1. The Suitors Demand

One evening, in the halls of my husband's kingdom, I observed the reverberating noises of the suitors clanging their forks and knives across my expensive acacia wood table. The noise bounces to and fro from the limestone walls of the castle and into the ears of my maids and I. 

One of the suitors looks into my eyes as he engulfs the dark red leg of a lamb, his yellow teeth ripping apart the animal. His short and stubby neck curls back once again as he then inserts another lamb leg inside his mouth and eats it entirely in one bite. With his bushy eyebrows raised, he grins and reaches for another article of food. The lamb leaves a dark orange circle surrounding his unshaven beard which he then wipes off with his white undershirt. 

Beneath the table, the suitors stomp their feet sporadically to a music that is not being played. My maids walk along the side of the table, holding tight to their trays as the the suitors throw glances and pinch their behinds, making them quicken in pace. 

The men begin to make remarks at the maids as they turn around and follow their exact path back to the front of the hall. They begin pounding their goblets on the table, the purple splatter of spilled wine embeds itself into the smooth cobblestone floor as it drips from the sharp edge of the wood. 

One suitor who wears a leather strap around his forehead, keeping his greasy dark brown hair out of the way, bellows something about the maids and laughter erupts among the crowd. His white cotton shirt is loosely buttoned to about midway up his sweaty chest and he keeps a hand tightly grasped to a black obsidian knife which remains wedged between a crack in the table. 

A mixture of intoxication and impulse makes him abruptly stand up and level his eyes with mine, lamb blood dripping from his chin and onto the floor, mixing with the purple splotches of the wine. Words come out of his mouth and I look down directly at the stone floor, but a smile moves its way across my face. The same smile remains for the next few seconds, then transitions to a dull frown and drooping eyes.

• Emphasis on Penelope's desire for Odysseus to arrive back to Ithaca. Odysseus makes her smile and so did the suitor, it is a reminder of his compassion.
• Manner in which the suitors eat emphasizes their barbaric nature and disregard for others.
• Maids receiving derogatory remarks and inappropriate gestures emphasizes their dislike for the kingdom but loyalty to Penelope as they remain calm.