“I kind of like the reading that there are clear traditions where she knows and clear traditions where she doesn't know. … I like the Schrödinger's Penelope here.”
Very Bad Wizards · Art & Philosophy · October 2026
The two hosts have been arguing over whether Penelope recognises Odysseus before he reveals himself. Sommers stays on the fence: he thinks she at least has more hope than ever, and that Homer left some mystery in on purpose.
Transcript
Yeah. And then she says she's going to go cry. Yeah. And then she says, I've been crying since you went off to Evilium, the town that I will not own, but it's totally Troy that I named it for. Except like 10 minutes ago. Yeah. So then when you think like in her room, when this is in her room, she cried for her dear husband, that she's just crying. Yeah, she just saw him. I'm like, oh
my God. Yeah. I think, but again, that in particular could be read either way.
Yeah. You know, I'll just say, like, I kind of like the reading that there are clear traditions where she knows and clear traditions where she doesn't know. And like, I like the Schrödinger's Penelope here. Sure. And I, like, I feel deeply that at minimum, at a minimum, she has more hope now that this might be him than ever before. Yeah. Like, whether or not she knows explicitly, like, I'm still on the fence, but I think you have compelling reasons and that you can choose that reading if it's like emotionally satisfying. Yeah. But it does feel like Homer didn't have, like, he just put in some mystery there for us.
Yeah. He certainly didn't settle the question. And to the extent that there is a surface reading, it's clearly that she doesn't. I just think a lot of the other stuff doesn't fit together quite as well. And
like in particular, like at this very end when they come up with the test, it seems like a very quick agreement where it's like a test that's devised that Odysseus obviously knows is one that he could pass and that nobody else could. And like all throughout, Homer's reminding us, scheming Odysseus said, yeah, do it. Shrewd Penelope said that, you know.
Yeah, exactly. I mean, you know, they do get these epithets all the time. I know, but