The Penelpiad analysis

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Recommended: Gender stereotypes created by media

In The Penelopiad written by Margaret Atwood, feminism and anti - feminism is present in many settings and scenes proving the sole purpose of the book is to give a voice to the women of The Odyssey showing us different facets of one story. By repeating words and phrases that give the reader negative connotations, Margaret Atwood helps to destroy the predisposed ideology of men being superior to women. Margaret Atwood narrates the book as different female characters that relate instances during which they are discriminated against. By using the maids of Odysseus as examples of dehumanized women, the reader gets to see different perspectives of the original Illiad story. By having the whole story be about Penelope’s adventures while Odysseus was away shows the reader the independence and courage she possessed whereas in the beginning of The Penelopiad when she was reliant on her kingdom. The usage of words like cold blood to describe a murderer, slave to describe a human being, and blame repeatedly to describe an act shows the reader of the torture women in this time period had to suffer through.
By being called “slaves”, the twelve hanged, desperate and angered maids have their social rights, their political rights, and their economic rights stripped from them relieving them of their duties as human beings, leaving them to rot on Earth and in Hell. By using the words “cold blood”, the author illustrates the murderer as being emotionally detached and having the cruel intent to torture the maids and have them embarrassed and ridiculed. The fact that the attorney only has to mention that it was “within his rights” to kill women without a blink of an eye shows the reader the patriarchal world these desolate souls had to live on, get r...

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... the most pampered queen to the lowest servant, the women were always had the lowest perceptions of them. This scene is just a shadow of the stereotypical ideology of women being inferior to men and not being able to defend for themselves, while the men improve in stature and ego. Also, when Penelope talks about the “girl[s] and goddess[es] he was praising, the reader sees that Penelope knew all along Odysseus’s unfaithfulness to her. This is a sign of Penelope’s intelligence that was hidden due to the original story being solely based off Odysseus’s perspective.
In conclusion, the main objective of The Penelopiad is to represent the women who never had a chance to speak their minds when pushed down and give them a chance to explain their actions. We get a sense of their mindset by the use and repeat of words and phrases describing the restrictions the women faced.

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