Penelope's lion, [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]-destroying pain

This article offers a reading of Penelopes lion-comparison (Odyssey 4.791-3), which has not hitherto received a sustained treatment despite its importance to Penelopes characterization. Framed by her description of Odysseus as [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], Penelope's comparison to a terrified lion graphically represents how the [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]-destroying pain she suffers on hearing about Telemachus departure and the suitors assassination plans disrupts in her the qualities that define her character and underpin her "like-mindedness" with Odysseus. Because these particular qualities explicitly distinguish Penelope from Clytemnestra and Helen, their disruption leaves her future behavior in doubt during Odysseus' adventures over the next twelve books, perhaps longer.