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involved add to it. The first to react is Telemachus, who, unaware of Penelope's inner turmoil, and in general not very understanding towards his mother, angrily demands an explanation for her silence (97103). His assessment  is wide of the mark, as the reader knows from her silent thoughts in 87. Provoked by Telemachus, Penelope finally speaks, but to him, not to Odysseus, repeating what the narrator had already told us in 93: she is too stupefied to speak (1057). Why is she stupefied? The text is not explicit on this point nor have many commentators asked themselves this question. Taking as the only possible clue  (95) the fact that Odysseus is still wearing his rags was stressed in 22.48791 I would suggest that Penelope is stupefied by the fact that the man she is looking at, the 'beggar' with whom she had talked an entire evening without recognizing him, now turns out to be or at any rate is said to be Odysseus. In other words, she cannot reconcile what she is seeing to what she has heard; she is still sceptical. Her scepticism is reflected in her use of the conditional clause  ('if he really is Odysseus': 1078).36 For this woman, who is herself wily, neither outward appearances nor words are to be trusted. Odysseus, who is as wily and suspicious as his wife, is better able to appreciate her behaviour than Telemachus: he smiles (111). Once more, he shows that he can even read her mind (cf. passage 17), when he rightly guesses her unexpressed thought of 95:  (1156). Later, after the recognition, Penelope will give a fuller explanation of her hesitation: she was afraid that if she took it on faith that the beggar was Odysseus since she did not recognize him she could do no more than that she might be disappointed again should he turn out not to be Odysseus, or, worse, turn out to have committed adultery like Helen (21424). |
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The two passages of unspoken thought provide us with fascinating insights into the workings of Penelope's mind; we get to know intimately her cleverness and cautiousness. For once, the reader is not the only one to appreciate these insights; they are shared by Odysseus, who, being so much like Penelope, can read her mind. |
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We are left with the suitors. So far, we have only met them in the role of the objects or even the victims of the secret thoughts of Odysseus, Telemachus and Penelope. But they, too, can entertain silent thoughts. |
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36 For the sceptical nuance of indicative (especially when there is an attitudinal modifier present, here  ), see Rijksbaron (1984) 69. Marquardt (1985) 402 and Roisman (1987) 63 suggest that it is at this point that Penelope recognizes Odysseus. This leads Marquardt to the following assessment of Penelope's stupefied silence: "It is not surprising that her initial reaction upon facing that idealized and long-awaited husband . . . is a blend of elation, relief, disillusionment, resentment, possibly even shame . . ." |
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