Penelope and Odysseus: ACT III - Consummation
Plotting Murder, The Great Battle (When Family and Friends Stick Together, including Mentor's Help), Seven Ways Penelope Saved Odysseus and Restored Their Love
Act III Consummation
Scene 1 Plotting Murder
Scene 2 The Battle
Scene 3 Consummation
Act III Scene 1
(Low light, somewhere outside the great hall.)
ANTINOUS
Friends, we lost our chance to kill Telemachus far from home, but we may yet kill him undetected, if we act together: a knife in the back, in the dim light of evening or dawn; two men shore up the body and carry it off, while others stand close by, shielding it all from view. Then dump the body in a ravine and escape blame.
AMPHINOMUS
Look friends. See that eagle? On the left, with a dove in its talons? The gods have sent a sign. They frown on knifing the boy, today, a holy day, in honor of Apollo, on occasion of the new moon. Bloodshed would work against us, today. Let's resume our feast and talk about this tomorrow.
EURYMACHUS
(Silently agrees.)
UNNAMED SUITOR - Male 20
UNNAMED SUITOR - Male 50
UNNAMED SUITOR - Bard
Yes, tomorrow.
(A crowd off stage voices "Aye”.)
End of Act III Scene 1
Act III Scene 2
(In the great room, low morning light, Beggar-Male50 sleeps on a fleece on the floor. Penelope awakes from sleeping in her quarters.)
PENELOPE
Divine Artemis, daughter of Zeus, hear my prayer. Shoot an arrow through my heart, end this torture. Better to die, and rot in the underworld, with Odysseus, than live with the rot of any one of these suitors. I can bear them by day, if I sleep well at night, but last night I dreamed that Odysseus had come back to me, for real, not in a dream, as if it could ever be!
(Penelope ends her prayer with a cry, loud enough to reach and wake Beggar-Male50 sleeping in the great hall. Perhaps the cry in the words “ever be,” or, more likely, it is a ritualistic cry that ends a prayer, soaring and sinking, with ranging pitches, full of pain and hope. This wakes Beggar-Male50, who arises with a sleepy, contented look, as if he had just made love to his wife. Then he becomes fully alert to his surroundings. By now, Penelope has begun her vigil of the great room. Eumaeus-Female18 enters it. Philoetius-Male7 enters, greets/hugs Eumaeus, then approaches and salutes (with right hand) Beggar-Male50.)
PHILOETIUS - Male 7
Old gentleman, greetings and well wishes to you. My name is Philoetius. When I first saw you, I got all excited, began to cry, and broke out in a sweat, for Odysseus might be in just the same shape as you, right now, if he still walks the earth. If he is dead I mourn for him. I keep his cattle, but the situation with the suitors is intolerable. Yet if I take the cattle and seek the protection of another king, that would be wrong as long as Telemachus is alive. I stayed on here in hope that the great man will return and drive out the whole lot of them.
BEGGAR - Male 50
I take your words by the sincerity of your looks, sir. So let me tell you. I swear by almighty Zeus, Odysseus will return. While you are still here, if you care to look, you will see him cut them down, to the last man.
PHILOETIUS - Male 7
I'd love to help him do it!
EUMAEUS - Female 18
Would that I had the chance! You’d see the fight that's in me.
BEGGAR - ODYSSEUS
Dear friends, only you, I have found, pray for Odysseus's return. I wonder if I should tell you, but the time has come. I am Odysseus. If Zeus enables us to kill the suitors for their crimes, I promise each of you marriage to a woman of your choice, handsome herds, and fine new homes near mine. And you will be treated forever as honorary members of my family, brothers of Telemachus. For proof, well, you were right to wonder at my looks. And see here, the scar on my thigh. Now listen carefully to what I want you to do....
(Exit Odysseus, Philoetius-Male7, Eumaeus-Female18. Enter Telemachus, carrying a spear and wearing a sword. He goes to the center of the stage, with his back to the back wall. Penelope continues looking into the great room. Enter Beggar-Male50. Boisterous crowd noises offstage. Enter Antinous, Eurymachus, Amphinomus, who pass by the beggar in disgust and take their seats. They provide animated backdrop for the following:)
BARD
Blessed be us, the suitors have returned for another fine day of carousing, and caring for the common folk. Their concern for the beggar is palpable. Here's Ctesippus:
"What? Still here, beggar? Risking your life among these gentlemen? Well, I, for one, feel sorry for you. Here's something for your pains. Your pains! Ha Ha Ha."
(Ctesippus-Bard throws a cow's foot at the beggar, who ducks it.)
BARD
Now, this is too much for Leocritus:
"Shame on you Ctesippus. Throwing a cow's foot? You should have been more generous. Here's a gift more worthy, a footstool."
(Leocritus-Bard throws a footstool at the beggar, who ducks that too.)
TELEMACHUS
(Totally a man, serious, truly menacing)
Lucky for you Ctesippus, and you Leocritus, that each of you missed! If you had hit him, you would feel my spear through your chest, my sword through your neck! The rest of you too! End your discourteous behavior. When I was a boy, I did not know better, but now I know what is good and what is evil. I cannot stop so many men as you from eating my meat, drinking my wine, devouring my bread. But I will no longer take it and do nothing. Kill me if you will! Far worse to live and suffer your daily god-forsaken debauchery, assaulting guests, grabbing maids, dragging them about for unspeakable uses.
(Suitors: a deathly hush. Penelope exits.)
BARD
The suitors are taken aback. This is something new, and alarming, in Telemachus. Only Agelaus, that man of reason, responds:
(Author’s note: The following exchange between Agelaus and Telemachus was written in September, 2008.)
AGELAUS - Bard
Well said, Telemachus, and true. Gentlemen, lords of Ithaca, lords of neighboring islands and the mainland, let us behave better, but come now Telemachus, give up your aggrieved self-righteousness. We're the victims here.
The only real wealth is land and what can grow on it, and the only way to get more land is to take it from someone else. Odysseus was a great pirate. He stole your vast wealth from the rest of us, but now he is gone. You lack the strength to hold what he stole. You should give it back to the community, as we are taking some of it back here, but we don't wish to take everything. We'll leave you something. You can afford it. So get off your high moral horse. Don't harangue us with your complaints. It pays to be quiet.
TELEMACHUS
Agelaus, you see only theft in this estate because that's all you see in your own heart.
Nobody stole this great house. Father built it himself. Nobody stole the fine clothes I wear. Mother made them herself. No one stole the great orchards that supply your fruit and wine. Father and Grandfather built them on rocky hillsides that no one else wanted. No one stole the pork you eat. It comes from pigs that root for food on rocky, steep land that, also, no one else wanted. And no one stole the bread and beef you eat. They come from our possessions on the mainland, which we got in trade.
AGELAUS - Bard
Come now, Telemachus, no one can build all that. On this rocky isle, precious little land can take the plow. Yet your estate feeds all of us day after day, year after year, with no diminution in sight. No one should be that rich. It's far more than you can possibly use. It’s unfair that you should have more than we have.
Odysseus took it from us, or got it at our expense. We are entitled to get it back. As for your friends, where are they? Too few and weak to matter. Stand down, Telemachus. Sit down. Accept what you can't change. Make the best of it.
TELEMACHUS
Agelaus, you know our wealth comes from thoughtful attention and hard work. Grandfather still works the hills expanding our orchards and gardens. I've gone up to work with him since I was a little boy. Mother's skills and Father's mastery are legendary. Everyone knows all this, if only because Grandfather was king before Father, and people do talk about royalty.
Yet just now you denied what you must know to be true. Something else must be at work here, something small and mean, beneath your greed for the estate and desire for Mother's hand.
You take umbrage at our achievement. You feel belittled by comparison to us, a failure for all the world to see, unfit for your pretension to be king or lord. This explains the ill humor and abuse, the snarl beneath the smile. And you blame us for your seething discontent, as if we caused it.
Rather than live well and happily, by copying our industry and building yourself up, you burn to tear us down. And you invent any rationale you need to justify hurting us.
The only way I could please you is to be brought low, trampled under your feet.
(Menacingly)
I won't do that by choice. I will assert my power where I can enforce it. And you are not the man to take me down.
AGELAUS - Bard
(first taken aback, stutters, then reverts to reason and ends forcefully)
De de do what you can, Telemachus. I...I doubt it will be much, against all of us, but arguing about it is pointless. In all fairness, your mother could end this today. When Odysseus was alive, she was right to hold out, but now no one can think he still lives. Twenty years? He's dead. Pick a suitor. We'll be gone!
TELEMACHUS
(Very sincere, perhaps seeming even naively sincere.)
Agelaus, I'm not against her marriage. I urge her to choose. I'll throw in rich gifts to the man who wins her. But I can't just kick my mother out. I couldn't do it, but if I did, the Furies would hound me forever.
(Explosive laughter, from suitors onstage and a crowd offstage. Bard resumes role as bard.)
BARD
What's so funny? Do you get it? Well, let's take a close look at the suitors.
Here's Ctesippus, "The mama's boy is going to cut my throat! Ha. Ha. Ha. uuuu."
Here's Leocritus, "And lance my belly! OOOOO! uuuu."
That seems to be the pattern. Waves of belly laughter, wheezing, table pounding, thigh slapping, and pointing at Telemachus, but alternating with sudden looks of genuine terror. After talking tough, Telemachus professed and showed profound weakness, like a child, when he caved in to Agelaus in the end, but in body and face Telemachus looks ready and able to kill someone.
(Penelope enters the great room, veiled, with a huge bow. Maid-Female18 carries a large quiver of arrows, then exits, and Eumaeus-Female18 enters during the following.)
ANTINOUS
Silence! Suitors to the great queen! She comes.
PENELOPE
My lords, I have declared a contest for my hand in marriage....
(Fade out, in. Eurymachus is trying to string the bow but can't.)
EURYMACHUS
I give up. Bad enough to lose Penelope; far worse to look like a weakling compared to Odysseus.
ANTINOUS
Speak for yourself, Eurymachus. The best man hasn't tried the bow yet. But today is a holy day, no time for exertion. Put off the test until tomorrow.
AMPHINOMUS
Antinous is right.
AGELAUS - Bard
Until tomorrow!
(Shouts of Aye! from offstage)
BEGGAR - Male 50
Noble suitors of Queen Penelope, especially Eurymachus, and kingly Antinous, who wisely sees you should put off the test. Please, if you will, let me see now what I can do with the bow. Indulge an old man his fantasy. No risk to you, I am not a suitor.
(Many ugly, negative sounds, growls from offstage.)
EURYMACHUS
No, by God! This is too much.
AGELAUS - Bard
Who does he think he is?
AMPHINOMUS
The nerve of him!
ANTINOUS
You miserable, demented wretch! Go near that bow? We'll ship you off to jolly King Echetus. He pulls off finger nails and body parts just for the fun of it.
PENELOPE
Antinous, no need to get upset. We all understand, there is no marriage in it for him if he makes the shot. As if he could do it. He's a poor old man. A little courtesy goes a long way. Allow him the pleasure of handling the bow.
EURYMACHUS
Gracious queen, we do understand, you won't marry him, but he's well built. What if he does it, when we tried and failed? We would be laughing stocks, shamed for ever after, shown up by a dirtbag old beggar.
PENELOPE
Eurymachus, you have nothing to fear, your qualities are very well known to everyone already—eating up a king's estate, abusing his people. The old man says he is descended from great king Minos. Courtesy says let him try the bow. If he pulls it off, I can promise him new clothes and sandals, a spear and sword, and safe transit through our realm.
TELEMACHUS
Mother, please, this is for men to decide, no place for you. Go back inside. Keep your maids busy.
As for you gentlemen, I am a grown man. I alone have the right to decide this question. If I choose to let the old man handle the bow, or if I choose to give it to him outright, I can do it. I am master here.
(Penelope looks, turns, goes to her quarters, which then disappear, with sounds of locks and bolts closing.)
Eumaeus, carry the bow and arrows to our guest.
(Eumaeus-Female18 begins to carry the bow and arrows to Beggar-Male50. Angry crowd noises.)
EURYMACHUS
Eumaeus, stop! Where do you think you are taking that, you swiney slave!
AMPHIMOMUS
Stop! Go back!
ANTINOUS
We'll beat you to a pulp and leave you for the dogs to eat!
(Eumaeus-Female18 stops in panic, puts down the bow. In the following, Telemachus shouts, but with a nervous high pitch too, perhaps even sputtering, or going "over the top," as in "losing it.")
TELEMACHUS
Pick it up Eumaeus! Don't listen to them! Or I'll whip you myself! I am that much stronger than you. I wish I could whip them all! Drive them to the gates of Hell for the crimes they have committed here!
(Onstage and off, explosive, uncontrollable fits of laugher, again interspersed with looks of terror, until all tension eases.)
AGELAUS - Bard
Go ahead, Eumaeus, what do we care? Neither Telemachus nor the beggar can do anything to stop us. It's still up to Penelope. She's not going to marry the beggar, and she's about to choose one of us. All will be resolved soon enough.
(Antinous exits in disgust. Eumaeus-Female18 picks up the bow and quiver of arrows and hands them to Beggar-Male50, who is sitting by the doorsill between the great room and the courtyard, which is offstage. He carefully inspects and tests the bow, easily strings it, and sends an arrow through the ax heads, which are in the courtyard off stage. Dead silence.)
EURYMACHUS
A clean shot.
AMPHINOMUS
He did it.
BEGGAR - Male 50
Telemachus, your guest did not disgrace you, but some here might be displeased. To ease their pain, I think, the time has come—for feasting, music, and dance.
(Telemachus, in center-back of stage, grasps his spear and edges closer to Beggar-Male50, keeping his back to the wall. Beggar-Male50, on one side of the stage, leaps, bow and arrow in hand, and faces back into the full stage. He pours out arrows from the quiver and lays them at his feet.)
BEGGAR - Male 50
But first, great Apollo, help me make a shot that no man has ever made.
(Beggar-Male50 shoots an arrow. Sounds of a crowd in uproar.)
AMPHINOMUS
Fool! You hit Antinous! In the throat. He's dead!
EURYMACHUS
You will pay for this! The dogs will tear you apart, alive! (And now for sure I will be king!)
AMPHINOMUS
The weapons! On the walls! Gone!
ODYSSEUS
You rabid dogs! You robbed my house, ganged up on my wife, pushed her to abandon her rightful husband and marry a hateful wretch, while you plotted to kill my son—and kill me if I returned. You gambled on breaking the laws of god and man. You will die for it.
EURYMACHUS
If you are Odysseus, then what you have said is true. Many crimes were committed, here and elsewhere. But you killed the cause. He was the strongest among us. He set the course and led us astray. Antinous didn't care if we ate up your house. His real goal was to be King of Ithaca, and he had to kill Telemachus to get that. Spare the lives of us your people. We will restore what we ate. Each of us will add twenty oxen, and gifts of gold and bronze to satisfy your anger. Until then we can't fault you for being angry.
ODYSSEUS
Am I a fool?! To lose my life for promises of flattery? You would turn on me the moment I let down my guard and kill me, kill my son, take my wife, and divide my property among you. This fight is to the death!
EURYMACHUS
Friends, he means it. He can shoot from where he is and kill every one of us. But we can beat him. Draw swords, use tables to shield yourselves from the arrows, and charge him in a rush. We can drive him from the door, escape, and come back with weapons and allies to kill him. After me, everyone!
(Stage darkens. Lights on Bard.)
BARD
The suitors are all for this. Eurymachus has rallied them. From all corners come shouts of "Aye", "Forward", "With you." With this backing, Eurymachus draws his sword, waves his arm for all to follow, and charges Odysseus with a loud yell, but he charges alone, and Odysseus kills him with an arrow. Why didn't the suitors join him to overwhelm Odysseus?
Here, look at Ctesippus. He is pushing Leocritus forward while asking, "Why didn't you charge with Eurymachus?"
Leocritus replies, "Why didn't you charge with Eurymachus," while he tries to push Ctesippus forward.
Way off to the side, Leiodes thinks to himself:
"Take an arrow in the chest to shield a rival? When he runs out of arrows, we'll still be 50 men or more. I see some swords on belts despite the holy day. We'll rush him behind tables and chairs and kill him, just as Eurymachus said. But now I'll have a bigger share of the spoils and a better chance to win Penelope. Meanwhile, I'll duck under cover to escape the arrows."
As Leiodes says this, Amphinomus, now at the front of the pack, draws his sword and charges Odysseus. Telemachus spears Amphinomus from behind and runs to Odysseus, as Odysseus sends arrow after arrow into the suitors, who cower as far away from him as they can get, until Agelaus, the most prominent suitor still alive, comes forward:
"Fi Fi Fifty men down...Every arrow found its mark...The best men down first...He He he really means to kill us all! Thank God he's out of arrows! But Eumaeus and Philoetius have joined them, with spears, and Telemachus has brought them body armor, which they are putting on. How can we fight them without weapons, armor, and shields? Oh! We’re getting some!”
(Agelaus-Bard looked back, now exits in that direction. Lights return to normal. Onstage, together facing the unseen crowd, are Odysseus, Telemachus, Eumaeus-Female18, and Philoetius-Male7, all armed.)
ODYSSEUS
Steady men. Twelve of them are arming with spears, shields, and helms.
TELEMACHUS
My fault father. I left the storeroom door open. Eumaeus and Philoetius, lock the storeroom and catch whoever is arming the suitors.
(Exit Eumaeus-Female18 and Philoetius-Male7. Enter Mentor-Female45, an older man, gray but not infirm.)
ODYSSEUS
Mentor! Old friend! Comrade in arms! Remember the good turns I did for you. Help me kill these men. Clean the island of their scourge.
(Enter Agelaus-Bard opposite to Odysseus and Mentor.)
AGELAUS - Bard
Mentor, don't join Odysseus. If you do, we will kill you after we kill them, we will take your family's wealth and drive them into exile. We are now twelve armed men to their four, with forty others behind us. We will do it! Get out while you can!
MENTOR - Female 45
(to Odysseus)
Do I see Fear in you, Odysseus? Where is the man who fought so bravely on foreign soil to restore someone else's wife to her true husband? Now you whine for help in your own home? Where is your prowess, your guile? Come, join me, I'll show you how to fight, old comrade in arms!
(Mentor-Female45 darts back—off stage. Eumaeus-Female18 and Philoetius-Male7 return.)
EUMAEUS - Female 18
We caught the goat who was arming the suitors and locked him in the storeroom. They'll get no more arms.
AGELAUS - Bard
(Still shaky, overdoing the bravado)
Friends, Look! Our killer is out of arrows, big-mouth Mentor has fled, it's just the four of them. We number fifty men or more, with twelve spears! Six of us will throw at Odysseus. With him gone, the others will be quick kills. On my command, Throw!
(Some show of the throw. Odysseus, Telemachus, Eumaeus-Female18, Philoetius-Male7 duck.)
ODYSSEUS
Is anyone hurt?
TELEMACHUS
EUMAEUS - Female 18
PHILOETIUS - Male 7
No.
(Agelaus-Bard retreats off stage.)
ODYSSEUS
On my call, throw. Ready? Throw! Four men down. The rest have fled back. Quickly, forward, retrieve our spears.
(They rush forward, then go back.)
ODYSSEUS
Here they come again, another salvo. Duck! Is that blood I see? Where are you hit?
TELEMACHUS
A cut on the wrist, but it’s not vital. I can still throw.
EUMAEUS - Female 18
It grazed my shoulder, but I can throw too.
ODYSSEUS
Good. They're out of spears. Again, together, Throw! Four more down. Retrieve again.
(Odysseus et al charge forward, then go back.)
Telemachus, you throw like a seasoned soldier.
TELEMACHUS
Mentor taught me, Father. But look! They've joined together, some with swords, holding tables and chairs as a wall of shields. Could be fory of them. What should we do?
(Odysseus et al now back up, newly cautious. Suddenly, a huge banner is unfurled at the doorway, with a thunderous clap, and a great shout is heard, as a man readying troops for action. There, at the door, is Mentor-Female45, calling and signaling very soldierly to his men, who may be vaguely seen in outline behind the banner at the entrance to the hall.)
MENTOR - Female 45
Men! Attention! Helms, Strapped! Shields, Up! Spears, Ready! At my word, Prepare to CHARGE!
(Lights only on Bard.)
BARD
Everyone looks up. The suitors are stunned, frozen in place. Odysseus is first to recover. He pulls at a table, creates a hole in the wall of furniture, and breaks through. The suitors stampede in terror, but they are deterred from exiting by Mentor's stern, spear-wielding appearance, and by the fear of the men behind him. Odysseus and the other three pursue and kill, becoming blood soaked in the process. Mentor remains at the doorway, watching. Finally Odysseus and the other three pause, look around.
(Lights return to normal. Onstage are Odysseus, Telemachus, Eumaeus-Female18, Philoetius-Male7, all blood-stained, and clean Mentor-Female45.)
ODYSSEUS
All down. Make sure no one is faking or hiding.
(They look. Leiodes-Bard jumps out from under a table and throws himself at Odysseus's knees.)
LEIODES- Bard
Mercy, Mercy Odysseus! I am Leiodes. I wasn't like the others. I never bothered your women. I kept apart from their abuses. I only read the signs, conducted religious rites. I told them to behave better. They ignored me. Now you killed them, rightly so. But spare me. I am innocent. Reward good deeds.
ODYSSEUS
Leiodes, you say you were only their fortune teller? They were bullies. They would have beaten you or thrown you out if they didn't like what they heard. You couldn't have stayed here if you scolded them as you say. They sought heaven's approval to absolve them of guilt. You gave it, encouraged them. You plotted death? You get death.
(Odysseus kills him. Mentor-Female45 exits. Phemius-Male8 jumps out from hiding.)
PHEMIUS - Male 8
Mercy Odysseus, spare me. You will miss my singing if you kill me. Telemachus can tell you. I did not want to be here. They forced me, threatened me, if I didn't entertain them.
TELEMACHUS
That's Phemius, Father. Spare him. He speaks the truth. He was coerced. Spare our herald Medon too. He was good to me when I was a boy, and he secretly told mother about the suitors' plots.
ODYSSEUS
As my son is your witness, he saves you. Now, let's see, all about, all the rest are dead.
(Exit Phemius-Male8. Enter Mentor-Female45 with his banner, pulling a sled on which are secured a few armed scarecrows, tied together like soldiers in a phalanx. Mentor-Female45 embraces Odysseus.)
MENTOR - Female 45
Odysseus, old comrade, well done! By a "graybeard," no less, as they used to scorn us. But we know the tricks of combat, useful in a fight!
(They laugh and embrace again.)
ODYSSEUS
Mentor, my old true friend, what brought you here, just chance?
MENTOR - Female 45
A hunch, Odysseus, a hunch. Telemachus was in town yesterday, and again earlier today. He recounted the tale Menelaus told him, about your being alive, and he seemed much changed. I thought something was up and decided to come and see for myself. I also prepared this little sled of scarecrow soldiers, just in case...just in case...on a holy day when few suitors would be armed.
Now I think I'll go about and round up your friends. You'll need them when the families of these dead men come for you. Most people in the community will be glad to return to your powerful protection and just rule after this gang's wild reign in our Western island. A show of force by the larger community ought to prevent an escalation into endless vengeance. Until later.
(Exit Mentor-Female45.)
ODYSSEUS
Eurycleia!
(Eurycleia-Bard enters, looks around, and raises her head as if to shout triumph. Odysseus grips her shoulder, checking her.)
Rejoice, but make no sound. There is no glory in killing these men. Heaven decreed their deaths for the evil they did here. Now, bring the maids who slept with them and plotted our deaths. Make them clean this hall. Then Telemachus will take them out and cut the life out of them.
TELEMACHUS
Father, I wouldn't dirty our house with their blood. Let me string them up and hang them to their last breath for plotting death against us.
ODYSSEUS
As you wish.
End of Act III Scene 2
Act III Scene 3
(Penelope is sleeping on her single bed. The great room is dark. Enter Eurycleia-Bard.)
EURYCLEIA - Bard
Wake up, Penelope, dear child. Wake up. Odysseus has come back! He killed the suitors! He's in the great room waiting for you. Go and see him.
(As Penelope says the following, she looks all about.)
PENELOPE
Eurycleia, Have you lost your mind? Torturing me with such words? I haven't slept so well since Odysseus left for Troy, but he can't be here now, and he couldn't kill all the suitors. Get out! If anyone else upset me with such nonsense, I'd severely punish her. Your age and service protect you.
EURYCLEIA - Bard
I am not making it up, dear child, it is true. Odysseus is here. He was disguised as that beggar. And he did kill all the suitors, with Telemachus.
(Penelope finishes looking around, breaks out in tears, hugs Eurycleia-Bard.)
PENELOPE
Dear old nurse, I feared you were part of it, or they tortured you, to get me to make a fatal slip. But now I see, no one lurks in hiding to hear me, it is no trap....Tell me, how did he do it? Alone? They were so many!
EURYCLEIA - Bard
I don't know. I wasn't there. They called me when it was over. I found him covered in blood and gore. You would have thrilled at the sight. A lion at his kill! Go and see for yourself.
PENELOPE
No, wait. Let's not get carried away. If Odysseus were really here, he'd come in himself, no need to stand on ceremony. He's my husband, after all. Someone killed those men, but Odysseus? It cannot be true. He died far from home.
EURYCLEIA - Bard
I don't believe you! Here he is, waiting for you, in the great room, and you say he'll never come? Don't you believe anything you don't test for yourself? Last night I felt his scar. It is Odysseus's scar for sure. I started to tell you but he said tell no one. Go to him. See for yourself.
PENELOPE
Nurse, dear, I believe you believe what you say, but the gods sometimes impersonate men to wreak their vengeance. Let's go down, talk to my son, see the dead, and meet the mystery that killed them.
(The great room lights up, now cleaned of battle gore. Penelope leaves her chambers, eagerly, excitedly, and enters the great room, followed by Eurycleia-Bard. Odysseus sits quietly on the far side, still dressed in the same blood-soaked rags he wore at the end of the battle. He looks down, never lifting his eyes to his wife. Penelope slows quickly to a stop, frowns, sits down across the room from Odysseus, facing him, without a veil, attended by Eurycleia-Bard. Telemachus stands to the side. Fade out, fade in.)
TELEMACHUS
Mother, an hour has gone by! How can you just sit there? Go to him, talk to him. How can you be so hard on him?
PENELOPE
I'm trying to grasp all that has happened here, Telemachus. I can't talk to him. I can't look closely at him. If he really is Odysseus, we will surely get to know each other, better than anyone. There are things only he and I know.
ODYSSEUS
(Smiles.)
Peace, Telemachus. Don't be upset. Your mother has to test me, as surely as she is the woman I courted and married. She must be sure before she commits. All she sees now are my rags, dirt, and blood. I'll clean up and return.
(Odysseus exits. The following bit with Telemachus is optional, a stall for time.)
PENELOPE
Telemachus, you are hurt! Eurycleia, get water and cloth to clean and dress his wound.
(Eurycleia-Bard gets them and attends to Telemachus. Fade out, in, if another moment is needed. Odysseus returns, clean and freshly dressed, and sits on the same chair, facing the still-silent Penelope. After a moment of looking and exchanging glances:)
ODYSSEUS
My dear, do you not think that maybe you are being a little bit too clever? Or have you grown cold and cynical in our time apart? What other woman would keep her distance from her husband when he had returned after so many years?
PENELOPE
Clever? I? Compared to you? No, I am not being clever, nor am I dazed, cold, or trying to slight you. I remember very well how my love looked when he went off to Troy. You look like him, outwardly, but....Eurycleia, prepare a bed for this man. Pile it high with fleeces and blankets so he may sleep well and warm tonight. Use the bed that Odysseus built with his own hands, and put it outside the bedroom that Odysseus and I shared as husband and wife.
ODYSSEUS
(In a flash, incredulous, outraged).
Penelope! How could you do it?!
(At this, Penelope's face begins to open, then to smile, lovingly, and the hotter Odysseus gets, the more intensely she radiates in smile and love.)
How could anyone move my bed? Only a god could do it. I built the bed around an olive tree that grew on the spot. I cut off the branches and made the stump into one of the four posts of the bed. Then I inlaid the posts with gold, silver, and ivory, and I stretched a hide of crimson leather between them. Could someone have...cut down the olive tree to move the bed?
(The last sentence begins to trail off, fade away, as Penelope, eyes brimming, runs to Odysseus. She throws her arms around his neck, and kisses and kisses him. In the following, she speaks lovingly, but also with a bit of the sweetest reproach.)
PENELOPE
Don't be angry Odysseus. You tested me severely, sitting there, mute and bloody, like a lion, savage.
You had to know, from Telemachus, and from me, that I kept the suitors divided and wove the shroud to put them off. You saw that I saved you when you nearly gave yourself away to Amphinomus. You were right there and joined with me when I invented the language of the dream to form our plans. We made love—without touching—in plain sight of Melantho, then I kept her attention from you when Eurycleia felt your scar (we both forgot about it in our passion). And you know I invented the test of the bow, delivering that great weapon into your hands. Yet you just sat there, showing no love for me.
You wanted to know what I feel for you, as you are today, scarred by time, altered by age. Well, I wanted to know the same thing, what you feel for me. When you sat there, unmoving, covered in gore of death, I could not run to you like a servant or little girl.
I thought long ago that a man might come who impersonated you but wasn't the true man I married. Yes, even an Odysseus who had grown cold to me would not be the man I married.
You left it to me to find the true man I loved inside you, to restore our marriage, and I did it!
Here and now I plumbed your heart and found truth for sure! No one moved our bed. No one else knew of it, except my maid Actoris, who kept it ready every day for your return. Only the true man I loved would have erupted as you did. Your wounded heart proves our love. We are one again, at last!
(They hug, kiss, caress, look, cry, laugh, smile.)
If only Helen hadn't....Did she not see that when she betrayed Menelaus she made him look weak and created openings that opportunists could use to start a war?
And the Trojans, refusing to give her up, for what? Vanity at holding her? Arrogance of power in their distant great city?
Oh, the damage people do when they are full only of themselves and see only what they want to see, untrue to reality! Mostly they crack up, and they are best left alone to collapse in their own impotence, until they come to their senses and listen to reason, like a two-year-old after a temper tantrum, but the worst of them don't break down. They just hurt us more and more until someone stops them. The suitors here, the Trojans there. You felled them both.
ODYSSEUS
Oh, my dear, it's not over yet. One ordeal remains. But it's late, time for us, for bed.
PENELOPE
Yes, yes, of course, of course, but, since it’s on your mind, what ordeal remains? You know you will tell me. The sooner the better, I think.
ODYSSEUS
Penelope, my true plumb! Only you, would want to know, now. Only you,oughtto know, now. Only youadd subtlety and invention to mylife. What a Pair we Make!
(Music breaks out as Odysseus says something inaudibly to Penelope. They begin to dance the pols, an equilateral variation of the hambo; both, Scandinavian dances. (Homer certainly seemed to describe a Norwegian fjord in summer.)
This pols is a revolving of the bodies around each other, a joining by centripetal force that at its best is utterly thrilling, as if flying—gliding—and letting the rest of the world go by. That is exactly how Odysseus and Penelope feel at this moment. Their dance is a mature evolution of the hasapico that began the play. It expresses their true more-mature relationship: each, independent; independently moving jointly and acting on each other; inextricably joining, in real time, thrilling for doing it. Dance instructions follow.)
End of Act III End of Play