Penelope of IthacaPenelope was the daughter of Icarius, of Sparta. Her father was the brother of Tyndareus, making her a cousin of Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra. It was during the contest for Helen's hand that Odysseus was able to marry Penelope. Odysseus knew he had little chance of winning Helen, as he was not as wealthy as some of the other suitors; instead he used his greatest asset, cunning, to secure a wife. He approached Tyndareus with the offer of an exchange; in exchange for Penelope's hand, he, Odysseus, would guarantee that Helen's choice of husband would end in peace. Fortunately, for all involved, the union between Odysseus and Penelope appears to have been a good one and they have a son, Telemachus. During the long twenty years of his absence, Penelope earns the title of ideal wife. And it is, in many ways. She keeps the house and raises her son to be a good young man, shows xenia to everyone who comes to her house, and works diligently at his weaving, silent, serious and steady. Above all, she is chaste, loyal and virtuous, despite the presence of 108 suitors vying for her hand in marriage. While it is certainly true that Penelope embodies the elements of an ideal wife, it can be argued that she becomes the driving force of Odysseus' journey and a central presence in the plot. While Penelope's marital virtues have been recorded for centuries after careful examination we may see that there is much more to her than this. She finds herself in a very precarious position during her husband's absence, and when suitors start asking her to choose between them, she may find herself in trouble. She is certainly aware that her son's coming of age will have consequences. It would be easy for one, or more, of the many suitors to kill him before or after his remarriage. It is her intelligence that keeps the suitors at bay and creates a semblance of peace in Ithaca. The weaving and unraveling of the funeral shroud is the best-known example of his cunning. During the day she weaves a shroud for her father-in-law and undoes it during the night, deceiving the suitors. Furthermore, its role in the overall structure of the plot cannot be ignored..