceptions. But if Leeming were to make believe an exception then Penelope would be one. Penelope is a woman who must work against all the restrictions and suffocating bounds that her society uses to bind women in order to trick the people surrounding her and she does. She deceives the suitors and even so her own maintain (Mueller, 337). Penelope even has long lasting deceptions that fool people for years.The sexual organs Penelope was born with seem to be of little importance when compared to the massive opposing powers and influences that she if forced to undermine and battle against. The following point of disparity among Penelope and a trickster figure like Monkey is that the trickster is seen as a philandering, unprincipled, hooligan. The trickster is considered to be an ethically neutral figure with a propensity for nominateting into dry predicaments. Leeming calls the trickster amoraloutrageous and is untamed by the larger social genius of right and wrong).Monkey is a perfect example of this side of a trickster. Monkey is not exactly immoral he just has his own sense of what the right thing to do is and he is overwhelmingly selfish. Every deed and quest he takes at the beginning of his story is motivated by his desire to be immortal and to gain power. Even wh en Monkey protects his other monkey subjects he does so because he wants to maintain his kingship more than out of a fear for their safety and wellbeing. One could even posit that the monkeys would be better off without him because he brings the wrath of heaven down upon them.Monkey has all these qualities that Leeming states a trickster is comprised of. Penelope, on the other hand, is none of these things. In fact, she is usually remembered for her faithfulness to her husband even though he was done for(p) for twenty years. Penelope waits in Ithaca for Odysseus. She looks after his home, his son and his estate. She weeps lonely tear besides nothing induces her to betray her husband and to neglect her duties, not even under pressure from the suitors does she contemplate infidelity (Smit, 393-394).Her unwavering loyalty to her husband and her devotion to the gods are not the sort of characteristics seen in the trickster who typically represents lower or baser instincts and function s. Penelope is a classy lady but again she also has that side to her that rebels at the rules of her stopping point. Some might even call her a vain tease for keeping her suitors around for so long while never picking one or broad in to their masculine power. Penelope, also, does not fit in the trickster kin because she is but human while a trickster is usually an fleshly.Leeming states that a trickster takes creature form (163). Monkey obviously fits into this menage. Not only is he a monkey but he has mystical origins. He was born from a stone. In fact Monkeys animal form is a point of ire for him because he in Monkey he tries become more and more human-like. He starts wearing habit and stands upright in an attempt to appear more human. This fight between animal and human characteristics is vital in a trickster figure because that animal quality is in part what allows them to get away with their mischief. Penelope is no dog. Or any animal for that matter.She is in fact a v ery desirable woman with scores of suitors fighting for her hand in marriage. This does not help her in the trickster category but it does, however, show how her beauty and desirability are in part what allow her to get away with her schemes. Her beauty can even be seen as her animal side because it basically serves the same function that the animal form serves the trickster. An animal form, or in the case of Penelope, her beauty, is a metaphor of who they are and it allows them to be more completely that character and it allows them to do things that would not ordinarily be acceptable within that society.Penelopes beauty is what allows her to subvert her patriarchal culture because her beauty gives her power over her suitors. She is a woman but she uses that to her advantage. It could also been seen that being a woman in the time of The Odyssey was like to being an animal because it was such a male dominant culture where woman were little more than chattel or bargaining pieces. p ossibly Penelope has more trickster qualities than are first apparent. The last way that Penelope does not fit into the trickster category is that she has no supernatural powers. Leeming ().She has no magical powers which show even further how she is not like a trickster. The trickster is almost always a supernatural figure. This category obviously denotes that a trickster has otherworldly abilities with which to influence vector sums. Penelope kit and boodle entirely in the realm of her intelligence to bring about the results and tricks that she has concocted. This can make Penelope seem as being more trained than a god who needs magic to bring about the outcome that he so desires. When compared to Penelope supernatural powers might be viewed as cheating.