Eurycleia is Odysseus's former nurse and a servant in his household. Eurycleia is entirely devoted to Odysseus and always thinks she knows what's best for him. This annoys Penelope, who finds Eurycleia controlling and condescending. Still, Eurycleia is loyal servant and one of the few people who takes the time to show Penelope the ropes when she arrives at Ithaca. Eurycleia also helps Penelope deliver Telemachus and nurses him with care. Eurycleia is the one who points out Penelope’s favorite Maids to Odysseus to be killed at the end of the book.
Eurycleia Quotes in The Penelopiad
The The Penelopiad quotes below are all either spoken by Eurycleia or refer to Eurycleia. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 9
Quotes
I ought to have thanked her for it, with my heart as well as my lips…Whether to cover the mouth when you laugh, on what occasions to wear a veil, how much of the face it should conceal, how often to order a bath—Eurycleia was an expert on all such matters.
Chapter 23
Quotes
‘Only twelve,’ she faltered. ‘The impertinent ones. The ones who’d been rude… They were notorious whores.’
‘The ones who’d been raped,’ I said. ‘The youngest. The most beautiful.’ My eyes and ears among the Suitors, I did not add. My helpers during the long nights of the shroud. My snow-white geese. My thrushes, my doves.
Related Characters:
Penelope (speaker), Eurycleia (speaker), The Twelve Maids
Related Symbols:
The Maids’ Deaths , Water
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
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Eurycleia Character Timeline in The Penelopiad
The timeline below shows where the character Eurycleia appears in The Penelopiad. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 9: The Trusted Cackle-Hen
Odysseus’s former nurse, Eurycleia, gave Penelope even more trouble. She had been in the household for a long time...
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Penelope avoided Anticleia and stayed with Eurycleia, who, although condescending, was friendly. She told Penelope all about the local nobility and professed...
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Still, Eurycleia was somewhat kind to her, and encouraging as Penelope was trying to get pregnant. She...
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Chapter 11: Helen Ruins My Life
...looking at her. Eventually Penelope stopped trying, and spent her time instead caring for Telemachus. Eurycleia, though, would only rarely let Penelope be in charge of him, instead taking Telemachus out...
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Chapter 12: Waiting
Anticleia died during Odysseus’s absence, blaming Penelope for everything. Eurycleia and Laertes aged. Laertes turned toward a farming life, and Penelope thinks that he had...
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...extremely alone. She cried herself to sleep and prayed to the gods for her husband. Eurycleia tried to sooth her with drinks and baths. While she comforted her, Eurycleia would recite...
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Chapter 14: The Suitors Stuff Their Faces
...could cry too and console her, which Penelope thinks was a “relief to their nerves.” Eurycleia seemed to especially like this gossip, because she was trying to ensure that Penelope would...
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Chapter 15: The Shroud
...spy on the Suitors while keeping them company. Only Penelope and the maids, and not Eurycleia, knew the Maids’ instructions, which Penelope states was a mistake.
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...of them felt guilty, and the ones who were raped needed to be cared for. Eurycleia would bathe the girls and rub them with olive oil at Penelope’s request, although she...
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Chapter 16: Bad Dreams
...Maids wailed too. Penelope chastised the Maids for not telling her about Telemachus’s departure until Eurycleia confessed to being the only one to help him. Eurycleia told Penelope that she and...
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Chapter 18: News of Helen
...thought that she wished she had taught him better table manners—every time she had tried, Eurycleia had stopped her, saying there was time for that later. Penelope regretted that Telemachus had...
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Chapter 19: Yelp of Joy
...he refused because he did not want to be ridiculed by them. Then Penelope told Eurycleia to wash his feet, and she did so, not suspecting that it was Odysseus. When...
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Chapter 21: The Chorus Line: The Perils of Penelope, A Drama
Next, Eurycleia, played by a maid, informs Penelope that Odysseus is back, and that she identified him...
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Penelope then sends her lover down some hidden stairs and asks Eurycleia to make her look decent. Eurycleia tells her that the only people who know about...
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Chapter 23: Odysseus and Telemachus Snuff the Maids
Penelope slept through Suitors’ killings in the women’s quarters, probably because Eurycleia drugged her drink. Eurycleia later described the events to Penelope, telling her how Odysseus, disguised...
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...the kill all of the Suitors with the help of Telemachus and two herdsmen. Meanwhile, Eurycleia and the other women listened at the door of the women’s quarters. Odysseus then summoned...
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...a ship’s rope. Then Telemachus and Odysseus hacked up a goatherd who had betrayed him. Eurycleia thought that this would make an example for anyone else thinking about treason. When she...
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...most beautiful Maids. Penelope did not reveal that these were also her spies and confidantes. Eurycleia said that it would not have been proper to have such mouthy and untrustworthy girls...
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Penelope wonders if another explanation might be that Eurycleia knew of her Maids’ assignments and wanted to kill the Maids to maintain her privileged...
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Chapter 25: Heart of Flint
...so unlike the clean, well-dressed man she knew. When Odysseus returned clean, Penelope then ordered Eurycleia to move the bed in Odysseus’s room, the one with the bedpost still in the...
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