This section of the epic is primarily concerned with the question of Odysseus' identity. Scholars disagree vehemently on how much Penelope knows. On the surface, she seems to accept the beggar as another wayfaring stranger, certainly more interesting than most but of no great personal significance to her. The beggar/Odysseus repeatedly states that her husband's return is imminent; she remains skeptical. Beneath the surface, however, the reader can see several indications that Penelope is at least suspicious about the vagrant's true identity.
When Odysseus and Penelope finally meet, she directs the conversation. First she wants the beggar/Odysseys to understand her considerable efforts to dissuade the suitors: She has used her son's youth as an excuse. For three years, she held the suitors off through her ruse of the shroud, telling the suitors that she must finish a shroud for Laertes, her father-in-law, against that sad but inevitable time of his death. During the day, she worked at her loom in view of the suitors; at night, she unraveled the day's weaving. She was successful in this deception until her own maidservant revealed the truth, a point that also influences Odysseus' eventual judgment of the servants in Book 22.
Having in this way identified herself to the visitor, Penelope probes him for information about his background. Odysseus answers with a fictitious autobiography that includes a friendship with her husband. Penelope tests him by asking specific questions about the clothing and comrades of Odysseus. The beggar/Odysseus has impressive answers, citing a purple woolen cape and a gold clasp with a hound clenching a fawn. He mentions Odysseus' herald, Eurybates.
