Irony In The Penelopiad

In The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood, the maid’s chorus lines interrupts Penelope’s reminisces with a “behind the scene” view of what is happening in The Odyssey, in which the maids finally have a chance to tell their story. They put a dark spin of what is considered an amusing epic poem, in which they lamented about their unfair deaths, Penelope’s betrayal, and Odysseus’s cruelty. Among the choruses, “A Rope Jumping Rhyme” is important since it’s the first time we see a different perspective of what we once believed in The Odyssey. Here, a more realistic version of the truth is exposed through the structure of the rhyme, the maid’s accusations, and Odyssey’s actions.

The first thing we notice is the dark humor from the title “A Rope Jumping Rhyme”, named after a children’s game, while hinting at the way the maids died. The formatting of the particular chorus was also ironic due to the way that the rhyme is phrased, such as “we

danced in air / our bare feet twitched / it was not fair”, is rather hard to jump to in an actual game (Atwood 2.4-6). The shortness and constant repetition of this chorus line gives a strong emphasis of the maid’s points.
“A Rope Jumping Rhyme” is the first chorus line, the first time we meet the maids, and hear their side of the story.

They didn’t hesitate to begin. “We are the maids,” they say. “The ones you killed / the ones you failed” (2.1-3). They clearly show their anger and sorrow, blaming Odysseus for killing them, and Penelope failing to save them. They weep over their deaths, lamenting that “it was not fair…” that they had died so young (2.6). “We did much less / than what you did,” they reproach Odysseus, “You judged us bad” (2.10-12). This chorus line makes us feel sorry for the maids who were wrongly killed. However, in The Odyssey, we believed the maids to be guilty and therefore got the justice they deserved, since they were the “twelve [that] went bad”, and became the “suitors’ harlots” (Homer 22.475-483). Instead, we learn that they were the victims. The maids accused that “it gave you pleasure” towards Odysseus for orchestrating their deaths (Atwood 2.27). This portrayed Odysseus, who we earlier saw as a wise king, as a cruel

hypocrite.
“You had the spear,” The maids say, “You had the word / at your command” (2.13-15). The maids had no power and were helpless, while Odysseus held all the cards. They were acting so vulgarly because Penelope asked them to, so they could spy for her. “We knelt in water,” the maids wept, “while you stared / at our bare feet” (2.20-22). The maids were forced to clean up the blood of their dead lovers “as Odysseus ordered, for he himself stood over them”, impassive and cold. With one word, they were sentenced to death (Homer 22.502-503).
The chorus “A Rope Jumping Rhyme” is very intriguing, and it opens our eyes to the fact that the maids were just young girls who had been unfairly raped, their stories warped, and then punished with death. It illustrates how one story can be so different when looked at from the diverse perspectives. The maids help us realize that there is more than one side to the story, and now, they, who never had a voice in life, can finally tell their story.