However, the text frequently calls her "wise Penelope," and while her first trick of weaving and unraveling the shroud to put off the suitors isn't really appreciated, when she gets the suitors to give her gifts (although this is arguably pretty inspired by Athena... but is there a character in the epic poem who isn't manipulated by Athena in some way or another?), "staunch Odysseus glowed with joy to hear all this." Odysseus really doesn't have any terrible moments with Penelope as far as I can remember -- he doesn't call Agamemnon out, but he just seems to ignore the comments. When Penelope starts crying when Odysseus-in-disguise talks about Odysseus (of course), "Odysseus' heart went out to his grief-stricken wife."
I think it's kind of cool that Athena gets to be the featured goddess in this story and gets to be all badass etc. but I do wish Penelope had a bit more of a role in the story -- Telemachus and Odysseus have exciting travels but Penelope seems to just kind of sit around in the palace and cry. Still, it's nice that the gender politics in The Odyssey (a big example outside of Penelope is Calypso's rant about sexual double standards among the gods) are a little more complicated than one might expect from ancient Greece.
Considering the first book with the whole Telemachus telling her to shut up thing, and due to my general knowledge of ancient Greece, I went in not expecting much at all in the development of female characters, so I have to say I'm really pleasantly surprised! Penelope isn't as wily as Odysseus but she definitely is clever -- the weaving trick, the soliciting gifts thing, having Odysseus (in his disguise) prove his identity, etc. all demonstrate that she holds her own in addition to being Odysseus's wife. I agree that it would be interesting to see her have her own adventures, but I guess what we got in this poem was already cool enough.
ReplyDeleteSomething that's been in the back of my mind throughout the book was why the whole weaving thing was necessary. Why couldn't Penelope just say that she isn't going to marry anyone? I'm not an expert on ancient Greece but my assumption is that she doesn't have the authority to do so-- especially with all the mentions of sending her back to her parents' house (earlier in our class discussions of the Odyssey it was mentioned that maybe she enjoyed the attention of the suitors). I'm not really sure about how I feel about Penelope. I wish more light was shed on her actual motivations and thoughts.
ReplyDeletePenelope is in a tough spot in this story, especially in light of Greek ideas about men's and women's spheres. We might like to see her as a strong queen who stands up to these suitors and kicks them all out, but she does have to hedge her bets--if indeed Odysseus does not come home, then she will have to marry one of these guys. And yet she can't seem "disloyal" to her husband (as all the mentions of Agamemnon keep reminding us)--she needs to seem faithful and to be keeping the suitors at bay. So she's left with little room to negotiate, and things like the weaving trick are all that are available to her--elaborate stalling tactics, essentially.
ReplyDeleteLike Odysseus's weeping, her weeping is probably intended more to signal the depth of her feeling and the extent of her suffering, and not to make her seem pathetic and emotionally unstable.
It is a shame she keeps getting sent upstairs, though--she seems to be having fun in her little back-and-forth with disguised Odysseus, and I keep getting the feeling she'd like to be a bigger part of the story.
I think Penelope did all that she could. She had to stay home and run the kingdom, or someone else would have taken it over! I think she did a great job holding down the fort while Odysseus was away.
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