![]() ![]() ![]() When the weaving tale is told for the last time by Amphimedon in Book 24, the suitors are dead and lie unburied in the courtyard of Odysseus’ house (24.186–187). In any case Telemachus is a separate subject, and in the meanwhile it is clear that Penelope is creating a surpassing kleos for herself, and that Antinoos chafes at the thought that she is doing so at the suitors’, above all his own, expense. Odysseus’ return, with much wealth, will more than make up for the temporary decrease of Telemachus’ patrimony, so that in the end Penelope’s kleos will be to Telemachus’ advantage. There is some truth to his words, but only for the moment. It has been also seen as a peculiarly feminine mode of communication: for Penelope, who does not have access to the male world of public speaking, weaving itself becomes a silent expense. Weaving is a metaphor for the making of poetry, and Penelope’s work has been seen as emblematic of song in general and Odyssean poetics in particular. Finally, this verse refers to Odysseus using both his name and his patronymic.This tale, and Penelope’s weaving in general, has probably received more scholarly attention than anything else about Penelope, and it has justly been discussed in connection with speech and song. The modifying adjective αἰδοίη (respected) calls attention to the honor a married woman should get, and subtly jibes at the suitors for their improper behavior. While a κούρη (young maiden) would be unlikely to have a husband, much less an adult son, a γυνή certainly could be married and have a family of her own. Alone, it may be used in the vocative as a form of respectful address. ![]() Odysseus, in contrast, calls Penelope a γυνή, or a sexually mature woman the word may also mean, among other things, the mistress of a house and a wife. The suitors, naturally, are not anxious to dwell on the fact that Penelope is already married. These words present her in an entirely different light from the language used by the suitors when they address Penelope with a full-verse vocative. Throughout the conversation between him and Penelope in Book 19, Odysseus begins several speeches to her with this full-verse vocative. Ὀδυσῆος (O respected wife of Odysseus, son of Laertes), 19.165. ![]() This climactic conversation, for many the highlight of the entire poem, contains the single most elaborate speech frame in the Homeric epics. This information brings Penelope down to talk to the stranger for herself, and in another long conversation, Penelope tests the stranger and satisfies herself that he is indeed her husband. The Penelope-Odysseus reunion returns to center stage at the beginning of Book 23, when Eurycleia rushes up to her mistress’ quarters to tell her that the suitors are dead and the anonymous beggar who killed them is Odysseus. Odysseus now goes among the suitors, wins the bow contest, and slaughters the suitors. At the end of the second section of this conversation, Penelope decides to hold the bow contest. This conversation falls into two parts, separated by the incident of Eurycleia and her recognition of Odysseus’ scar. Penelope and Odysseus first meet face to face in a long conversation that essentially takes up all of Book 19. The gradual rapprochement between Penelope and Odysseus, stretching over several books of the Odyssey, contains two major movements or sections, one in Book 19 and one in Book 23. The story of Penelope and Odysseus and their drawn-out reunion over the course of the last third of the Odyssey is one of the most extensively studied portions of the Homeric epics. ![]()
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