Penelope


In Homer's Odyssey, Penelope is the wife of Odysseus, who is known for her fidelity to Odysseus while he was absent, despite having many suitors. Her name has therefore been traditionally associated with marital fidelity.

Etymology

The origin of her name is believed by Robert S. P. Beekes to be Pre-Greek and related to pēnelops or pēnelōps, glossed by Hesychius as "some kind of bird", where -elōps is a common Pre-Greek suffix for predatory animals; however, the semantic relation between the proper name and the gloss is not clear. In folk etymology, Pēnelopē is usually understood to combine the Greek word pēnē, "weft", and ōps, "face", which is considered the most appropriate for a cunning weaver whose motivation is hard to decipher.

Role in the ''Odyssey''

Penelope is the wife of the main character, the king of Ithaca, Odysseus, and daughter of Icarius of Sparta and his wife Periboea. She only has one son by Odysseus, Telemachus, who was born just before Odysseus was called to fight in the Trojan War. She waits twenty years for the final return of her husband, during which she devises various strategies to delay marrying one of the 108 suitors.
On Odysseus's return, disguised as an old beggar, he finds that Penelope has remained faithful. She has devised tricks to delay her suitors, one of which is to pretend to be weaving a burial shroud for Odysseus's elderly father Laertes and claiming that she will choose a suitor when she has finished. Every night for three years, she undoes part of the shroud, until Melantho, one of twelve unfaithful slave women, discovers her chicanery and reveals it to the suitors.
Because of her efforts to put off remarriage, Penelope is often seen as a symbol of connubial fidelity. But because Athena wants her "to show herself to the wooers, that she might set their hearts a-flutter and win greater honor from her husband and her son than heretofore", Penelope does eventually appear before the suitors. As Irene de Jong comments:

As so often, it is Athena who takes the initiative in giving the story a new direction... Usually the motives of mortal and god coincide, here they do not: Athena wants Penelope to fan the Suitors’ desire for her and make her more esteemed by her husband and son; Penelope has no real motive... she simply feels an unprecedented impulse to meet the men she so loathes... adding that she might take this opportunity to talk to Telemachus.

She is ambivalent, variously asking Artemis to kill her and, apparently, considering marrying one of the suitors. When the disguised Odysseus returns, she announces in her long interview with the disguised hero that whoever can string Odysseus's rigid bow and shoot an arrow through twelve axe heads may have her hand. "For the plot of the Odyssey, of course, her decision is the turning point, the move that makes possible the long-predicted triumph of the returning hero".
There is debate as to whether Penelope is aware that Odysseus is behind the disguise. Penelope and the suitors know that Odysseus would easily surpass all in any test of masculine skill, so she may have intentionally started the contest as an opportunity for him to reveal his identity. On the other hand, because Odysseus seems to be the only person who can actually use the bow, she could just be further delaying her marriage to one of the suitors.
When the contest of the bow begins, none of the suitors are able to string the bow, but Odysseus does, and wins the contest. Having done so, he proceeds to slaughter the suitors—beginning with Antinous whom he finds drinking from Odysseus' cup—with help from Telemachus, Athena and two slaves, Eumaeus the swineherd and Philoetius the cowherd. Odysseus has now revealed himself in all his glory ; yet Penelope cannot believe that her husband has really returned—she fears that it is perhaps some god in disguise, as in the story of Alcmene—and tests him by ordering her slave Eurycleia to move the bed in their bridal-chamber. Odysseus protests that this cannot be done since he made the bed himself and knows that one of its legs is a living olive tree. Penelope finally accepts that he truly is her husband, a moment that highlights their homophrosýnē. Homer implies, that from then on, Odysseus would live a long and happy life together with Penelope and Telemachus, wisely ruling his kingdom and enjoying wide respect and much success.
In some early sources such as Pindar, Pan's father is Apollo via Penelope. Herodotus, Cicero, Apollodorus and Hyginus all make Hermes and Penelope his parents. Pausanias 8.12.5 records the story that Penelope had in fact been unfaithful to her husband, who banished her to Mantineia upon his return. 5th-century AD source Dionysiaca by Nonnus names Penelope of Mantineia in Arcadia Pan's mother. Other sources report that Penelope slept with all 108 suitors in Odysseus' absence, and gave birth to Pan as a result. This myth reflects the folk etymology that equates Pan's name with the Greek word for "all".

Iconography

Penelope is recognizable in Greek and Roman works, from Attic vase-paintings—the Penelope Painter is recognized by his representations of her—to Roman sculpture copying or improvising upon classical Greek models, by her seated pose, by her reflective gesture of leaning her cheek on her hand, and by her protectively crossed knees, reflecting her long chastity in Odysseus' absence, an unusual pose in any other figure.

Latin tradition

Latin references to Penelope revolved around the sexual loyalty to her absent husband. It suited the marital aspect of Roman society representing the tranquility of the worthy family. She is mentioned by various classical authors including Plautus, Propertius, Horace, Ovid, Martial and Statius. The use of Penelope in Latin texts provided a basis for her ongoing use in the Middle Ages and Renaissance as a representation of the chaste wife. This was reinforced by her being named by Saint Jerome among pagan women famed for their chastity.

Modern adaptations

Penelope is the subject and speaker of Margaret Atwood's retelling of the Odyssey. In the Penelopiad, Atwood essentially tells the story of Homer's epic from Penelope's perspective; that said, Atwood's Penelope speaks in a very "modern", dead-pan manner.
She is remembered in De Mulieribus Claris, a collection of biographies of historical and mythological women by the Florentine author Giovanni Boccaccio, composed in 136162. It is notable as the first collection devoted exclusively to biographies of women in Western literature..
Penelope is a recurring character throughout the works of American novelist Madeline Miller. A former Latin and Greek teacher, Miller emphasizes Penelope’s intellectual brilliance and tactical politicking, while also examining the grim reality of her relationship with Odysseus after the end of The Odyssey. She appears briefly and early in Miller’s 2011 novel “The Song of Achilles,” alongside her cousin Helen, though their faces are veiled. She is viewed from a distance by the novel’s lead character Patroclus,, but does not speak. Odysseus mentions her often and glowingly over the course of the novel, including recounting the story of their first meeting and engagement - much to the recurring chagrin of most of the Greek army.
Penelope also appears in Miller’s 2018 novel Circe, which is a narrative biography of the titular witch, tracing her life from birth past the conclusion of both The Odyssey and the Telegony. Penelope is a major figure in the novel, but does not appear physically until its final quarter, fleeing Ithaca and arriving on Circe's island in the aftermath of her husband’s accidental death at the hands of Telegonus, son of Circe and an unknowing Odysseus. Also present is Penelope's son Telemachus, whom Circe initially suspects of seeking vengeance, but eventually falls in love with. The conclusion of the novel sees Penelope and Circe navigate the complexities of their relationship and ally against Athena, who plans to take Telemachus away to serve as his fathers' successor. Penelope takes up witchcraft, and Circe’s mantle as Witch of Aeaea,, and helps her son and daughter-in-law raise their daughters. Contrary to the plot of the Telegony, Penelope and Telegonus do not marry; instead, Miller appears to imply that Telegonus, now King of a new Greek colony in Italy, is in a relationship with his male Captain of the Guard, and would never marry.
In their performance Penelope Sleeps the Norwegian performance artist Mette Edvardsen and the composer Matteo Fargion are examining alternative scenarios for the mythological female role figure of Penelope by leveraging dream and action, voice and language, body and music.

Primary sources