The Penelopiad - Margaret Atwood

The Odyssey chronicles the journey of its eponymous protagonist’s return back to his home kingdom of Ithaca after the decade-long Trojan War. Odysseus, in his various adventures and confrontations with mythical creatures, is famed for his cunning and legendary intellect.

Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad is narrated from the perspective of his wife, Penelope, who was left behind in their home country. Penelope is widely known as a symbol of loyalty and fidelity towards her husband, despite being propositioned by multiple suitors in his absence. Atwood’s feminist spin on this historic tale shows Penelope as she recounts her life when she is dead and in the fields of Asphodel.

“Many people have believed that his version of events was the true one, give or take a few murders, a few beautiful seductresses, a few one-eyed monsters. Even I believed him, from time to time. I knew he was tricky and a liar, I just didn’t think he would play his tricks and try out his lies on me. Hadn’t I been faithful? Hadn’t I waited, and waited, and waited, despite the temptation – almost the compulsion – to do otherwise? And what did I amount to, once the official version gained ground? An edifying legend. A stick to beat other women with. Why couldn’t they be as considerate, as trustworthy, as all-suffering as I had been? That was the line they took, the singers, the yarn spinners. Don’t follow my example, I want to scream in your ears- yes yours! But when I try to scream, I sound like an owl.”

Once Odysseus returned to Ithica, war- minded and bloodthirsty- he flew into a rage when discovering how the suitors had disrespected his house, wife and child. In an epic show of overbearing masculinity and dominance, he expertly slaughtered the hundreds or so suitors present in his castle. He also ordered twelve of Penelope’s maids to clean the blood off the floors. And after, he hanged all twelve maids in a row.

Their twelve twitching feet- elevated off the ground- remain a recurrent motif in The Penelopiad, symbolizing helplessness, vulnerability and violent injustice. While the book is narrated by Penelope in the first person, it intermittently includes a Greek chorus performed by the maids in the form of various ballads, songs, poems and plays. This helps create an illusion of being haunted by these characters. Atwood attempts to place the story in a modern context, where The Trial of Odysseus occurs in a 21st Century courtroom. It is presided over by a judge, who is representative of justice and supreme moral authority. This scene, as videotaped by the maids, examines the validity and justification of the Odysseus in slaughtering the suitors and maids. The maids had been raped by the suitors, which the Odyssey itself makes explicitly clear that Odysseus had knowledge of. They were overpowered and completely unprotected. As Penelope testifies, “It wasn’t the fact of their being raped that told against them, in the mind of Odysseus. It’s that they were raped without permission.” - Odysseus’s permission. The immense irony comes from the fact that the maids were his were slaves, and therefore seen to be legal property. The courtroom then descends into literal and figurative chaos, as an institution of reputed stability is overtaken by archaic mindsets,

represented by the mythical creatures that wreak havoc whilst the Judge shouts for order. The Judge ultimately dismisses the case of the twelve maids, calling it “a blot on an otherwise exceedingly distinguished career.” This provides an insight on how problematic heroes like Odysseus, to this day, retain our respect and admiration despite lacking any adherence to today’s socially acceptable standards. By delivering a verdict against him, the Judge would be ‘guilty of an anachronism.’

Penelope is depicted as a far more perceptive and strong willed character, in direct contradiction with the myth, which emphasizes her passivity and obliviousness. She however, admits to willfully humoring Odysseus, by pretending to be disarmed by his tricks. A large amount of respect afforded to Penelope by the ancient texts stems from the fact that she remained faithful to her husband, but a cruel double standard is highlighted, as Odysseus is considered to be more of a masculine figure for having seduced and charmed multiple women in his adventures, such as Circe and Calypso.

Another interpretation of the circumstances behind the slaughtering of the maids is also entertained by Atwood; that Penelope herself conspired with Eurycleia to blame the maids in order to distract her husband from her own infidelity. That she was, in fact, a conniving and rather promiscuous adultress who effectively sentenced a dozen of her own charge to death in order to hastily save her own reputation with Odysseus. What stands out in this interpretation is not the radical overture of her original presentation, but rather the impressiveness with which she achieved what she set out to do. Her innate femininity is emphasized even though she is portrayed as manipulative.

Atwood also provides an overly detailed, rather convoluted analysis of the symbolism of the maids, which she claims represent the twelve virginal moon goddesses, companions of Artemis. She breaks the fourth wall, addressing the reader as ‘dear educated mind,’ with a hint of sarcasm in her tone. This indicates a mockery of the people who insist on studying the characters of the maids in such an academic context, which blinds them to the fact that they represent real people rather than exist as evidence of theories that are largely considered ‘feminist claptrap.’

“You don’t have to think of us as real girls, real flesh and blood, real pain, real injustice. That might be too upsetting. Just discard the sordid part. Consider us pure symbol. We’re no more real than money.”

Atwood wrote this book in collaboration with Canongate’s Myth Series, in which several contemporary authors across the globe rewrite ancient myths, providing eye opening and unique interpretations of these legendary stories. History does not teach us to blindly put its characters onto a pedestal, throwing onto them a burden of an unreachable ideal, and thereby harbouring a dangerously ignorant sentiment about society today having lost its integrity. The world will always be flawed in equal measure, no matter what the time period. Our humanity is only enriched when we contextualize these mistakes and learn from the prejudices and arrogance of the people in these stories and try to improve upon them in our lives.