Divine Intervention, Loyalty, and the Inevitability of Odysseus and Penelope
The prominent role of the gods in determining the fate of Man is an indisputable feature of Homer’s Odyssey. We see that the gods also favour heroes like Odysseus more so than other mortals, aiding his voyage back to Ithaca. This essay thus explores if the driving factor that led to Odysseus’ homecoming and reunion with Penelope is truly the labour of the gods or, instead, something else is at play. I argue that while divine intervention contributed to the eventual reunion of Odysseus and Penelope, it is ultimately the loyalty to each other that earns them the reunion. This essay will also track how this loyalty to each other is inseparable from their preservation of the oikos and “remembering” of each other.
Odysseus indeed receives divine help throughout his voyage to Ithaca. In Athena’s conversation with Zeus, we learn that Odysseus’ heroism in Troy had proven him to be wise and therefore worthy of favour from the gods–with the exception of Poseidon who “flout[s] the will of all the gods” with his grudge against Odysseus (1.86–104). What this conversation does is establish the favoritism of the gods, as they show more sympathy towards Odysseus trapped on Ogygia than they do Penelope whose house has been overrun by suitors. Time and again, Athena proves to be almost omnipresent around Odysseus; when he requires it, Athena transforms him physically to look younger (16.209–18), or beggar-like (13.499–506) to better advance his plans. From these, one can certainly make the argument that it was certainly divine intervention that aided Odysseus’ eventual return home. Yet, I am inclined to believe otherwise. While Athena’s godly presence indeed contributes to Odysseus finding his way home, it is his loyalty to Penelope that first triggers her divine help–she merely facilitates his desires.
The facilitative role of the gods is further emphasised on Ogygia, when Calypso offers aid to Odysseus who is building his raft. She brings him an axehead, an auger tool, and cloth among other things (5.243–70), none of which are intrinsically divine–Odysseus could have acquired these tools himself. The role of Calypso, even as a divine being, is reduced to a facilitative role and a source of permission from whom Odysseus seeks the mercy of to leave Ogygia (5.223–33). Even the vengeful Poseidon will not drown Odysseus (5.354), merely throwing him obstacles in his voyage; he does not seek to terminate his voyage but merely extend it painfully in the name of vengeance for Polyphemus. Meanwhile, Odysseus’ blessedness is directly juxtaposed with the lack of favours Penelope receives from the gods during her long wait for Odysseus’ return. Unwilling to move on from Odysseus, she announces to the Suitors that she is weaving a shroud for his dead body, even promising to give herself to a Suitor once she is done, but unravels the weaving every night (19.160–90). In relying on her own cunning intelligence, Penelope manages to keep the Suitors at bay and delay her remarriage (Schein 26). This comparison is even more on the nose when Athena proclaims herself as Odysseus’ “goddess-guardian to the end in all [his] trials”, bestowing upon him peace in his sleep, while Penelope lays awake and weeping to Artemis for death, which she does not grant her (20.50–77). While Odysseus is indeed heroic in his nostos, it is still Penelope’s fidelity and intelligence–rooted in loyalty to Odysseus–to drive off the suitors that even allows them the opportunity for such reunion.
Hence, while divine intervention contributed to the eventual reunion of Odysseus and Penelope, it is not the primary reason for the couple’s eventual reunion. This can be attributed instead to their loyalty to each other, a quality inseparable from their preservation of the oikos and “remembering” of each other.
Despite having no reason to believe her husband alive and receiving no comfort from the gods, Penelope displays her loyalty by “remembering” Odysseus well. When Eurymachos compliments her for her beauty, Penelope brushes off his sweets words and instead expresses how Odysseus had, on departure, meant for her to remarry once Telemachus was of age (Murnaghan 70). Thus, Penelope makes clear that even in her willingness to remarry, she is still keeping to the memory of Odysseus and his instructions for her. As Murnaghan writes, this “makes it clear that any move she makes in [the Suitor’s] direction should be interpreted as loyalty to Odysseus rather than attraction to any of them” (70). Penelope’s loyalty also manifests in her protection of the oikos of her husband and son. Her weaving and unravelling of the shroud is an example of her preservation of the oikos (Schein 26), as she uses this tactic to keep Odysseus’ place empty in his absence. She takes the preservation of the household literally as well, making sure no one touches or even lays eyes on her and Odysseus’ bed, save for her slave Aktoris (23.253–8). These incidents compiled prove her enduring loyalty to Odysseus, for which she even earns kleos for in the form of a “song of grace”, a type of reward exclusively meant for warriors in the Iliad (Schein 27).
Odysseus also proves his loyalty to Penelope by “remembering” her. Most notably, Odysseus is witnessed to have yearned for Penelope day after day during his time in Ogygia, displaying his loyalty to her even in the face of a sexually-threatening goddess (Schein 25) more beautiful than she is (5.212–33). While Odysseus does commit adultery in laying with Calypso, he is justified in doing so for the sake of self-preservation as her captive. Perhaps, his adultery is even more proof of his loyalty, as continues to keep Penelope in his daily memory. It is this undying loyalty to his wife that causes Athena to take pity upon him, calling Odysseus a “poor mournful man”, and therefore plot to help him fulfil his steadfast desire to return home (1.105–22). Instead of succumbing to the Lotus Eaters like his men do, Odysseus turns away from their ways and their “forgetfulness” (9.90–112), implying that he is actively choosing to remember Penelope and his homeland. Less pertinently do we see Odysseus’ fierce protection of the oikos that his wife demonstrates. What we see instead is his vulnerability and unwillingness to have the sanctity his oikos violated, having left it in Penelope’s charge since his departure for Troy. Schein rightfully points out that when Odysseus suspects “another man has cut the rooted olive trunk that formed one leg of his bed, he in effect acknowledges the power of Penelope over him–the possibility that she has been or could be unfaithful” (26–27). I further contend with Schein that this suspicion stems from his desire for Penelope’s fidelity and the preservation of the oikos he left behind. This episode is where we see Odysseus lose his cool for the first time in the entire poem, perhaps a testament to how important he views the sanctity of his oikos.
While divine intervention is nonetheless an indisputable contributing factor to Odysseus’ eventual homecoming, what the Odyssey has revealed instead is the inevitability of his reunion with Penelope. The gods, as mere spectators to the couple’s great love, can only facilitate their desires to one day end up back in the same bed. Throughout the poem, Odysseus and Penelope reaffirm their loyalties to each other, eventually culminating in a triumphant and beautiful reunion between the couple who have been apart for two decades. Their respective achievement of kleos, and the similarity in how they approach loyalty–through the preservation of their oikos and “remembering”–paints them as equals. It is in this equality that Odysseus finally recaptures, at the end of the epic, the harmony in conversation between husband and wife and a “strong house held in serenity” he preaches about to Nausikaa as “the best thing in the world” (6.194–9).
