The Penelopiad: Chapter 12 Summary & Analysis

Penelope continues her narrative following Odysseus’s departure. He was away in Troy while she stayed in Ithaca. Time passed and Telemachus grew older. Over the years they got news of the Trojan war from minstrel’s songs about the war heroes. Penelope only cared, though, about news of Odysseus. Penelope relished when his name appeared in songs, describing him negotiating, giving advice, etc. At one point, a song described Odysseus being bathed by Helen, and Penelope did not like that part.

At last the songs described Odysseus coming up with the strategy of building a wooden horse to invade the city, and eventually they received reports that Troy had fallen, creating mass chaos. Finally, the ships set sail for home. After that, there was no news.

Every day Penelope would climb up to the top floor of the palace to look for Odysseus’s ships, but there was no sign of them. Other vessels carried rumors of what had happened to Odysseus: that he had lost his memory, that he had fought a Cyclops, that cannibals ate his men. Some rumors said that Odysseus had fallen in love with a goddess on a magical island, while others said he was at a brothel.

The minstrels sang these rumors, embellishing them freely. In front of Penelope, they only sang the best versions, in which Odysseus came across as clever and good, only unable to come home because the gods or the Fates were against him. In return for these complimentary but obviously untrue songs, Penelope gave the singers gifts.

Anticleia died during Odysseus’s absence, blaming Penelope for everything. Eurycleia and Laertes aged. Laertes turned toward a farming life, and Penelope thinks that he had gone a little insane. This left Penelope to manage Odysseus’s estates herself, a task for which she was woefully unprepared. Penelope’s mother, who had not spent much time in the palace, never showed Penelope how to manage an estate on her own. Penelope’s mother did not often punish slaves, but would sometimes kill one for no reason. She also did not like to spin or weave, unlike Penelope, or to take account of food stores, preferring swimming.

As a result of this, Penelope had to learn everything on her own. Penelope learned to make inventories and how to instruct the spinners and weavers to make clothes for the slaves. She learned how to manage the personal issues that came up among slaves, ensuring that male slaves would not sleep with female slaves without permission. This could be tough because they sometimes fell in love and got jealous, so Penelope would have to sell them. If a child was born from these affairs, Penelope would raise it herself. Among the slave children she raised was Melantho of the Pretty Cheeks.

Through trading for supplies, Penelope developed a reputation as a smart bargainer. She oversaw farms and became an expert at animal husbandry. Her goal was to build up Odysseus’s estate for when Odysseus returned, so he would be proud of her, tell her “you’re worth a thousand Helens,” and hold her in his arms.

Despite her busy schedule, Penelope felt extremely alone. She cried herself to sleep and prayed to the gods for her husband. Eurycleia tried to sooth her with drinks and baths. While she comforted her, Eurycleia would recite sayings to discourage Penelope from crying, much to Penelope’s annoyance. During the day, Penelope kept up a cheerful appearance for Telemachus’s sake, telling him stories of Odysseus and insisting that everything would be wonderful when he came home.

Progressively, outsider interest in Penelope increased, and foreign ships began appearing in the harbor. People asked Penelope if she would consider remarriage if Odysseus had, in fact, died. Penelope ignored these questions, and news—or rather, rumors—of Odysseus continued to arrive. These stories claimed that Odysseus had been to the underworld, had sailed past Sirens and listened to their song, etc. Others claimed that these stories were only exaggerations. Penelope did not know what to believe, and thought people may have made up the stories to torment her. Still, she continued to listen, until the stories stopped coming altogether.