Homer's Odyssey gave Penelope lasting fame. She has become an enduring symbol of patience, fidelity, and cleverness. She was depicted as the ideal woman, devoted to her husband and submissive. However, Penelope is more than simply docile and loyal. Emily Wilson, whose translation of The Odyssey was published in 2017, shares commonly-held perceptions of Penelope: "She’s canny, she’s strong-willed, she has grit, she has a vivid imagination, she’s loyal, she’s a competent, mostly single mother who shows deep love for her difficult, moody son, and she keeps a big and complex household running for two decades. You have to love her for all these things, and I do."
Penelope appears as a faithful wife in many other ancient texts. She is named in a "Spell to Ensure Women's Fidelity" says "and let her remain chaste for me, as Penelope did for Odysseus" from 100 BC to 400 AD. A terracotta plaque from ca. 450 BC again represents Penelope as the ideal woman—this time, she is being respectful of Odysseus (who is disguised as a beggar) while Eurycleia washes his feet.
In modern depictions, Penelope has been given a new life. A painting by Pinturicchio from 1509 entitled Penelope and the Suitors shows Penelope fending off a man in the middle of the room. In this depiction, she is an active character that plays a part in the scene and is not merely taking on a passive role. In Daniel Mendelsohn's memoir An Odyssey (2017) and in Robert Fagle's translation of The Odyssey (1961), Penelope and Odysseus are presented as intellectual equals. Finally, Margaret Atwood imagines Penelope as a heroine in her own right in the Penelopiad—someone who outsmarts everyone around her, even crafty Odysseus.
