Penelope
[to Odysseus]
What if we ran? Took your fastest ship, the brightest crew, headed for the horizon. Held hands on deck as we rode west at dusk, chasing the escaping sun. There's a world beyond these walls.
More lines from Penelope
5 quotes Penelope
Penelope
[to Melantho]
Servant, your place is down there.
Penelope
Promise me you will come back.
Penelope
The structure's nothing without people's respect for its meaning.
Penelope
I don’t want Odysseus’s song, I want Odysseus!
Scenes with Penelope
7 scenes
Telemachus
[walks up to mother at banquet]
I want to remind them of whose wine they're drinking.
Penelope
I don't want Odysseus' song. I want Odysseus!
Telemachus
Then why do you entertain suitors in his house night after night?
Penelope
In this world, a man does what he chooses. I do what I can.
Telemachus
I am a man now, mom.
Penelope
So throw them out. Break Zeus's law and see what they do to you if you give them that excuse. I've already lost a husband. I don't want to lose a son.
Telemachus
My dad's coming back.
Penelope
Where is he? Eight years since Troy fell. Almost twenty years since he left us.
Penelope
Lock the door, set a fire, and burn the bastards. Do you think if I remarry, life goes back to the way it was? That world is gone. And in this one? They're not giving up power to you or Odysseus! If he'd return, he'd have to kill them. Like you will.
Telemachus
If I kill them, their families will demand revenge. I'd be exiled. And without me, the throne will be lost--
Penelope
Because only a man can sit on it? Empty throne? I've been sitting on that empty throne for twenty years! My knowledge, my years of experience, that's all nothing compared to the bristles on your chin!
Telemachus
Do you want peace, or do you want revenge?
Penelope
I WANT ODYSSEUS!
Odysseus
What if... when he left the belly of the horse... and opened the gates of Troy... he saw ten years of rage pour into that city in one night. We left them a gift in offering of peace that they took into their home... We violated all that's ever sacred between people... and turned the fight into a hunt. To burn the walls of Troy was to burn the world entire. Including his home. What if he knew that very night as he walked through fires of anarchy and pain... And in the days of sweaty celebrations that followed, what if he knew exactly what he'd done?
Penelope
What all of you had done.
Odysseus
One man's idea, one man's trick... to break Zeus's Law forever. We live in a world of palaces, trades, language, blind to its beauty... until we broke it.
Antinous
[on Melanthe]
You can't expect her to be loyal to Odysseus, someone she's never seen before.
Penelope
What about her loyalty to me?
Penelope
Promise me you will come back.
Odysseus
What if I can't?
"Sinon" / Odysseus
What if the Odysseus you knew lost his way? What if... one night, in a strange city, he saw things that made him think the home he knew couldn't possibly be there anymore. What if... when he left the belly of the horse, and opened the gates of Troy, he saw ten years of rage pour into that city in one night? We left them a gift, an offering of peace, that they took into their home. We violated all that's ever sacred between people. It turned a fight into a hunt. To burn the walls of Troy was to burn the world-entire. Including his home. What if he knew, that very night, as he walked through fires, anarchy, and pain -- and in a daze of sweaty celebrations that follow -- what if he knew exactly what he'd done?
Penelope
What all of you had done?
"Sinon" / Odysseus
One man's idea. One man's trick to break Zeus's law forever. We lived in a world of palaces and trade, language, blind to its beauty, until we broke it.
Penelope
You are the people from the sea.
"Sinon" / Odysseus
Yes, my queen. The breaking of Zeus's law, spreading like plague. Our age of bronze is collapsing, and maybe he couldn't bear to see the ruins of what he'd done. Anywhere. Least of all, his home.
Penelope
[last lines] [cradling Odysseus as he reunites with her, seeming as if he is dying]
Odysseus, my love! Odysseus... My love... You came back...
Odysseus
At last... The end... To see my beloved Ithaca, one last time...
Penelope
No, no... Oh, no, no, you can't, you can't, you can't, not now! Not now, please, I've waited so long... [sobs] You can't die!
Odysseus
Not death... Exile. Telemachus will be King. We'll head into the unknown west, to honor my men, together.
Penelope
Take your fastest ship and brightest crew and head for the horizon.
Odysseus
Chasing the escaping sun.
Penelope
[on the ship]
Why will the stories only be sung?
Odysseus
Because songs will be all they have to remember those of us who could write.
Penelope
Civilization will rise again.
Odysseus
A new dawn will break over the darkened world. And our mistakes will once again be forgotten.
