The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood

The below commentary contains major spoilers.

Those looking to obtain this novel should note: the story was turned into a play that was also written by Atwood. The play version, which I have not read but seems to be somewhat different from the novel, is also available and has the same title as the novel. The two books are difficult to distinguish.

The Penelopiad is Margaret Atwood’s retelling of parts of Homer‘s The Odyssey. It centers upon the experiences of Odysseus’s wife, Penelope, and of Penelope’s twelve maids. It is told in the first person, alternating between Penelope and the maids. These folks now exist in Hades. They have been there for centuries, and it is now present day. Much of the story is told in flashback.

In the original epic poem, Penelope stayed faithful to Odysseus during his twenty years absence during the Trojan War and his long voyage home. This was despite the fact that she was besieged by scores of aggressive suitors who were vying for her hand in marriage.

When Odysseus returned, he killed the suitors. He also discovered that twelve of Penelope’s maids had fraternized and slept with various suitors. He ordered these maids to be hung.

The work mostly consists of a first person narrative from Penelope’s point of view. Portions are also told from the maids’ point of view.

In this work, Penelope’s story is told with a very different perspective as that of the original epic. She is required to enter into an arranged marriage with Odysseus at the age of 15. In a world where most men are brutal and sadistic to women, including their own wives, Odysseus seems to be relatively sensitive and refrains from cruelty. Though later we find that he is deeply flawed and can be insensitive and manipulative, this aspect of his personality nevertheless adds complexity and nuance to his character. Penelope develops both a love and a loyalty to him.

When he departs to fight the Trojan War, Penelope is left alone in Ithaca to fend for herself in a city full of political and family machinations. She grows into a smart and competent ruler. As Odysseus’s absence stretches past fifteen years, many assume him dead. The suitors begin to arrive, and Penelope does not have the military or political means to dismiss them.

As in the original epic, when Odysseus finally returns, he kills the suitors. He also orders the execution of Penelope’s twelve maids for fraternizing with them. These murders are perpetuated despite the fact that some of these young women have been raped by the suitors.

Despite its serious plot and themes, this work is funny and very creative. It is mostly prose, but the chorus of maids speaks in verse. Even Penelope’s view is written in a prose style that is almost poetic.

Atwood fits so many things into this short book. Among the many fascinating aspects to this work are: an exploration of different perspectives and their influences on storytelling, history and culture; an examination of the role and plight of women throughout history; an assessment of certain aspects of feminist literary criticism with a healthy dose of parody thrown in; and ruminations on applying modern morality and ethics to ancient texts. These somewhat serious subjects are explored with humor and intelligence.

Penelope is a complex character. She is strong and intelligent. Yet, we find that she is deeply flawed and is an unreliable narrator. In some ways it turns out that she rivals Odysseus in cunning and in the ability to shape the narrative of one’s actions and life into a fabrication. We slowly learn that despite the narrative that she spins for herself, she did sleep with many of suitors. Worse yet, it becomes apparent that she may have been complicit in the murder of the maids.  

Odysseus is also not so simple. Despite his earlier sensitivity, it turns out that his ten-year voyage home was not what he claims that it was. His adventures were more about bar brawls as opposed to fighting Cyclopes and long stays in whorehouses as opposed to being entrapped by alluring goddesses. Of course, he is also primarily responsible for the killing of the maids.

Thus, the interactions between Penelope and Odysseus are similarly complex. At one point she describes the following scene that occurred after his return Penelope comments,

"Then he told me how much he’d missed me, and how he’d been filled with longing for me even when enfolded in the white arms of goddesses; and I told him how very many tears I’d shed while waiting twenty years for his return, and how tediously faithful I’d been, and how I would never have even so much as thought of betraying his gigantic bed with its wondrous bedpost by sleeping in it with any other man. The two of us were— by our own admission— proficient and shameless liars of long standing. It’s a wonder either one of us believed a word the other said. But we did.

Or so we told each other. "

A good part of the narrative is dedicated to the plight of the maids. This encompasses an exploration of how the dispossessed and disenfranchised, as well as women in general, are often given short shrift in history, literature and culture as well as in real life.

At one point, in an absurd but hilarious scene set in Hades, Odysseus is on trial for the murders. The ghosts of the maids invoke the help of the mythological furies in their demand for justice,

“Oh Angry Ones, Oh Furies, you are our last hope! We implore you to inflict punishment and exact vengeance on our behalf! Be our defenders, we who had none in life! Smell out Odysseus wherever he goes! From one place to another, from one life to another, whatever disguise he puts on, whatever shape he may take, hunt him down! Dog his footsteps, on earth or in Hades, wherever he may take refuge, in songs and in plays, in tomes and in theses, in marginal notes and in appendices! Appear to him in our forms, our ruined forms, the forms of our pitiable corpses! Let him never be at rest! “

The above references to theses, margin notes and appendices are, for me, a hilarious but insightful call for what seems to be cultural and literary justice.

This is an extraordinary book. It is full of interesting insights and wit. It contains several intriguing themes of which I have only touched upon above. The characters are complex. The writing styles are varied and very well crafted. However, it is best enjoyed by readers who are already familiar with the The Odyssey, as it is structurally dependent upon the original work in terms of plot, character and themes. Ultimately this is an outstanding modern perspective on the original epic.