“Those Who Wait, Burn”: New Penelopes in Plays by Sarah Ruhl, Suzan-Lori Parks, and Naomi Wallace

Abstract

Homer’s Penelope is a nostalgic symbol in the patriarchal imaginary of war literature. Standing for the ever-faithful and dutiful wife who patiently waits at home while her husband returns from war, her paradigm has fulfilled two purposes in traditional war literature. She has helped to preserve, on the one hand, the dichotomy of home front versus war front and, on the other hand, those gendered expectations that have shaped and limited the notion of womanhood, both in war and in peace. This discussion of plays by Sarah Ruhl, Suzan-Lori Parks, and Naomi Wallace discusses the revisions these writers have undertaken on the figure of Penelope. With Passion Play, Part Three (2005), Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3) (2015), and In the Heart of America (1994), Ruhl, Parks, and Wallace, respectively, revisit the figure of the waiting woman to reflect on the interrelations between war and home front and to invite the audience to question patriarchal notions of womanhood that continue to operate today. In their feminist revisions of Penelope, this article argues, Ruhl, Parks, and Wallace reconstruct an iconic figure to reclaim women’s agency, independence, and sexuality.