In book 19 of the Odyssey, Odysseus has finally returned home, but he is unrecognizable to the eyes of Penelope. Although Odysseus was dirty, in rags, and did not look like his past self, Penelope still showed him kindness and showed great kindness to him in hopes that he would have any information about Odysseus. Odysseus is planning with Telemachus on how they can kill all of the suitors. During their talk, Penelope makes her way downstairs with her servants. in more detail, Penelope is compared to Artemis or golden Aphrodite as she is entering the room. From Odysseus’ perspective, I could only imagine that he is beginning to believe that his difficult journey was worth it to see his beautiful wife again. After one of the servants scolded Odysseus for staying around since he looked homeless, Odysseus snaps back. This leads to Penelope asking where he is from and what his doing is in Ithaca. After Odysseys’ response, Penelope goes on with a passage that describes her missing of her long lost husband and how she cannot fend off the suitors any longer. Penelope states how when Odysseus left, her strength and beauty had been destroyed. As the reader, you cannot help but feel deep sorrow for her since it is very clear that both of them are immensely in love, but they had to be separated for so long. She describes her heart as melting, and that only deepens the fact that she is in so much pain being separated from Odysseus. Also, when talking about her slaves betrayal, she refers to them as dogs for the second time which reinforces the fact that Penelope does not value them as humans but rather animals. Penelopes speech in short goes over how she does not want to remarry, but she has run out of options and can’t hope for Odysseus to come home any longer even if it does destroy her on the inside.

Penelope very clearly does not want to remarry, but with her time running out, we get a deeper dive into her feelings about what was taken away from her. In the first sentence of the explanation, Penelope states, “Well, stranger, the deathless gods destroyed my strength and my beauty the day the greeks went marching off to Troy, and my Odysseus went off with them” (pg 428, Wilson, 124-127) Simply stating the word stranger to Odysseus shows a lot of depth into Penelope. It shows how Penelope, although deeply missing Odysseus, cannot recognize that he is sitting right before her. She might only remember Odysseus based off of past his actions and not even his appearance because it has been so long apart. She also very clearly has distain for the gods for taking him away from her in the war. She calls the gods deathless maybe mocking them in a way since she herself has been made weak because of them while they reek the spoils of her suffering. Lastly, in relation to the Greeks marching off and Odysseus being there with them, it shows a view of respect for the men who had gone. Although it was the worst thing that had happened to her, she still values Odysseus as a brave and heroic man even though he did leave her. Later in the passage Penelope explains, “I have no more ideas, and I cannot fend off a marriage anymore” (pg 429, Wilson, 155-156). This shows a deep fear of helplessness in Penelope. Although she does not want to remarry, she quite literally cannot stop it any longer since those around her are becoming restless. Especially by being a woman, her gender is blocking others from listening to her with a level of respect that is only shown to men. She is in an inescapable situation, and cannot even help herself.

I could go deeper in depth for the whole speech, but in those 2 sentences alone, we learn a lot about Penelope’s deeper feelings. She has been through so much because of Odysseus’ leaving, yet she still praises him and does not blame him at all for anything that has happened. Instead she blames the gods, the war, and her unfaithful slaves for example. Odysseus can do no wrong in her eyes, and that is how I see how truly in love with him she is. Penelope is trapped though, and it is destroying not only her heart, but its destroying her hope.