Female Voice In The Penelopiad

Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad is a unique reworking of Homer’s The Odyssey which seeks to challenge the historical memory of hero Odysseus, bringing to the fore, the imperative of female voices in literature. Atwood manipulates elements of epic, narrative and poetic styles to reveal the way contextual disparities have undermined the moral authenticity of Homer’s epic for twenty-first century viewers. In considering this, Atwood seeks to provide agency to silenced female voices in The Odyssey. Chapter 26 of The Penelopiad titled “The Chorus Line: The Trial of Odysseus, as Videotaped by the Maids” brings to the fore concerns of context, morality and female voices dually revealing the importance of challenging the credibility of traditional male heroes as well as empowering the voices of women. In this way, female voices that are silenced in The Odyssey are made audible in Chapter 26

Atwood has importantly neglected to include Odysseus, removing agency from him opting for his voice to be conveyed through the Attorney and to an extent, Penelope. The opening of the chapter contextualises the situation, “Attorney for the Defence: … Odysseus, a legendary hero of high repute, who stands before you accused of multiple murders.” Atwood constructs a duplicitous image of Odysseus mocking his status as a “legendary hero” by placing the juxtaposing depictions of valour and evil in the opening sentence. In her questioning of whether Odysseus was justified in his actions the author acknowledges the multiplicity of contexts in which the original text had been interpreted. This in turn provides Atwood with the opportunity to undercut the preconceived assumptions about Odysseus as a hero, Penelope as unadorned and the Maids as disempowered. The use of irony and humour immediately establishes a subversive image which seeks to challenge the moral defensibility of Homer’s classic text in the 21st Century