In the Canongate Myth series prompted writing, we were asked to respond to the following prompt:
2009, Form B. Many works of literature deal with political or social issues. Choose a novel or play that focuses on a political or social issue. Then write an essay in which you analyze how the authors use literary elements to explore this issue and explain how the issue contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.
Original Essay:
Homer's Odyssey tells the story of faithfulness as Penelope stubbornly waits for over 20 years for Odysseus to return home. And in Margaret Atwood's parallel novel, The Penelopiad, Penelope retells her version of events of the Odessey and challenges the role of women in traditional Greek society through her cynical point of view and harsh diction, revealing her independence and intellectual nature in a society where women were expected to be subservient and weak.
Penelope describes the challenges of growing up in a household where she had to learn to fend for herself. Not the center of attention for her beauty, to
many, she was only invaluable for the wealth and prestige her hand would bring. However, Penelope's view of these men treating their women like prizes, mirror Atwood's own strong feministic stance, and when she chooses to leave Sparta to go with Odysseus, she breaks ancient custom of Greek society that the men went off to the palace oft he bride. She shows a blatant disregard for his wealth, choosing to reflect upon it as trash in her criticism of society and, rebels against it by going with Odysseus, showing her determination and strong will to not adhere to the traditional role of women to be only a symbol of wealth, and instead prize the value of love that allowed her to disregard society and be known to Odysseus as more than her wealth.
The importance of having Margaret Atwood be the writer assigned to tell the story of Penelope comes from the connection between the character and the author that mirrored one another. Atwood, throughout her career, has been known for her feministic viewpoint that she reinvented Penelope within her retelling. She pays homage to the sweet side of Penelope's personality and her faithfulness and discretion, yet, in contrast to the point of views before her, chooses to emphasize through Penelope's cynical reflection on the event, her headstrong independence. Penelope, in most stories, is the quintessential faithful wife of Greek society, to remain so faithful, a trait she arguably portrays by evading the suitors for so long. However, Atwood gives life to Penelope's inside thoughts, while Odysseus is absent, and contrary to myth offers a new view of her husband. Rather than adhering completely to society rules, she again shows how she saw herself independent from them, and how she used her own intellect (something Greek women were not encouraged to use) to make her decision.
Atwood chooses the frameset of the underworld, where Penelope is finally able to cut in with her opinion to counter all of the false assumptions in the retelling of the Odyssey. She is looking back at her story with hindsight, and rather than the clever yet trusting nature she had during the events that her turn a blind eye to the whispers behind her back, she is reflecting as a cynical, sharp-witted woman who is fully aware of how much she has been ridiculed. Atwood sets the scene as Penelope retelling a bitter story to turn down all the stories when she is a subservient faithful wife and nothing more because she wants to prove that she isn't and never was. In her conversation with Antinous, the first suitor to die, we see how Penelope's personality has changed to cynical and harsh, and we see that she is no longer ignorant to the mockery the suitors had for her and understands their full motivation. She reveals that even as she played the role of a faithful wife, her independence and her intellect stayed with her, allowing her to stand up to the suitors and refuse their attempts to force her into the traditional society lines. She highlights her differences and makes it clear that she refused to follow traditions because she was clever enough to see past them.
Margaret Atwood shares a new light in the story of Penelope far from showing her as a subservient, faithful wife, she shows how she was a strong-willed and independent feminist, who refused to be subjugated into the boundaries of women in her time, and insisted on holding out against the suitors, not because of her loyalty to Odysseus, but because of her independence and intellect that even then, allowed her to see through a man's lie and hold herself above them.In an ancient Greek society where women were expected to be subservient, Margaret Atwood illuminates Penelope as someone who refused to conform and instead made her own mark.
Reflection:
In the Canongate Myth series prompted writing, the Canongate Myth I read and analyzed was The Penelopiad, by Margaret Atwood. The prompt I choose then asked to analyze how political or social issues were developed throughout the novel.
My final score on this essay was a 6.5 because I think it lacked some of the in-depth analysis need to earn a higher score. [feedback from Wilson].
From previous open question essays, I did worse this time, I think because of my reading understanding - I feel like, for the benchmark, I was very interested and engaged with my play, but this time, fell slightly short and was only able to provide a surface-level analysis. Although I started to state complexities, I never really developed them more, which made it hard to “demonstrate [my] insights and critical thinking”(5 Steps 94).
After finishing the Canongate myth unit, I think I did the best on the actual writing of the essay, but I need to work on reading and interpreting skills to have a more diverse analysis.
Revision:
A Early Feminist: Changing Penelope’s Legacy
Homer’s Odessey has long been seen as the ultimate tale of faith and love, as Odysseus journeys to return to his faithful wife Penelope, who waited 20 years for him to come home. However, in Margaret Atwood's parallel novel, The Penelopiad, Penelope counters this widely popular depiction of a docile subservient wife by revealing her strength and intelligence to outwit hundreds of suitors through her cynical point of view and harsh diction. Atwood reinvents Penelope’s character to mirror her own, enabling Penelope to stand up for herself, and claim the empowerment she deserves, unrestricted by the limited role of women in Greek society.
Penelope’s tumultuous childhood taught her how to be resilient and brave for herself. Mistreated by her parents, she “was a child who learned early the virtues - if such they are - of self-sufficiency.” (Atwood 11) This self-sufficiency is what developed Penelope’s strong feministic stance, of which mirror’s Atwood’s, and reinforced her disdain for the social practice of treating women like prizes. Therefore, when she was inevitably married off, she chooses to break all tradition and leave Sparta, instead, allowing Odysseus to take her back to Ithaca with him. (Atwood 56) Her blatant disregard for nobility and prestige shows her determination to not only be a “royal connection, [a] pile of glittering junk” (Atwood 29) to a man but to be able to offer her kindness and intellect instead of beauty. The underwhelming importance of which Penelope regards wealth, dismissing it as “junk”, creates a character who will not be swayed by traditional means, and is a key factor as to why the suitors were unsuccessful in their attempts to win her as a bride.
Atwood, throughout many of her publications, is noted as being a strong feminist whose cynical view of men mirrors Penelope’s, and through the storytelling frame, is able to illuminate the aspects of Penelope’s personality that isolates her from societal norms and develops her growing cynicism towards Odysseus. Many stories paint Penelope as the quintessential example of a faithful wife and show little or no regard to her strength and intelligence. Atwood, while paying homage to the kindness in Penelope’s heart, through the account, shows Penelope’s feelings develop for Odysseus, however, Atwood maintains that her kind heart played second fiddle to her cleverness. In Penelope’s discussions with Odysseus, “he told [her] once that everyone had a hidden door, which is the way into the heart, and that it was a point of honour with him to be able to find the handles to those doors.”(Atwood 57-58). As genuine as her affections were for Odysseus, the longer his absence, the more she started to realize how much of a fool she had been played as, and her hidden door, which had once been open to Odysseus, became closed off from him as she realizes her power to outwit the suitors with cleverness, and relies less and less on a husband who didn’t love his family enough to come home.
Atwood chooses to use a reflective narrative frame, where Penelope, looking back at her story with the benefit of hindsight, is fully aware of the falsehoods that have been said about her, and can reflect and correct her story with her cynical and sharp-witted view. In the Underworld, Penelope is able to hear all the tales being passed down where she is a docile fool who fell for Odysseus’s deceitful charm, a mockery that matches her initial bitterness in her claim that “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?”(Atwood 2) In contrary to being naive and trusting, Penelope is able to interject their gossip to show that she was aware of Odysseus’s tricks, and had made her choices on her own, however; had simply been outplayed by Odysseus. She aims to set their mind straight and make sure everyone knows she was fully aware of their mockery, the readers see her attitude change throughout the account to be more bitter and harsh. In her conversation with In her conversation with Antinous, the first suitor to die, we see how Penelope’s kind and intelligent way of speaking has changed to a direct and bleak address as she show Antinous little to no emotion when he finally shows his true face and mocks her by saying: “All the better that you were twenty years older than us - you’d die first, perhaps with a little help, and then, furnished with your wealth, we could have had our pick of any young and beautiful princess we wanted. You didn’t really think we were maddened by love for you? You may not have been much to look at, but you were always intelligent.” (102) Yet this sentiment was already touched by Penelope in her account when she herself considers the motives of the suitors, proving her intellect overpowered theirs an that she could hold herself above them, knowing she had resisted them.
Margaret Atwood shares a new light in the story of Penelope far from showing her as a subservient, faithful wife; instead, she shows how she was a strong-willed and independent feminist, who refused to be subjugated into the boundaries of women in her time and outwitted the suitor through her strength and intelligence, holding herself above their lies and shallow motives.
Bibliography
Alexander, Caroline. “Myths Made Modern.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 11 Dec. 2005, www.nytimes.com/2005/12/11/books/review/myths-made-modern.html.ATWOOD, MARGARET. PENELOPIAD. CANONGATE CANONS, 2018.Baudinet, Bridget. “Parallel Plot Structure in Literature | Nonlinear Plots | Parallel Structure.” Storyboard That, Storyboard That, 25 Aug. 2016, www.storyboardthat.com/articles/e/nonlinear-plots.“Historical Context for Homer.” Columbia College, www.college.columbia.edu/core/node/1744.“Margaret Atwood.” Literature, 1 Jan. 1970, literature.britishcouncil.org/writer/margaret-atwood.Mastin, Luke. “ANCIENT GREECE - HOMER - THE ILIAD.” The Iliad - Homer - Ancient Greece - Classical Literature, www.ancient-literature.com/greece_homer_iliad.html.Sabrina, et al. “Penelope, Virtuous Wife of Odysseus.” The Role of Women in the Art of Ancient Greece, www.rwaag.org/penelope.
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