ABSTRACT
Penelope is also of heroic stature physically. She is a big woman. 2 When she goes to fetch the bow of Odysseus, she takes the bronze key in her 'stout hand', just as Odysseus with a 'stout hand' breaks off a branch to cover his nakedness.3 When Athene wants Penelope to impress the Suitors, she makes her "bigger and stouter to look at', just as she makes Odysseus 'bigger to look at and stouter' when he is to encounter Nausicaa, or to be recognized by his wife.4
