In the Odyssey, Penelope is depicted as a loyal wife and clever woman who carefully outwits the suitors by delaying her marriage and creating a contest that only Odysseus can win. While Odysseus struggles to make his way home, Penelope delays her suitors by telling them that she will only marry after she completes a burial shroud for Odysseus's elderly father, Laertes. Penelope has no intention of marrying any of the suitors and buys herself additional time by undoing part of the shroud every night for three years until her ruse is discovered.

When Odysseus returns to Ithaca after twenty years, the goddess Athena disguises him as a beggar and purposely conceals his identity from Penelope until the last moment. After Penelope asks the goddess Artemis to kill her so that she doesn't have to remarry, she begins to feign interest in the suitors, which buys her additional time.

In book 21, Penelope creates a contest to determine whom she will marry. Penelope is aware that only her husband can win the contest, and she has no intention of marrying any of the potential suitors. Penelope has twelve ax heads aligned and promises to marry the suitor who can shoot an arrow through the ax heads using Odysseus's bow. After all the suitors fail, the disguised Odysseus accepts the challenge and wins the contest by effortlessly shooting an arrow through the ax heads. After he wins the contest, the suitors are stunned, and thunder echoes through the hall, signaling the suitors' demise.