# Penelope explained — Bulfinch’s Mythology

> Chapter companion for Bulfinch’s Mythology by Thomas Bulfinch.

## What happens

This chapter recounts the story of Penelope, the wife of Ulysses, celebrated for her fidelity and cleverness. It describes her marriage to Ulysses, her choice to remain loyal to him, and her cunning strategy of weaving and unweaving a shroud to delay remarrying the suitors who besieged her during his long absence at the Trojan War.

## Themes in this chapter

### Fate and Free Will

Penelope exercises free will in choosing to remain faithful to Ulysses and in her clever delaying tactics, while the suitors' fate is tied to Ulysses' eventual return.

### Love and Transformation

Penelope's steadfast love for Ulysses transforms her into a symbol of marital fidelity and patience.

## Character check-ins

### Penelope

Daughter of Icarius, wife of Ulysses, known for her fidelity and clever weaving trick.

### Ulysses

King of Ithaca, husband of Penelope, who left for the Trojan War.

### Icarius

Spartan prince, father of Penelope, who tried to keep her from leaving with Ulysses.

### Laertes

Father of Ulysses, for whose funeral canopy Penelope wove the shroud.

## Key lines

> Penelope is another of those mythic heroines whose beauties were rather those of character and conduct than of person.

Penelope is a legendary heroine admired more for her moral virtues and behavior than for physical appearance.

_Introduces Penelope as a paragon of inner beauty._

> During the day she worked at the robe, but in the night she undid the work of the day.

She wove the shroud by daylight and secretly unraveled it each night.

_Describes Penelope's famous ruse to delay the suitors._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/bulfinch_s_mythology_se/chapters/penelope
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/bulfinch_s_mythology_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/bulfinch_s_mythology_se/chapters