POETRYMFA eNotes educator| CERTIFIED EDUCATOR
After twenty long years (ten of which Odysseus spent fighting in the Trojan War and another ten he spent wandering land and sea in search of home) of waiting for the homecoming of her husband, Odysseus, Penelope has remained a steadfast, dutiful, but incredibly discerning wife. Once believing her husband to be dead, she is hesitant to buy the story of the strange man in rags who has showed up on her doorstep, killed off all her other unwanted suitors, and proclaimed himself her true spouse.
Thus, Penelope devises a plan to test out the identity of this "stranger." Penelope asks her maid, Eurycleia, to bring the bed frame from the bedroom she and Odysseus once shared into the hall so that he may rest, knowing that only the real Odysseus would know that this act was impossible--Odysseus had constructed the frame so that it was attached to an olive tree within the room. Odysseus immediately reacts with great anger, stating:
But among me there is no one living,
no matter how much energy he has,
who would find it easy to shift that bed.
For built into the well-constricted bedstead
is a great symbol which I made myself
with no one else. A long-leaved olive bush
was growing in the yard...
I built my bedroom round this olive bush,
till I had finished it with well-set stones...
Odysseus goes on to explain how he built the bed, and Penelope reacts with utter joy, realizing that this man truly is her long-lost husband.
