Explain the influence of Homer’s Odyssey on Margaret Atwood.
Margaret Atwood said that after reading The Odyssey she had two questions; “what led to the hanging of the maids and what was Penelope really up to?”. In writing The Penelopiad, she felt she was able to answer those questions. The Odyssey is from Odysseus’ point of view, recorded by Homer, but is not the only version of the story as it was mainly handed down through generations orally, which can lead to details being changed. She wanted to tell the story from a different angle, Penelope’s point of view. Homer’s Odyssey was a significant influence on Atwood. However, she also used other historical records of the story of Odysseus’ journey. “I have drawn on details other than the
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She also wanted to tell the twelve maids’ story of their lives and the events leading up to their deaths. The Penelopiad was intended for a modern, young female audience. The Novella was written in recent times so the thought process around the value of women has change significantly. Women now have a more equal standing in society than they did when The Odyssey was recorded. This is demonstrated in the novella by Penelope’s intelligence and strong character.
Explain reasons for the different portrayals of Odysseus, of Penelope and of the twelve maidservants.
In The Odyssey, Odysseus is depicted as a strong, brave husband and father. He can sleep with whom he pleases, he hides some truth from his fellow men. “I did not mention the inescapable horror of Scylla, fearing that in their panic my men might stop rowing and huddle below decks.” Odysseus gets angry when he returns home after twenty years of being away and the Suitors are in his home, courting his wife. Odysseus is the king of Ithaca, he is the father of Telemachus and husband of Penelope. Odysseus is described as an excellent warrior and a brave hero. “You are hard, man, Odysseus. Your force is greater, your limbs ever wear out. You must be made all of Iron.” He is the paterfamilias of the household.
In The Penelopiad, Penelope talks about their wedding night where Odysseus says “Forget everything you’ve been told… I’m not going to hurt you, or not very much. But it would help us both if
Penelope and Helen are the real human women who can steal men's hearts with their own feminine ways and they never let their man go. Helen stole the heart of Paris and later married Menelaus-the love that Paris had for Helen began the long Trojan War. Even with her shaded past, Helen is able to live her life as a proper adjusted middle-class matron. Penelope and Odysseus were only together for a few years before he was sent off to war and, while he was gone for over twenty years, his love for her lasted. Penelope is the symbol of marital fidelity, of trust, honor and devotion.
Odysseus's wife, Penelope plays a crucial role in Homer's ‘The Odyssey’, with not only providing the motivation for Odysseus's return to Ithaca, but she is also the center of the plot involving the suitors and the fate of Telemakos and Ithaca itself. Therefore the objective of this essay is to analyze the importance of Penelope’s role in ‘The Odyssey’.
While traditional readers of Homer’s, The Odyssey, view Odysseus as a hero, they often reduce Penelope to Odysseus’s helpless wife, but Penelope is more than just a damsel-in-distress. Penelope proves to be Odysseus’s heroic equal, as through her resilient, witty and strategic actions she ensures Odysseus fighting advantages over the suitors.
Odysseus, king of Ithaca, was probably on of the greatest warriors in the history of Ancient Greece. It is said that the poet, Homer, wrote the story of the Odyssey. In this story, Odysseus and his crew are trying to make their voyage back home to Ithaca after they have fought with the Trojans. During the long journey, Odysseus will show some of his character traits which include his bravery, cleverness, and wisdom that will assist him with the situations he encounters on his journey home.
Furthermore, Penelope is an important character as her identity “functions as a stable and unchanging reference point for the adventures of Odysseus” (Katz, 6). As Katz explains, Odysseus’ travels are interwoven with his lust for home and his desire to be with his wife again. As well, her identity becomes a parallel to Odysseus’ identity through her use of polutropus (tricks and turns). She proves, by the end of the poem, that she is the perfect match for Odysseus as both of them share the same skills with rhetoric and language to get what they want. Their like-mindedness is evident during the recognition scene between the two. Penelope tests Odysseus’ knowledge of their marital bed - before blindly trusting his claim of identity - by asking the slaves to move their immovable bed: “[putting] her husband to the proof-but Odysseus/ blazed in fury, lashed out at his loyal wife” (Homer, 23.203-204). In his angry response to Penelope’s test, Odysseus proves his identity to his wife as he explains why the bed cannot move. When she hears their familiar story of the creation of their bed, - which only the two and a slave know about - Penelope submits to her long-lost husband in an emotional reunion. Her caution, before accepting Odysseus’ claim, shows the wary protectionism stance that she had to adopt while her husband was gone so she could protect the kingdom from the suitors.
As the saying goes, there are two sides to every story. This even applies to the epic novel, Homer's, The Odyssey. While the storyline may do an outstanding job of glorifying Odysseus' heroism, it fails to give proper insight into the victims of his revenge. Margaret Atwood's, The Penelopiad gives an alternate view of what was going on in Ithaca during Odysseus' 20 year absence. This essay will specifically focus on the maids who were hanged because of what was thought to be disloyalty. The maids were wrongly accused, and quite possibly framed to cover up for Penelope's infedelity, as Atwood proposed. Therefore, The Odyssey fails to
In the Odyssey women are portrayed in a very positive manner for the most part. Homer really proves this by portraying Penelope as very clever, showing that we can trust her. Some scenes that show this is when Penelope is weaving the burial shroud. Another example he uses is tricking the suitors to shower her with presents. Even the scene where Penelope will not speech to Odysseus until he proves that it is really him. All of these scenes show how Penelope has thought things out so that eventually she will hopefully be reunited with Odysseus.
The Odyssey, written by Homer, tells the story of Odysseus after the Trojan War. It not only includes an insight on the adventures and return of Odysseus, but it also includes the stories of Telemakhos and Penelope. Telemakhos is the courageous son of Odysseus who goes on a quest in search for information about his father’s whereabouts. Penelope is an extremely clever woman who could match Odysseus in his wit. Penelope is able manipulate the suitors that have come to pursue her in Odysseus’s absence. Though Penelope often spends many nights weeping over the absence of her husband, it seems as if she never loses faith in her husband, and she truly believes that he will return to her and punish the suitors that have taken over their
Many people regard Homer’s epics as war stories—stories about men; those people often overlook the important roles that women play in the Odyssey. While there are not many female characters in the Odyssey, the few that there are, play pivotal roles in the story and one can gain a lot of insight by analyzing how those women are portrayed. Homer portrays the females in contradictory ways: the characters of Athena and Eurykleia are given strong, admirable roles while Melantho, the Sirens and Circe are depicted in a much more negative way. Penelope—the central female character—is given both negative and positive attributes.
In Homer's epic, The Odyssey, Odysseus is an epic hero with an epic wife, Penelope. Penelope is also the Queen of Ithaca, a vital role indeed. Penelope's love and devotion towards Odysseus is proven when she waits nineteen years for her husband to return from the wine dark sea, rather than losing faith and marrying another man. Penelope's character is strong and solid, and her personality remains consistent throughout Homer's Odyssey.
Women are important to the plot and overall theme of the Odyssey. In fact, without many of the women there would not be a complex plot to this epic poem. In the narrative and in Greek society women played a variety of roles, as mothers, herons, and many other strong roles yet, they were treated as less significant, and were made to be loyal and submissive to men. The women were required to wait on and sulk for love, as Penelope did for 20 years. In Greek society, the women had very little authority but the little control that they did have was sort of a sexual power, which at times they could use to outwit the men. Obvious examples of this sexual power would be Circe and Calypso. Calypso and Circe however, are not the
Penelope, just as Odysseus, portrayed the great human trait of patience. She did what it took to fend off the suitors with hope that her husband would come back for her. Penelope didn’t give up hope because she felt in heart that Odysseus would come
After Odysseus becomes enraged when Penelope asks the maid to make his bed outside, she realizes that he knows the secret that only Odysseus and her share. She embraces him and praises his homecoming. Once again, Penelope is wise and patient in her decision-making. The suitors pursued her, overtook her home and aggressively pushed her to remarry as she was supposed to. If Penelope would have given in, The Odyssey would not have ended with Odysseus returning to a loyal home. Through cunning, independence and loyalty, Penelope is able to create a positive image as a woman. Chaucer’s Wife of Bath has similar independence and cunning, but she makes her name as a domineering lady that chooses who she wants, and when she wants them.
The Odyssey and The Penelopiad’s storyline are both based off the same social context as Homer recorded the epic poem during Homeric society (when he was alive) however when the story was composed the literary context is completely different in comparison to Atwood, as Atwood wrote her novella - The Penelopiad, in the 21’st century and homer recorded the epic poem during 8th C BCE. The difference between each time period meant there were societal differences which had different impacts on each of the stories literary context. The odyssey is a historical epic poem that was verbally told by bards around ancient Greece and recorded by homer in 8thC BCE, following the dark ages. During this time there was no real sense of freedom or self expression and people were not very opinionated.This was because during this time, Homeric society was overruled by patriarchal views and a hierarchy within their time, meaning some people were seen as much less than others. In contrast to Margaret Atwood where her fictional Novella the Penelopiad was crafted in 2005, during a modern society where freedom of speech was more or less accepted than in Homeric society. The Odyssey has a major influence on Margaret Atwood’s novella the Penelopiad, as she based her opinions and perspective off the facts and historical content from the Odyssey. The Penelopiad’s central theme consists of the double standards that occurred against the women within the Odyssey such as the maids and Penelope. Margaret
Sheryl Sandberg once said, “We need women at all levels, including the top, to change the dynamic, reshape the conversation, to make sure women's voices are heard and heeded, not overlooked and ignored.” The Odyssey incorporates an epic adventure with family drama. The book is staged in ancient Greece 20 years after the trojan war. The Odyssey is narrated by Homer, the first person to write down the adventures of Odysseus. The epic poem focuses on Odysseus’s journey home and what is happening to his family in Ithaca. Overall The Odyssey is a journey about gender stereotypes and how some women defy those gender stereotypes. Homer uses many traits of characters to address this everyday life topic. He specifically Athena’s wisdom, Circe’s strength, and Penelope’s cleverness to convey the theme though gender stereotypes often elevate men, women have prized traits as well.