Penelope, the myth of the woman who waits forever

In Penelope’s story, fidelity is put to an arduous test. There is no certainty about whether she “passed” said exam. What is clear is the implicit message of the narrative: the absence of the beloved man leaves the woman’s life on hold.

The myth of Penelope is part of the epic poem The odysseywritten by Homer. The function of the epic is, among others, to build models for people to imitate.. The characters that intervene in their narratives are archetypal. That is, they synthesize a series of values and skills that make them the ideals of being for a society.

As often happens with these mythical stories, the messages More interesting are those that come between the lines. Penelope’s story is, in itself, very beautiful, and it is also very revealing to scrutinize what it represents from a cultural point of view. In this case, they tell us about the feminine and the position of women in the relationship.

Penelope is the symbol of fidelity and self-denial, but also exhibits traits that appear in different mythologies. These traits have to do with cunning and the ability to deceive as weapons to achieve their purposes. The feminine, then, appears as an ambiguous, unreliable and, therefore, dangerous terrain.

“Oh, oh, how mortals blame the gods! Because from us, they say, evil comes. But they also, due to their stupidity, endure pain beyond what corresponds to them.”.

-Homer-

The story of Penelope

According to the story created by Homer, Penelope is born in Sparta, to a freshwater nymph and the king of the region himself.. It all begins when Ulysses, a brave warrior, feels alone and decides to look for a woman to accompany and comfort him. His search takes him to Sparta, where he meets the most beautiful woman he has ever seen: Helen. Helen of Troy herself.

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That woman was so beautiful that her suitors numbered in the hundreds. The girl’s father, and Ulysses himself, feared that the dispute over her love would unleash chaos in Sparta. So the two agreed to decree that the winning claimant must be respected by those who were defeated. Ulysses felt uncomfortable about the situation.

By then a beautiful woman named Penelope had already arrived in Sparta. She was Helena’s cousin and she had come to give her advice. When Ulysses and Penelope meet, they fall in love at first sight. Both remain silent, knowing that they never wanted to be separated.

The departure to Ithaca and the separation

Ulysses and Penelope went to live in Ithaca. His father, Icarius, tried to keep him in Sparta. She just kept silent and covered her face with a veil. She thus hinted that she would go with Ulysses. In the place where this occurred, Icarius later built a temple dedicated to modesty .

The new couple left, but not before giving each other a long kiss as a seal for their love. Already in Ithaca, a year later, they had a son: Telemachus. Shortly after The Trojan War breaks out and Ulysses has to leave. It took him 10 years in the war and another 10 on his return trip. During that period he was seduced by a nymph, a magician and a princess, but he always had his wife and his son on his mind.

Meanwhile, Penelope, Being a woman who was alone, she began to be surrounded by multiple suitors. These were installed in his house. They ate and drank as she pleased. Everyone urged her to accept one of them, since they thought Ulysses was dead. She, however, had a feeling that her husband was alive and that he would return.

Penelope’s cunning

To avoid the decision of accepting one of her suitors, Penelope He said he would choose when he finished weaving a tapestry. What she came up with was to weave during the day and undo at night.. Four years passed thus, at the end of which Ulysses finally returned. After a series of tests, he managed to recognize it. Ulysses, for his part, put an end to the suitors.

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The truth is that there are several versions of what happened. The most widespread, and the one we like to hear the most, says that “they lived happily ever after.” Another version states that Ulysses repudiated her wife, as he accused her of having been the one who had attracted her suitors. There are also versions that he killed her for being unfaithful to her or that he returned her to her father for the same reason.

Penelope is the model of the selfless woman, who remains silent and waits. She is forced to do and undo her own work over and over again while her “lost” love returns.. Her tapestry represents that vicious circle of resistance. Her attitude, what Western culture established as an ideal for a wife.