65 Hernández (2008) 47, elaborating on Pucci (1987) 199, argues that Penelope acts here not only out of
grief, “but with the intention of determining the [poetic] tradition and the form she believes it should take.”
Encouraged by his conversation with Mentes-Athena, Telemachus attempts to assert his
authority (κράτος, 359) for the first time. His surprising decision to speak up to his mother is a sign of this new-found authority and assertiveness.66
Yet his response also betrays a lack of understanding or sympathy for his mother’s tears.67
Since he has just been assured by a god that his father will return soon, he can listen to the song without grief.68
Penelope, however, has not received such a visitor. His rejection of Penelope’s exceptional grief with the cliché that
Odysseus was not the only one to die further underlines his emotional distance from his mother.69 Moreover, by limiting her work (356-358) and by blocking communication (μῦθος, 358) with the male members of the household, Telemachus directly challenges Penelope’s authority as household manager.70
Penelope’s reaction to Telemachus’ speech indicates that she recognizes a change in her son: ἡμὲνθαμβήσασαπάλινοἶκόνδεβεβήκει· παιδὸςγὰρμῦθονπεπνυμένονἔνθετοθυμῷ. ἐςδ’ ὑπερῷ’ ἀναβᾶσασὺνἀμφιπόλοισιγυναιξὶ κλαῖενἔπειτ’ Ὀδυσῆα, φίλονπόσιν, ὄφραοἱὕπνον 66 De Jong (2001) ad 345-359.
67 Although I would not go so far as to say that Telemachus is a “young prig,” in Bassett’s (1920) words,
insensitive and callous toward his mother, as West (1987) 120 and others have thought, I do think that he misunderstands and underestimates his mother throughout the poem. Clark (2001) 338 argues that if μῦθος means “a public and authoritative performance of speaking, then the words of Telemachus to his mother may not be so rude, at least given the social norms of the heroic society.”
68 Most (1990) 41. In explaining Telemachus’ rebuke, Most (1990) 39 writes, “At this point, his anger has
been inflamed against the suitors, and he is about to rebuke them, seemingly for the very first time. Is it any wonder that, like most children, he should prefer to practice his anger first not against those who might take it seriously, but instead against his own mother, whose love for him means that his outburst can remain quite inconsequential?”
69 On this cliché of consolation, cf. Od. 19.265-267, Il. 5.382-404, 15.139-141, 21.106-113 and Griffin
(1980) 185.
70 For the struggle for authority between Penelope and Telemachus through control of μῦθοι, see Wohl
(1993) 38-40 and Fletcher (2008) 78-81. For the loom as symbol of female authority, which Telemachus separates here from male authority, see Bertolín (2008).
ἡδὺνἐπὶβλεφάροισιβάλεγλαυκῶπιςἈθήνη. (1.360-364) She, in wonder, went back to her quarters,
for she placed in her heart the wise speech of her son.
After she went up to her upper chamber with her servant women she wept, then, for Odysseus, her dear husband, until grey-eyed Athena cast sweet sleep upon her eyelids.
Penelope’s wonder (θαμβήσασα, 360) marks the change in Telemachus’ character, as does the narrator’s characterization of his speech as “wise” (μῦθονπεπνυμένον, 361).71
Her weeping in her upper chamber, however, demonstrates that she has found no consolation for her grief in Telemachus’ words. Instead, his coming-of-age, as displayed in his rebuke, indicates that she must move toward remarriage, an action she is loath to take because of her continued feeling for her “dear husband” (φίλονπόσιν, 363).
The suitors’ plot
The suitors’ plot to kill Telemachus presents an even greater threat to Penelope’s
authority because it threatens her role as single parent, takes place outside of the household, her realm of control, and endangers her and Odysseus’ only son. Although Telemachus has
attempted to keep his departure secret from Penelope, and the suitors have likewise tried to hide their plot to ambush him upon his return, Penelope soon finds out about both plots:
οὐδ’ ἄραΠηνελόπειαπολὺνχρόνονἦενἄπυστος μύθων, οὓςμνηστῆρεςἐνὶφρεσὶβυσσοδόμευον· κῆρυξγάροἱεἶπεΜέδων, ὃςἐπεύθετοβουλὰς
αὐλῆςἐκτὸςἐών· οἱδ’ ἔνδοθιμῆτινὕφαινον. (4.675-678) But Penelope was not unaware of the plot, which the suitors were planning secretly in their minds, for very long.
For the herald, Medon, told her, who discovered their plans
71Πεπνυμένος is Telemachus’ characteristic epithet throughout the poem, even though he hardly seems
to embody it in Book 1. Penelope’s reaction to his speech, however, indicates that he is beginning to grow into his epithet, as Heath (2001) 139 argues: “The young man has just begun to act in accordance with his mature character.”
while he was outside the court and they were weaving their cunning within. By specifying that not much time had passed before Medon conveyed the news to her (οὐδὲ… πολὺνχρόνον, 675), and by placing this scene directly after the scene in which the suitors hatch their plot, the narrator calls attention to Penelope’s access to information. This scene also
provides a point of contrast with scenes in tragedy that dramatize the interactions between a herald and a waiting wife. In tragedy, heralds are characterized as hostile to the wife,72
or at least self-interested,73
as they often deceive her with false information about her husband. Later in the epic, Penelope demonstrates her skeptical approach to rumors about her husband.74 Yet here, in Penelope’s second appearance in the epic, the narrator introduces her relationship with a truthful and trusted herald as evidence of her behind-the-scenes control of information networks on Ithaca.75
This control contrasts with the public challenge to her authority, and the crisis of her management, displayed in her first appearance in Book 1.
Penelope addresses Medon with her anxieties about what is happening within the house even before he delivers his news:
“κῆρυξ, τίπτεδέσεπρόεσανμνηστῆρεςἀγαυοί; ἦεἰπέμεναιδμῳῇσινὈδυσσῆοςθείοιο
ἔργωνπαύσασθαι, σφίσιδ’ αὐτοῖςδαῖταπένεσθαι; μὴμνηστεύσαντεςμηδ’ ἄλλοθ’ ὁμιλήσαντες
72 Clytemnestra calls the constant stream of rumors “malignant” (κληδόναςπαλιγκότους, Ag. 863). At
Eur. Her. 551-553, Megara receives a false report about her husband’s death from Eurystheus’
messengers, who, as Heracles’ enemies, intend to deceive her. See the discussion of the tragic topos in Chapter 3.
73 See the discussion of the double messenger scene in Sophocles’ Trachiniae in Chapter 4. 74 Cf. Od. 14.126-130, 19.185-202, and the discussion below. At Od. 14.126-130, Eumaeus
underestimates Penelope’s ability to deal with these reports, as revealed in her shrewd response to beggar- Odysseus’ story in Book 19.
75 Because of his kindness toward Telemachus, Medon is spared, along with Phemius, by Odysseus after
he slaughters the suitors (Od. 22.357-380). Medon also advocates for the justice of Odysseus’ slaughter of the suitors before their fathers at Od. 24.439-450. His leak to Penelope, which is repeated at Od. 16.412, establishes that he is a good character before his climactic scene of supplication in Book 22.
ὕστατακαὶπύματανῦνἐνθάδεδειπνήσειαν· οἳθάμ’ ἀγειρόμενοιβίοτονκατακείρετεπολλόν, κτῆσινΤηλεμάχοιοδαΐφρονος.” (4.681-687) “Herald, why have the lordly suitors sent you? Was it to tell the slave women of divine Odysseus to cease from their work, and prepare a feast for them? Neither courting nor getting together elsewhere, may they now feast here for the final and last time, you who often gather here and devour much sustenance, the property of wise Telemachus.”
By preempting the herald’s speech, Penelope indicates that the social and economic strain of the suitors upon her household is foremost in her mind. She frames her complaint with the names of Odysseus and Telemachus, modified by the laudatory epithets “divine” (Ὀδυσσῆοςθείοιο, 682) and “wise” (Τηλεμάχοιοδαΐφρονος, 687), in order to emphasize that the property the suitors are consuming does not belong to them, but rather to Odysseus and his son. She concludes her speech by contrasting the moral character of Odysseus, who never treated his subjects poorly, with the destructive behavior of the suitors (4.687-695). The comparison highlights the injustice of the suitors’ economic and social abuse of her household.
Medon, however, has come to report a much worse injustice: the suitors are planning to kill Telemachus on his way back from Pylos and Sparta. Penelope’s reaction again provides a window into her character as a caring mother:
ὣςφάτο, τῆςδ’ αὐτοῦλύτογούνατακαὶφίλονἦτορ, δὴνδέμινἀμφασίηἐπέωνλάβε· τὼδέοἱὄσσε
δακρυόφιπλῆσθεν, θαλερὴδέοἱἔσχετοφωνή. (4.703-705) So he spoke, and her knees and heart were loosened on the spot. For a long time speechlessness took hold of her, both eyes were filled with tears, and her robust voice was stifled.
The loosening of knees and heart is a common Homeric response to the sudden recognition of life-threatening danger; Odysseus reacts similarly when he is stranded at sea and realizes that the
nearby landmass greets him only with cliffs, reefs, and rock (5.405-406), as do the suitors when they realize that Odysseus intends to kill them all (22.68).76
Penelope reacts viscerally to the sudden recognition of danger threatening not her own safety, but her son’s. As Richard Heitman (2005, 36) remarks, “The use of this formula for Penelope shows that she feels the threat to her son as a mortal threat to herself.”77
Telemachus has not died yet, but Penelope responds as if the worst has already happened because his survival is beyond her power to control. Her
spontaneous tears and speechlessness, emphasized by the absence of her “robust voice”
(θαλερὴ… φωνή, 705), testify to her grief and fear for the safety of her only son, along with her frustration at her inability to help him.
Yet when Penelope recovers her voice, she is interested more in Telemachus’ decision to leave the household without her knowing than in the suitors’ plot:
“κῆρυξ, τίπτεδέμοιπάϊςοἴχεται; οὐδέτίμινχρεὼ νηῶνὠκυπόρωνἐπιβαινέμεν, αἵθ’ ἁλὸςἵπποι ἀνδράσιγίγνονται, περόωσιδὲπουλὺνἐφ’ ὑγρήν.
ἦἵναμηδ’ ὄνομ’ αὐτοῦἐνἀνθρώποισιλίπηται;” (4.707-710) “Herald, why has my son left? Surely he had no need
to board swift-sailing ships, which have become men’s horses of the sea, and cross over the wide waters.
Was it so that not even his name may remain among men?”
Penelope cannot understand Telemachus’ “need” (χρεώ, 707) to leave, which takes him outside of her sphere of control, and consequently challenges her ability to protect him. Her rhetorical
76 Cf. also 5.297, 22.147, of the sudden recognition of imminent danger. Interestingly, Penelope and
Laertes also respond with loosened limbs and hearts when they first recognize Odysseus. In each case, sudden recognition precipitates this reaction. Heitman (2005) 35 has a slightly different view: “Each instance [of this formula] describes an extreme, genuine, uncontrollable emotion, usually the fear of certain – or what appears to be certain – death.”
77 See also Turkeltaub (2015) 289: “Penelope’s reactions to hearing about Telemachus’ departure and the
suitors’ plans for him reveal that she immediately despairs about his survival and sympathetically experiences his imagined death.”
questions underline her grief at Telemachus’ departure and show that she still views Telemachus as a πάϊς who requires her supervision.78
Her extreme grief thus also represents a motherly reaction to Telemachus’ coming-of-age and the resulting separation from her that the process of growing up entails.79
Penelope’s helplessness is symbolized by the location of her mourning after the herald leaves: τὴνδ’ ἄχοςἀμφεχύθηθυμοφθόρον, οὐδ’ ἄρ’ ἔτ’ ἔτλη δίφρῳἐφέζεσθαιπολλῶνκατὰοἶκονἐόντων, ἀλλ’ ἄρ’ ἐπ’ οὐδοῦἷζεπολυκμήτουθαλάμοιο οἴκτρ’ ὀλοφυρομένη· περὶδὲδμῳαὶμινύριζον πᾶσαι, ὅσαικατὰδώματ’ ἔσαννέαιἠδὲπαλαιαί. (4.716-720) A heart-destroying grief poured over her, and she could endure no longer to sit on one of the many chairs in the house,
but instead sat upon the threshold of the intricately built bedroom, moaning pathetically. And around her all the female slaves
who were in the house, both young and old, whimpered lament.
Just as Odysseus performs his vulnerability and low position in the house in Book 17 by taking a seat on the threshold,80
Penelope performs her loss of control, helplessness to protect her son, and
78 This idea is confirmed by Penelope’s later speech to her dream vision of Iphthime, sent by Athena: νῦν
αὖπαῖςἀγαπητὸςἔβηκοίληςἐπὶνηός, / νήπιος, οὔτεπόνωνεὖεἰδὼςοὔτ’ ἀγοράων (“And now in turn my beloved child has embarked upon a hollow ship, a mere babe, who does not know well either toils or assemblies,” Od. 4.817-818). See Heath (2001) 131-133 for a discussion of νήπιος.
79 Eckert (1963) notes the importance of this element in initiation rituals: “Boys are frequently removed
secretly and at night, and the mothers are told that the gods have stolen them and may kill them. This helps effect a break with the maternal world, since the boys’ ‘death’ is to a large degree a death to childhood and effeminizing influence.” Pozzi (1999) 31 compares Telemachus with Hyllus in Sophocles’ Trachiniae: “That neither mother of her own accord prompts her son to leave offers a subtle hint and a trigger for the action of initiation that must ensue, since each young man ought to leave behind the maternal space of the household and literally as well as symbolically access the masculine sphere of action and authority.”
80 On thresholds in the Odyssey, see Goldhill (1988) 10-11, Lateiner (1992) 147, Reece (1993) 16, and
Segal (1994b) 79-84. Houston (1975) links Odysseus’ increasing status in his household with his movement from threshold to δίφρος to θρόνος.
vulnerability to the plots of the suitors by refusing to sit in a chair. Character speech used by the narrator (θυμοφθόρον, 716) increases the pathos of the scene.81
This scene marks the most desperate moment in Penelope’s crisis.
Penelope associates the outside world, and especially the sea, with loss. Odysseus’ departure has begun to seem like a permanent loss to her,82
and she fears that the same thing will happen to Telemachus. Penelope directly compares Odysseus’ and Telemachus’ departures in a speech to her maids:
“κλῦτε, φίλαι· πέριγάρμοιὈλύμπιοςἄλγε’ ἔδωκεν ἐκπασέων, ὅσσαιμοιὁμοῦτράφενἠδ’ ἐγένοντο, ἣπρὶνμὲνπόσινἐσθλὸνἀπώλεσαθυμολέοντα, παντοίῃςἀρετῇσικεκασμένονἐνΔαναοῖσιν, ἐσθλόν, τοῦκλέοςεὐρὺκαθ’ ἙλλάδακαὶμέσονἌργος. νῦναὖπαῖδ’ ἀγαπητὸνἀνηρείψαντοθύελλαι ἀκλέαἐκμεγάρων, οὐδ’ ὁρμηθέντοςἄκουσα.” (4.722-728) “Listen, friends, for Olympus has given me grief
above all those who were born and raised alongside me. Long ago I lost my brave husband, with a heart like a lion’s, who excelled among the Danaans in every kind of excellence,
a brave man, whose glory is well-known throughout Greece and mid-Argos. But now again storm winds have snatched my beloved son away
from our halls without report. I didn’t even hear about his departure.”
Telemachus’ departure is even worse than Odysseus’ for Penelope because she had no chance to prepare for it; Telemachus had cut off communication with her. She contrasts Odysseus’ wide renown throughout Greece (κλέοςεὐρὺκαθ’ ἙλλάδακαὶμέσονἌργος, 726) with
81 De Jong (2001) ad 716-719 notes that θυμοφθόρος is used only here in narrator-text, as opposed to
four times in character speech. On character language as distinct from narrator language in the epics, see Griffin (1986) and de Jong (1988), (1992) and (1997).
82 Penelope, like other characters in the Odyssey, wavers in her opinion of Odysseus as alive or dead. Here
and at 1.343-344, 2.96, 19.141, 19.257-258, 19.313 she asserts that he is dead, whereas at 4.832-834 she expresses hope that he is alive. Her assertions of his death far outweigh her hope that he has survived, as is typical of her skeptical outlook.
Telemachus’ lack of renown even in his own home (ἀκλέαἐκμεγάρων, 728). Ironically, as the reader knows from the Mentes-Athena scene in Book 1, Telemachus has set out on his journey in order to discover what is said (κλέος, 1.283) about his father’s return and also to gain renown (κλέος, 1.298) for himself. Yet according to Penelope, who still views her son as a child and does not understand the purpose of his journey, Telemachus has left not of his own initiative, but is, rather, swept away by storm winds (727-728).83
Whereas the narrator has begun drawing close comparisons between Telemachus and Odysseus, Penelope still views her son as less capable.84
Loss of control over communication in her home startles and angers Penelope, and she blames her slaves for allowing Telemachus to leave without her knowing:
“σχέτλιαι, οὐδ’ ὑμεῖςπερἐνὶφρεσὶθέσθεἑκάστη ἐκλεχέωνμ’ ἀνεγεῖραι, ἐπιστάμεναισάφαθυμῷ, ὁππότεκεῖνοςἔβηκοίληνἐπὶνῆαμέλαιναν. εἰγὰρἐγὼπυθόμηνταύτηνὁδὸνὁρμαίνοντα, τῶκεμάλ’ ἤκενμεῖνε, καὶἐσσύμενόςπερὁδοῖο, ἤκέμετεθνηυῖανἐνὶμεγάροισινἔλειπεν.” (4.729-734) “You are cruel. It did not even occur to a single one of you to rouse me from bed, though you knew clearly in your hearts when he boarded the hollow, black ship.
For if I had found out that he was considering this journey,
then by all means he would have stayed, even though eager for the road, or he would have left me dead in the halls.”
Penelope relied upon a functioning system of information exchange through her slaves to stop Telemachus from leaving: the female slaves, whose trustworthy character was emphasized in
83 Telemachus describes his father’s departure to Mentes-Athena with similar words: νῦνδέμινἀκλειῶς
ἅρπυιαιἀνηρείψαντο· / οἴχετ’ ἄϊστος, ἄπυστος, ἐμοὶδ’ ὀδύναςτεγόουςτε / κάλλιπεν (“But as things are, storm winds have snatched him away without report; he went away unseen and unheard of, and he left pain and weeping for me,” 1.241-243.)
84 Telemachus learns to act more like his father as part of his process of maturation. See Heath (2001) on
how Telemachus’ speech becomes more like his father’s over the course of the epic. Roisman (1994) argues that Telemachus must outgrow his epithet πεπνυμένος, which she glosses as “straightforward” and “sincere” in speech, and learn to be κερδαλέος, a characteristic of his father.
Penelope’s first appearance (κεδνή, 335), kept her informed of the men’s activities despite her isolation in her upper room.85
When this system fails because of Telemachus’ intervention, Penelope considers, as a last resort, reaching out to Laertes, the only other male relative near enough to help:
“εἰδήπούτινακεῖνοςἐνὶφρεσὶμῆτινὑφήνας ἐξελθὼνλαοῖσινὀδύρεται, οἳμεμάασιν
ὃνκαὶὈδυσσῆοςφθῖσαιγόνονἀντιθέοιο.” (4.739-741)
“Perhaps that man [Laertes], having woven a cunning plan in his mind, will go and weep before the people, who are eager to destroy
his offspring and the offspring of godlike Odysseus.”
Penelope’s ability to influence events stops at the door of her home; if she wishes to influence people or events beyond the home, she must appeal to a male relative to make the case for her.
At the same time, the suitors underestimate Penelope’s knowledge of their activities and