# 4.3 The problem of recognition

The reunion of this mythical couple also reflects some of the challenges faced by couples in real-life situations where they have been apart for a long time. The partners of serving military personnel still report today, for example, that sometimes when their spouse returns from a long time in a war zone it can feel hard for them to relate to one another as their experiences have been so different during their time apart. Although, unlike Odysseus, the returning partner is not literally in disguise, both partners will have faced challenges and may have changed during their time apart. Like Penelope and Odysseus, each person needs time to get to know the other once more.

Figure 10 An emotional military reunion.

Shortly after the meeting between Penelope and Odysseus which you thought about in Activity 7, Odysseus takes a bath and puts on clean clothes. The goddess Athena helps him out with a divine makeover to make him seem more attractive than before, and, appearance restored, he returns to Penelope once more (23.153–165). Yet even though he now looks like the man she knew before he set out for Troy, Penelope is still wary and needs further proof that this is really Odysseus. She assures herself of his identity using a test which – like her shroud trick, and the contest of the bow which she initiates – reveals that she is her husband’s equal in intelligence and cunning and that she is just as resourceful as he is when it comes to dealing with a challenging situation. Penelope asks that Eurycleia move their bed outside the bedroom to make up a place for somewhere to sleep (23.177–180). Their bed is, however, immovable – it was carved by Odysseus himself from a single olive tree growing at the centre of their household. Apart from Penelope, Odysseus is the only person who could know this. Odysseus’ reaction when he thinks that someone has moved his bed (and perhaps at the associated suggestion that Penelope may have been unfaithful in his absence) is one of outrage: he says that ‘There is no man alive, not even one in the prime of life, / who could shift it without difficulty’ (23.198–199). By revealing this knowledge of the way the bed was constructed, Odysseus proves to Penelope that he is really her husband.

Figure 11 Leslie Peterson, Athena Stays the Dawn. Paper collage. Dimensions: 97 x 71 cm.

When Penelope finally has the proof that it is Odysseus who is standing before her, she bursts into tears and rushes to embrace him. She asks Odysseus not to be angry with her for her reticence and explains that while he has been away she has always been worried that someone else would try to trick her into believing that he was Odysseus, for his own advantage (23.205–217).

OpenLearn - Exploring Homer’s Odyssey
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