Penelope

Penelope is the wife of Odysseus and mother of Telemachus. Penelope spends her days in the palace pining for the husband who left for Troy twenty years earlier and never returned. Homer portrays her as sometimes flighty and excitable but also clever and steadfastly true to her husband.

Character Traits

 * Never loses faith in her husband.
 * Flighty and excitable
 * Odysseus, Telemachus, and Athena often prefer to leave her in the dark about matters rather than upset her. (Athena must distract her so that she does not discover Odysseus's identity when Eurycleia is washing him. Athena often comes to her in dreams to reassure or comfort her, for Penelope would otherwise spend her nights weeping in her bed.)
 * Sly
 * Artful

Response to the suitors

 * Indecisive
 * Never refuses to remarry outright, instead, she puts off her decision and leads them on with promises that she will choose a new husband as soon as certain things happen. ** Completion of a burial shroud that she will never complete
 * Whomever wins the archery contest of Book 21 results from her awareness that only her husband can win it.

Origins of name

 * Penelope = to weave