Things are not always as they seem at first glance, particularly in the realm of behavior. What appears to be the obvious reason for a course of action, may not be the actual driving force behind it. This is the case in Homer's The Odyssey, in which Penelope has multiple motivations for her conduct. She is a multifaceted character who both faithfully supports Odysseus and simultaneously encourages the suitors for her own pleasures.
             Penelope shows psychological ambivalence towards Odysseus' homecoming. On one hand, her unconscious desires are for Odysseus to return home, while on the other hand, her psyche feels the need to be free of him. She is unconsciously plagued to serve her duties as a faithful wife. Her thought process is revealed when, in Book Twenty, she wakes up from sleep and begs the gods to kill her because she would rather die than have to marry a suitor.
             "Artemis-- goddess, daughter of noble Zeus, if only/you'd whip an arrow through my breast and tear my life out,/ now, at once! ...Just so/ may the gods who rule Olympus blot me out! Artemis with your glossy braids, come shoot me dead--so I can plunge beneath this loathsome earth/ with the image of Odysseus vivid in my mind./ Never let me warm the heart of a weaker man!" (20.67-69. 87-92)
             When Penelope says this, she is speaking directly to the gods and to no one else, so it is clear that her inner thoughts are being released. Here Penelope adheres to the traditional Homeric mindset of a woman's psychological role as an "Angel of the Hearth".
             Conversely, Penelope's dreams reveal her desire to keep the suitors in the palace, so that she can lure them. Her psychological inclination to retain the suitors is clearly depicted in Book Nineteen in her dream about geese. It foreshadows the suitors being killed by Odysseus in which the suitors are metaphorically represented as a flock of geese who are killed by an eagle (Odysseus). ...