Author Margaret Atwood in “Penelopiad” chose to critique the famed “The Odyssey” of Homer by offering it from the perspective of the hero Odysseus’s wife, Penelope. The Odyssey is written as a mans narrative, in a time when Greek men were considered the epitome of the God’s chosen ones. Odysseus throughout the poem is emphasized with adjectives dripping in praise while his wife, who enters the narrative quite frequently, is addressed only in relation to her husbands disappearance (obviously The Odyssey would not pass the Bechdel test). Because of this the reader looses such an important aspect to the story, for a marriage is supposed to be composed of two narratives, yet this story only contains one; even though the centrifuge of the story is the telling of a man separated from his home and wife. This takes away a richness from The Odyssey that Atwood is now trying to obtain. As a reflection of the time period it was written in it makes sense that The Odyssey does not include the thoughts and experience of Penelope because of the patriarchal system raging throughout the ancient world at that time.

It is an interesting reflection of our current society that we can take an ancient text such as The Odyssey, and offer it from a perspective which, at the time, was incredibly stifled. Atwood takes a creative leap when doing this to alter the impression of Odysseus by stripping away the characteristics we so quickly associate with him. Because The Odyssey tells us how we should view Odysseus, we are not meant to question his righteousness.  By introducing the perspective of Penelope Atwood not only asks us to rethink Odysseus, but to rethink the great love that is supposed between the two. In “Penelopiad” she has Penelope speak about her marriage with Odysseus, and it is far from what one imagines when reading The Odyssey. In fact, their marriage was arranged (possibly because of a bargain between families), and quite frequently Odysseus is referred to as having “short legs.” Penelope is also referred to as having “short legs” by her cousin Helen, saying that they would be perfect for each other. A big theme throughout The Odyssey is the emphasis on Odysseus god-like handsomeness, and Penelope’s wholesome beauty which men are willing to die for. Yet in “Penelopiad,” Atwood humanizes them both by getting rid of their physical attractiveness, as well as destroying the allusion of their deeply rooted love. By doing this she takes the glamour out of the world of The Odyssey to show that, to Penelope (and perhaps other women of the time), there was nothing mystical or magical about a world/society that marked you as invisible without a mans presence.

-MaraJean Hagen-Spath