Resumen de Penelope'S lion, θϒμολéων husband, and θϒμóσ-destroying pain (pp. 279-302)
This article offers a reading of Penelope's lion-comparison (Odyssey 4.791–3), which has not hitherto received a sustained treatment despite its importance to Penelope's characterization. Framed by her description of Odysseus as θυμολέων, Penelope's comparison to a terrified lion graphically represents how the θυμός-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.
