Regarding Penelope

A coy tease, enchantress, adulteress, irresponsible mother, hard-hearted wife -- such are the possible images of Penelope that Homer playfully presents to listeners and readers of the Odyssey. His narration ultimately contradicts or fails to confirm these images, however, leaving Penelope as the paragon of the faithful wife. In Regarding Penelope, Felson first considers Penelope as the object of male gazes and as a subject acting from her own desire, and then develops the notion of "possible plots" as structures in the poem that coexist with the plots Penelope actually plays out. She then argues that Homer's manipulation of Penelope's character maintains the narrative fluidity and the dynamics of the Odyssey, and she reveals how, in oral performance, the poet teases and captivates his audience in the same way that Penelope and Odysseus entrap each other in their courtship dance.