Okay, spoiler alert if you haven’t read tonight’s reading yet.
I really just want to talk about Penelope. We finally get to see Odysseus and Penelope reunited (even though she doesn’t quite know who he is yet). But in this scene, I can’t help but be frustrated with her. Odysseus comes up, disguised, and says that he’s Odysseus in the flesh, and heard that he was alive and well and on his way home. Penelope just says, “nah, that’s not true, but I’ll cry about it some more anyway.” Seriously?? I really understand that she’s “lost” her husband to war, and has no idea if he’s dead or alive. But come on, this is the one guy that’s come to the house since Odysseus left that wasn’t a complete jerk, and he’s telling her that Odysseus is alive and on his way home. Why doesn’t she believe him?
Before you think it mighty cruel of me to judge her this way, remember that I’m thinking in the context of this society. Gods dressed up like people and declared fate ALL THE TIME, and she couldn’t believe this man. Now, she might have had some false hopes over the years, but compared to the amount of people who tell lies like this (and by that number I mean practically nobody) his credibility is through the roof.
I think that if I were in Penelope's situation, and I had been told so many times that Odysseus was coming, I would have had my hopes smashed so many times that it would be easier just not to hope. I know what it feels like to have high expectations not met, and it just seems easier to set your expectations low and be surprised than to set them high and be disappointed.
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