Odysseus's parting command to Penelope

Odysseus's parting command to Penelope is the set of instructions he gave her before departing for Troy, which she later recites to the suitors in Book 19 as a justification for her delay in remarrying. This command establishes the conditions under which Penelope is to remarry—specifically, when their son Telemachus grows a beard—and thus becomes the central legal and emotional framework for her long resistance to the suitors' demands.

Content and Circumstances of the Command

As Penelope recounts to Eurymachus in Book 18, Odysseus took her right wrist in his hand before leaving and said, "Wife, we shall not all of us come safe home from Troy, for the Trojans fight well both with bow and spear. They are excellent also at fighting from chariots, and nothing decides the issue of a fight sooner than this. I know not, therefore, whether heaven will send me back to you, or whether I may not fall over there at Troy. In the meantime do you look after things here. Take care of my father and mother as at present, and even more so during my absence, but when you see our son growing a beard, then marry whom you will, and leave this your present home." This speech, delivered at the moment of departure, combines a realistic assessment of the dangers of war with a precise instruction that ties Penelope's freedom to remarry to a visible marker of Telemachus's maturity. The command thus functions as both a practical contingency plan and a binding promise that Penelope can invoke against the suitors' pressure.

Narrative Function and Penelope's Use of the Command

Penelope deploys Odysseus's parting command as her primary defense against the suitors' relentless demands. In Book 2, Antinous reveals that Penelope had used a different stratagem—the weaving trick—to delay the suitors for three years, but the command itself provides the underlying moral and legal justification for her refusal to choose a new husband. When she finally addresses the suitors directly in Book 19, she frames her situation as a direct consequence of Odysseus's foresight: "This is what he said and now it is all coming true. A night will come when I shall have to yield myself to a marriage which I detest, for Jove has taken from me all hope of happiness." The command thus becomes a double-edged instrument: it gives Penelope a legitimate reason to postpone remarriage, but it also sets a limit beyond which she cannot continue to resist without violating her husband's own instructions.

Thematic Significance and Contrast with Clytemnestra

The command serves as a crucial element in the poem's larger contrast between faithful and unfaithful wives. Odysseus's instruction assumes Penelope's loyalty and good judgment, trusting her to manage the household and to remarry only when their son is grown. This stands in stark opposition to Agamemnon's experience, as he warns Odysseus in the underworld: "Be sure, therefore, and not be too friendly even with your own wife. Do not tell her all that you know perfectly well yourself. Tell her a part only, and keep your own counsel about the rest." Agamemnon's bitter advice, born of Clytemnestra's betrayal, underscores the risk Odysseus takes in leaving such a command—yet Penelope's fidelity vindicates his trust. The command thus becomes a measure of the difference between the two households: where Agamemnon's trust was betrayed, Odysseus's is honored, and the command itself provides the framework within which Penelope's cunning and loyalty can operate.

The Command as a Structural Device

Odysseus's parting command also functions as a structural device that links the beginning of the poem's action to its resolution. The command sets a condition—Telemachus's beard—that is already fulfilled by the time the poem opens, since Telemachus is a young man. This creates a tension: Penelope is technically free to remarry under the terms of the command, yet she continues to resist. The suitors, as Antinous explains in Book 2, are frustrated precisely because Penelope "will neither point blank say that she will not marry, nor yet bring matters to an end." The command thus provides the legal cover for her delay, while the weaving trick provides the practical means. When Odysseus finally returns and kills the suitors, the command becomes moot, but its existence throughout the poem has shaped the entire dynamic of the household, giving Penelope a legitimate ground for her long resistance and preserving her fidelity until her husband's return.