- All's Well That Ends Well
- Antony and Cleopatra
- As You Like It
- The Comedy of Errors
- Coriolanus
- Cymbeline
- Hamlet
- Henry IV, Part 1
- Henry IV, Part 2
- Henry V
- Henry VI, Part 1
- Henry VI, Part 2
- Henry VI, Part 3
- Henry VIII
- Julius Caesar
- King John
- King Lear
- Love's Labor's Lost
- A Lover's Complaint
- Macbeth
- Measure for Measure
- The Merchant of Venice
- The Merry Wives of Windsor
- A Midsummer Night's Dream
- Much Ado About Nothing
- Othello
- Pericles
- The Rape of Lucrece
- Richard II
- Richard III
- Romeo and Juliet
- Shakespeare's Sonnets
- The Taming of the Shrew
- The Tempest
- Timon of Athens
- Titus Andronicus
- Troilus and Cressida
- Twelfth Night
- The Two Gentlemen of Verona
- Venus and Adonis
- The Winter's Tale
In this quote, Penelope describes Odysseus’s reaction to the birth of Telemachus. Odysseus is happy that Penelope had a son, but his comparison of Penelope to Helen upsets her.
Penelope frames her unhappiness about Odysseus’s comment as displeasure that he is “still—and possibly always—thinking about Helen.” Penelope seems concerned that Odysseus may be in love with Helen, or at least thinks often and fondly of her good looks and charms. The fact that Odysseus’s compliment is only a comparison to another woman shows how women in Greek society are pitted against each other and competition between them is encouraged, preventing…