Book 23 is my favorite book in the Odyssey mainly because it is where the reuniting of Odysseus and his beloved wife takes place. This book starts off as Eurycleia goes up to tell Penelope of the great news that her husband, the man Penelope so dreamed of seeing once again, has returned at last to his home after a long, painful journey. However, Penelope refuses to believe that what she is being told is true. She tells Eurycleia that the man she speaks of is not her husband but rather a god made to look like her husband. As Eurycleia continues to reassure Penelope that her husband has really come home and he is the one responsible for the bloodshed of the suitors, there is no doubt in Penelope's mind that the man that Eurycleia speaks so fondly of is no more than a god "up in arms at their outrage, heartbreaking friends". I think Penelope is both suspicious and reluctant to believe that Odysseus has returned. She has been through so much with the suitors and everything they have tried to pull, just so they can get the throne. She doesn't know who to believe anymore because the one man who she trusted completely, left years ago, and as far as she knows, he never returned. But then on the other hand, I feel as if she is just being reluctant and just doesn't want to accept the fact that her husband has returned because in her mind, he is already dead. She has already grieved for years and told herself that he will never return.
Not knowing what to believe, Penelope decides to test the man who claims to be Odysseus by telling Eurycleia to go and move their bed out of the bridal chamber. By saying this, Penelope knows only her true husband can correct her and tell her that that is an impossible task "even for some skilled craftsman". He goes on explaining how only a god could move the bed because of the way it was built by himself. The significance of this exchange about the bed is that it shows the foundation that their marriage was built on and it is the one point in the poem where we see Penelope believe in her husband's return for the first time in a very long time.
After they reunite, Odysseus explains that they must keep the news of the death of the suitors to themselves so that a passerby will not know what took place in the castle earlier. He is concerned what people might think and how they might react if they find out. He is also concerned about the suitors' families and how they will take the news of their sons' death. Odysseus then explains to Penelope that he must travel once again inland where he must sacrifice a ram, a bull and a wild boar to Poseidon when he comes across a stranger who asks him why he carries a winnowing-fan on his back. He explains that he must do this last thing because when he traveled to the House of Death, that's what the ghost of Tiresias prophesied to him. I think the message that Homer is trying to get across to the reader is the concept of promises and keeping your word. Odysseus is known as a man who keeps his word. When he visited the House of Death and came across the ghost of Elpenor, where he promised him that as soon as he arrived back to Aeaea, he would burry his body and so he did. Like the promise made to Elpenor, this last task serves the same purpose.
2. If you were Odysseus, what would you be concerned about after you had killed the suitors?
3. What do you think angered Odysseus about Penelope's request for the bed to be moved.
