The Odyssey Penelope Quotes

"But break off this song –
the unendurable song that always rends the heart inside me…
the unforgettable grief, it wounds me most of all!
How I long for my husband – alive in memory, always,
that great man."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 1, 391-396. Penelope asks the bard Phemius to stop singing "The Achaeans’ Journey Home from Troy" because it upsets her. The song about her husband Odysseus stirs up "unforgettable grief" about being parted from him. Even though she hasn’t seen Odysseus for twenty years, the faithful Penelope still longs for him and awaits his return. Penelope’s devotion to her husband and his memory is the most striking example of the major theme of loyalty in Homer’s epic.
Penelope weaving

"So high and mighty, Telemachus – such unbridled rage!
Well now, fling your accusations at us?
Think to pin the blame on us? You think again.
It’s not the suitors here who deserve the blame,
it’s your own dear mother, the matchless queen of cunning."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 2, lines 91-95. When Telemachus criticizes the suitors over their behavior in his home, Antinous speaks in defense of their actions. He singles out Telemachus’ mother Penelope for blame, accusing her of unmatched cunning.

"This was her latest masterpiece of guile:
she set up a great loom in the royal halls
and she began to weave, and the weaving finespun,
the yarns endless, and she would lead us on:"
‘Young men,
my suitors, now that King Odysseus is no more,
go slowly, keen as you are to marry me, until
I can finish off this web.’"

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 2, lines 104-107. We learn here from Antinous how Penelope uses a masterful trick to keep her suitors at bay. While they have been trying to seduce her into marriage, she remains faithful to her husband. Suitor Antinous reveals how Penelope promises them that she would choose a husband as soon as she finishes weaving a shroud for Laertes’ funeral. But Penelope has no intention of finishing it.
Penelope weaving

"So by day she’d weave at her great and growing web –
by night, by the light of torches set beside her,
she would unravel all she’d done. Three whole years
she deceived us blind, seduced us with this scheme."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 2, lines 115-118. Antinous tells Telemachus how Penelope tricks the suitors who are pressuring her to take a husband. She pretends to weave a shroud for Laertes for the day of his funeral, promising to remarry when it is finished. But each night she secretly unravels the work she does that day. For three years she manages to deceive the suitors, Antinous reveals.

"Then, when the wheeling seasons brought the fourth year on,
one of her women, in on the queen’s secret, told the truth
and we caught her in the act – unweaving her gorgeous web.
So she finished it off. Against her will. We forced her."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 2, lines 119-122. Antinous tells Telemachus how Penelope’s clever plan to fool the suitors is betrayed by one of her servants. The queen cleverly holds off remarriage by pretending to weave a shoud on her loom for the eventual funeral of her father-in-law. The deception goes on for three years, until the suitors learn from one of the disloyal women servants that Penelope is unweaving the shoud every night.

"Hear me, dear ones! Zeus has given me torment –
me above all the others born and bred in my day.
My lionhearted husband, lost, long years ago,
who excelled the Argives all in every strength –
that great man whose fame resounds through Hellas
right to the depths of Argos!
But now my son,
my darling boy – the whirlwinds have ripped him
out of the halls without a trace! I never heard
he’d gone – not even from you, you hard, heartless…
not one of you even thought to rouse me from my bed,
though well you knew when he boarded that black ship.
Oh if only I had learned he was planning such a journey,
he would have stayed, by god, keen as he was to sail –
or left me dead right here within our palace."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 4, lines 814-827. A distraught Penelope has learned that her son Telemachus has secretly set sail to Pylos and Sparta, while the suitors plan to kill him on his way home. She rails at Eurycleia for hiding her son’s departure from her. She makes clear that had she known, she would only have let Telemachus leave over her dead body. Angered by the deception, Penelope calls Eurycleia hard and heartless. Penelope speaks of her torment of first losing her husband and now her son, blaming Zeus for this. She recalls how Odysseus was honored with fame as a great warrior. In a metaphor she compares his bravery to that of a lion.

Her mind in torment, wheeling
like some lion at bay, dreading gangs of hunters
closing their cunning ring around him for the finish.
Harried so she was, when a deep kind sleep overcame her.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 4, lines 888-891. Penelope is worried about the safety of her son Telemachus, wondering if he will escape death or die at the hands of the plotting suitors. An extended simile emphasizes her feeling of helplessness, compares her to a trapped lion and the suitors to a gang of hunters hounding her.

"Much as you long to see your wife,
the one you pine for all your days…and yet
I just might claim to be nothing less than she,
neither in face nor figure. Hardly right, is it,
for mortal woman to rival immortal goddess?
How, in build? in beauty?"

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 5, lines 231-236. Here we see a battle for Odysseus’ heart between two powerful love rivals, Calypso and Penelope. The nymph claims that she is more beautiful than Penelope who waits for Odysseus at home. She pleads with Odysseus to remain with her, questioning how a human woman could rival an immortal goddess.

"Ah great goddess
…don’t be angry with me,
please. All that you say is true, how well I know.
Look at my wise Penelope. She falls far short of you,
your beauty, stature. She is mortal after all
and you, you never age or die…
Nevertheless I long – I pine, all my days –
to travel home and see the dawn of my return.
And if a god will wreck me yet again on the wine-dark sea,
I can bear that too, with a spirit tempered to endure.
Much have I suffered, labored long and hard by now
in the waves and wars. Add this to the total –
bring the trial on!"

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 5, lines 236-246. In the tug of war for Odysseus’ heart, it is Penelope who wins over Calypso. Odysseus declines the goddess’ offer to stay with her and be immortal. This shows how powerful a woman Penelope is. Odysseus longs to be back home with her in Ithaca, no matter what trials he faces along the way. Ultimately his loyalty to family and homeland is more important than anything Calypso can offer.

"Alcinous, majesty, shining among your island people,
make your libations, launch me safely on my way –
to one and all, farewell!
All is now made good, my heart’s desire,
your convoy home, your precious, loving gifts,
and may the gods of Olympus bless them for me!
May I find an unswerving wife when I reach home,
and loved ones hale, unharmed."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 13, lines 42-49. Odysseus’ ally King Alcinous helps him by providing him with a ship to sail home to Ithaca. Odysseus thanks Alcinous for the passage home and his generous gifts. He looks forward to being reunited with his unswervingly loyal wife Penelope when he reaches Ithaca. Loyalty is one of the most important virtues in Homer’s epic poem.

"Royal son of Laertes, Odysseus, old campaigner,
think how to lay your hands on all those brazen suitors,
lording it over your house now, three whole years,
courting your noble wife, offering gifts to win her.
But she, forever broken-hearted for your return,
builds up each man’s hopes –
dangling promises, dropping hints to each –
but all the while with something else in mind."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 13, lines 439-446. Athena tells Odysseus about the arrogant suitors who are plaguing his house and courting his wife. The goddess reveals that hearbroken Penelope stays loyal, keeping the suitors at bay, waiting for her husband’s return.

"Why, any tramp washed up on Ithaca’s shores
scurries right to my mistress, babbling lies,
and she ushers him in, kindly, pressing for details,
and the warm tears of grief come trickling down her cheeks,
the loyal wife’s way when her husband’s died abroad."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 14, lines 147-151. Despite Odysseus’ lengthy absence from home, Penelope has remained loyal to him, Eumaeus reveals. She is so desperate for her husband’s return that she asks for news of him from every vagabond who arrives in Ithaca. They deceive her with lies in the hope of getting bed and board.

"You, Antinous! Violent, vicious, scheming –
you, they say, are the best man your age in Ithaca,
best for eloquence, counsel. You’re nothing of the sort!
Madman, why do you weave destruction for Telemachus?
…Stop, I tell you,
stop all this, and make the rest stop too."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 16, lines 463-466, 479-480. A furious Penelope has been warned by the herald Medon that the suitors plan to kill her son Telemachus. She is particularly angry at Antinous, because Odysseus saved his father’s life when a mob was out to destroy him. She demands that Antinous stop the murder plot and make the rest of the conspirators stop as well. She brands him a vicious and violent madman. Penelope shows a lot of bravery in the way she confronts Antinous over his scheming.

"Don’t you know how your father fled here once?
A fugitive, terrified of the people, up in arms
against him because he’d joined some Taphian pirates
out to attack Thesprotians, sworn allies of ours.
The mobs were set to destroy him, rip his life out,
devour his vast wealth to their heart’s content,
but Odysseus held them back, he kept their fury down.
And this is the man whose house you waste, scot-free,
whose wife you court, whose son you mean to kill –
you make my life an agony! Stop, I tell you,
stop all this, and make the rest stop too!"

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 16, lines 470-480. An angry Penelope reminds Antinous how Odysseus helped Antinous’ father. She tells him that the mobs were set to rip his father’s life out and devour his wealth, but Odysseus held them back and saved his life. Yet Antinous was now laying waste to Odysseus’ house, courting his wife and planning to kill his son. Penelope demands that Antinous halt the plot to murder Telemachus. She demonstrates great courage by refusing to give into the suitors, standing up to the violent Antinous and shaming him for his leading role in the murder scheme. This passage highlights Penelope’s fierce loyalty to her missing husband and to her son. At the same time it shows the disloyalty of the treacherous Antinous towards a family that did so much to help his family.

"Our friends can sit at the gates or down the halls
and play their games, debauched to their hearts’ content.
Why not? Their own stores, their bread and seasoned wine,
lie intact at home; food for their serving-men alone.
But they, they infest our palace day and night,
they butcher our cattle, our sheep, our fat goats,
feasting themselves sick, swilling our glowing wine
as if there’s no tomorrow – all of it, squandered."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 17, lines 590-597. Penelope complains about the plague of greedy suitors eating and drinking her out of house and home. Her son Telemachus says the same thing in Book 4.

At her last words Telemachus shook with a lusty sneeze
like a thunderclap resounding up and down the halls.
The queen was seized with laughter, calling out
to Eumaeus winged words: "Quickly, go!
Bring me this stranger now, face-to-face!
You hear how my son sealed all I said with a sneeze?
So let death come down with grim finality on these suitors –
one and all – not a single man escape his sudden doom!"

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 17, lines 602-612. Telemachus responds to Penelope’s prayer that Odysseus might return and put things right with the suitors. In a simile, we are told that he sneezes "like a thunderclap." The is an omen that what Penelope prays for will happen, because the god of lightning Zeus is known to send thundercaps as devine signs. There is an example of irony when Penelope asks Eumeaus to fetch the stranger, who happens to be her husband. There is also foreshadowing when she talks about the death and doom of the suitors.

She cleansed her cheeks,
her brow and fine eyes with ambrosia smooth as the oils
the goddess Love applies, donning her crown of flowers
whenever she joins the Graces’ captivating dances.
She made her taller, fuller in form to all men’s eyes,
her skin whiter than ivory freshly carved.
…The suitors’ knees went slack, their hearts dissolved in lust –
all of them lifted prayers to lie beside her, share her bed.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 18, lines 218-223, 241-242. Athena makes Penelope more beautiful for the suitors by cleansing her cheeks, brow and eyes with ambrosia, making her taller and giving her ivory skin. The suitors are stunned by her beauty, they all lust after her and each wants to win her as their wife.

But turning toward her son, she warned, "Telemachus,
your sense of balance is not what is used to be.
When you were a boy you had much better judgement.
Now that you’ve grown and reached your young prime
and any stranger, seeing how tall and handsome you are,
would think you the son of some great man of wealth –
now your sense of fairness seems to fail you.
Consider the dreadful thing just done in our halls –
how you let the stranger be so abused! Why,
suppose our guest, sitting here at peace,
here in our house,
were hauled and badly hurt by such cruel treatment?
You’d be shamed, disgraced in all men’s eyes!"

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 18, lines 243-255. Penelope is angry over the abuse heaped on Odysseus-the-beggar by the suitors, with one of them hurling a footstool and striking him. She has harsh words for Telemachus over this, strongly rebuking him for allowing a guest to be abused. Penelope is a staunch believer in the virtue of hospitality, so beloved of ancient Greeks. She is upset by the suitors’ inhospitable and barbaric behavior in her home. In Penelope’s world, hospitality to strangers is seen as one of the practices that distinguishes the civilized from the barbaric.

"So I cannot tell if the gods will sail me home again
or I’ll go down out there, on the fields of Troy,
but all things here must rest in your control.
Watch over my father and mother in the palace,
just as now, or perhaps a little more,
when I am far from home.
But once you see the beard on the boy’s cheek,
you wed the man you like, and leave your house behind."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 18, lines 297-304. Penelope repeats to suitor Eurymachus what Odysseus told her before he left for the war in Troy. It is clear that King Odysseus had great trust in his wife to leave her completely in control of his kingdom and household. Twenty years later she is still trying to respect his commands.

"Your way is a far cry from the time-honored way
of suitors locked in rivalry, striving to win
some noble woman, a wealthy man’s daughter.
They bring in their own calves and lambs
to feast the friends of the bride-to-be, yes,
and shower her with gleaming gifts as well.
They don’t devour the woman’s goods scot-free."
Staunch Odysseus glowed with joy to hear all this.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 18, lines 309-316. Penelope rebukes the greedy suitors for devouring all her goods and abusing her hospitality. Instead they should be bringing in their own food and showering the bride-to-be with lavish gifts, she says. Penelope shows that she is as cunning as Odysseus, as the suitors respond by sending their servants to bring her gifts of jewelry and fine clothing. Odysseus is pleased at his wife’s cleverness in extracting gifts from the suitors.

Now down from her chamber came reserved Penelope,
looking for all the world like Artemis or golden Aphrodite.
Close to the fire her women drew her favorite chair
with its whorls of silver and ivory, inlaid rings.
The craftsman who made it years ago, Icmalius,
added a footrest under the seat itself,
mortised into the frame,
and over it all was draped a heavy fleece.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 19, lines 56-63. In a simile Penelope is compared to a goddess, the beautiful Artemis or golden Aphrodite, as she sits down on her favorite chair for her meeting with Odysseus.

"Make no mistake, you brazen, shameless bitch,
none of your ugly work escapes me either –
you will pay for it with your life, you will!
How well you knew – you heard from my own lips –
that I meant to probe this stranger in our house
and ask about my husband…my heart breaks for him."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 19, lines 99-104. Penelope scolds her disloyal slave Melantho, whom she has raised like she her own daughter. Melantho has been sleeping with one of the suitors and has been abusing Odysseus-the-beggar. Penelope is fuming with anger over how Melantho has mistreated the beggar, as she is anxious to hear news of her husband from him. Ever loyal to Odysseus, she confesses that her heart is breaking without him. This passage shows the disrespect the servants have shown in the absence of their master. It also foreshadows death.
Close