Odyssey/Books/23

Odysseus and Penelope

After the traitors have been dealt with and the hall cleansed in book 22, Odysseus meets Penelope for the first time in twenty years in book 23.

Ulysses and Penelope, Francesco Primaticcio, c. 1545.

She is, at first, dubious that Odysseus has truly returned. Shrewd like her husband, she does not allow herself to believe Eurykleia’s report that the suitors are now dead by the hand of the returned king. Penelope vacillates between hope and disbelief, but she agrees to see “that strange one who killed” the suitors, for indeed he is a stranger after being gone for so long:

And [Penelope], for a long time, sat deathly still
in wonderment — for sometimes as she gazed
she found him — yes, clearly — like her husband,
but sometimes blood and rags were all she saw.

This aged and silent man in front of her is both Odysseus and he is not, perhaps commenting on the theme of disguise and that runs throughout the Odyssey, finally, once and for all, asking the question who is the true Odysseus? as he confronts his wife after twenty years. How does one know that truth, especially from a master of lies? There are ways to test.

Even as Odysseus goes about his kingly business of keeping the suitors’ families at bay, Penelope remains chary and distant. He addresses her as “strange woman” and she returns, mocking him, “strange man” and begins her test by asking Eurykleia to set up Odysseus’ bed outside of his bedchamber. Odysseus readily passes the test, but not before he gets upset. The bed cannot be moved: it is part of a living, growing olive tree — it cannot be moved without destroying it. This becomes a potent metaphor for the marriage of Penelope and Odysseus as the foundation of the Odysseus’ kingdom and his patriarchal order imposed on nature. It also suggests that their marriage is as close to natural as humans can get — as close to the perfection of marriage that is possible in this world: a devoted wife that will endure any hardships to uphold her marriage commitment to her husband. Seemingly, this devotion only flows in one direction, as Odysseus has spent much of his time away shacked up with Circe and Calypso.

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