He claims — rightly, by the way — that she has misguided the suitors for nearly four years, leading on each man with hints and promises but choosing no one. The story of the loom symbolizes the queen's clever tactics. For three years, Penelope worked at weaving a shroud for the eventual funeral of her father-in-law, Laertes.
She claimed that she would choose a husband as soon as the shroud was completed. By day, the queen, a renowned weaver, worked on a great loom in the royal halls. At night, she secretly unraveled what she had done, amazingly deceiving the young suitors. Her ploy failed only when one of her servants eventually betrayed her and told the suitors what was happening.
The contest of the bow and axes is another example of Penelope's guile; it also illustrates her wry sense of destiny. After Odysseus returns to Ithaca, the queen announces first to the visiting beggar, whom she suspects to be Odysseus, that she will hold a contest in which the suitors will be asked to string the great bow of Odysseus and shoot an arrow through a dozen axes, an old trick of her husband's, and that she will be the wife of the man who can perform the feat.
Her son scolds her, so she goes back upstairs. The town crier brings Penelope news that her son has sailed to Pylos and that the suitors are planning to ambush and kill him when he comes back.
Penelope prays to Athene to bring her son home safely. Athene sends Penelope a dream of her sister, Iphthime, who tells her that Telemachos will come home safely by the will of the gods.
Penelope asks her for information about her husband, but is denied. Several days later, Eumaios the swineherd arrives with the information that Telemachos has returned home safely. As instructed by Odysseus, he whispers the news to Penelope so that no one else will hear.
Simultaneously, a runner comes bearing the same news. Unfortunately, he shouts it from the rooftops, so there goes the whole "discreet" thing. Penelope asks her son twice about news regarding Odysseus and gets information on her second try.
She feels a small seed of hope stirring within her at the news that Odysseus was seen alive not long ago, but she conceals her optimism. Eumaios returns with a message to the frantic Penelope that the beggar will come up later tonight when the suitors are asleep. Penelope realizes this is prudent. Penelope, feeling frisky under the influence of Athene, goes down to scold her son while standing promiscuously in front of the suitors. The suitors are stunned by her superhuman beauty, thanks to Athene.
Each lusts after her and vows to win her for himself. He also wants Telemachus to gather the servants and the bard and stage a fake wedding feast so that any passersby do not suspect the slaughter that has taken place. To assure herself of Odysseus' identity, Penelope tests him. As he listens, she asks Eurycleia to move the bedstead out of the couple's chamber and spread it with blankets.
The king himself had carved the bed as a young man, shaping it out of a living olive tree that grew in the courtyard of the palace. He built the bedroom around the tree and would know that the bed cannot be moved. When Odysseus becomes upset that the original bed may have been destroyed, Penelope is relieved and accepts him as her long-absent husband. For the first time in 20 years, they spend a blissful night together. Athena delays the dawn to grant the couple more time.
Although she seems to suspect that the visitor might be her husband, it is not surprising that Penelope is cautious. She has been approached by frauds before.
Some critics suggest that the queen's hesitance is feigned, that she knows the visitor is her husband, and that she is simply being coy, perhaps to impress him with her prudence. This interpretation is a stretch beyond the text.
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