PENELOPE: (as soon as ODYSSEUS exits, she springs to her feet and begins to pace.)
My heart! I have waited so long for this day, and now…now that it has come…I am speechless. I dreamt of such a homecoming – feasts and revelry – yet here I have a man in the dress of a beggar who creeps into my house, earns the trust of my son, and now expects me to love him as my husband! It is too fast. (leans heavily against a column.) I do not even know if I am capable of loving a man. It has been so long, and I have grown so hard…(covers face with hands, then begins to pace.) And they say – ha! – that it is my tremendous faithfulness – or stubbornness – that has kept me loyal to Odysseus. But I have been alone for 20 years, and I have grown used to it. I fear that I have dreaded Odysseus coming home near as much as his death! I am another woman, and I know not who he has become. And yet…and yet…he is my Odysseus, or so he says. And if he speaks the truth, I will rejoice at his return. How to be certain…(slowly flops into her chair by the fire.)
(The lights go off. A screen is pulled over the fire so there is no light. A spotlight goes up DR, illuminating ODYSSEUS is a washbasin full of water, being bathed EURYCLEIA. At the moment he is sitting with his chin in his hands. His hair is being washed by EURYCLEIA)