... conflict with herself if she should remarry of stay faithful to Odysseus. Penelope's astute delaying tactics reveal her sly and artful side. The notion of not remarrying until she completes a burial shroud that she will never complete cleverly buys her time. The constant pressure under which she lives has the effect of turning her into a woman who hands grimly on to the past, and finds comfort in only the world of sleep and dreams, and even those can be painful sometimes. However, Athene sometime comes into her dreams to comfort and reassure her. Penelope anticipates for the return of her husband but at the same time doubts, he will ever come back. Athene and Telemachus often prefer to leave Penelope in the dark side about matters rather than upsetting her and maybe even raising her hopes. The archery contest in book 21 might also show her sly personality, ...

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