Home > The Odyssey Summary & Study Guide > The Odyssey Group > Question and Answer

Question:

Answers:

1. 
   joe30pl Teacher
   Community / Jr. College

   eNotes Editor

   Penelope claims to be weaving a death shroud for her father in-law Laertes, or in some translations, Odysseus himself. Each night she unravels the shroud, forcing herself to start work over the next night.

   There is another tactic, which may or may not count. When the suitors demand she pick one of them, she comes up with the idea of stringing her husband's bow and shooting an arrow through twelve axes. Her husband is the only one who is capable of doing such a feat, but is she truly aware of her husband's return? The meeting before hand, where the idea to string the bow is born, could be taken both ways. Her tactics slow the suitors down for her husband to revel himself and clear his house of the men.  

   Sources:

   http://www.enotes.com/odyssey/character-analysis

   http://www.enotes.com/odyssey/characters

   Rate answer:

   • Flag as inappropriate

   Posted by joe30pl on Wednesday March 11, 2009 at 12:59 PM