The Penelopiad
Mythological
Connections
Aeschylus’s trilogy,The Orestia (458 B.C.)
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Part 1 of Trilogy: Agamemnon; Agamemnon is
King of Mycenae, brother of Menelaus.
Husband of Clytemnestra; Father of Orestes
(boy), Electra (girl) and Iphigenia (girl, whom he
has previously sacrificed to the gods in
exchange for favorable winds on voyage to Troy)
While Agamenon is away at Troy, Clytemnestra
plans her husband’s murder, partially as revenge
for Iphigenia and also because she is having an
affair with Menelaus’ cousin Aegisthus.
Agamemnon arrives home with Cassandra, an
enslaved Trojan princess and a priestess of
Apollo (punished with clairvoyance for rejecting
sexual advances by Apollo).
Clytemnestra plays the loving wife, tricking
Agamemnon into stepping onto a purple carpet
(a sign of hubris), and then killing Menelaus and
his concubine Cassandra.
In the end of the play, Orestes (the son) vows
revenge, which is carried out later in the trilogy.
The Orestia, cont’d.
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Part 2 of Trilogy: The Libation Bearers (Electra &
Orestes reunited; Orestes gets revenge by killing
mom, Clytemnestra);
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Part 3 of Trilogy: The Euminides [The Furies] A trial
by jury to determine if Orestes’s murder makes him
worthy of the Furies torment (Athena is judge; jury
members are Athenians). Apollo defends Orestes,
while the Furies defend the spirit of Clytemnestra.
Hung jury = Orestes is acquitted, and the Furies are
persuaded to relent (and, thus, are renamed the
Euminedes [Kindly Ones] by Athena).
Erinyes [AKA Furies] [ih-rin-ee-eez]
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Three cruel earth goddesses of revenge and retribution,
symbolizing divine vengeance.
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Either created from the blood of the Titan Uranus (his son Cronus
castrated him to take revenge on the loss of his siblings), or were the
daughters of Nyx (the symbol of the night and daughter of Chaos)
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Dreadful creatures with appalling features—burning breath,
poisonous blood dripping from eyes, heads wreathed with serpents,
bodies of dogs, bat/bird wings
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Persecuted crimes such as disrespect, injustice, perjury or arrogance
and—first and foremost—murder, especially the murder inside a
family (patricide, matricide). Their lust of punishment knew no
bounds, for they kept punishing a sinner even after his death, until he
finally would show remorse.
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In The Penelopiad the maids call on the furies for help in the
courtroom scene. HOW DOES THE COURTROOM SCENE ALSO
RECALL THE ORESTIA TRILOGY?
Erinyas/Furies
(“The Remorse of Orestes”)
p. 110 & study guide question #53
How do Penelope and Telemachus
compare to their counterparts in
Agamemnon?
Penelope is the quintessential faithful wife,
while Clytemnestra is the opposite.
 Telemachus and Orestes are similar in
their loyalty to their fathers’ memories and
in their disdain for any hint of disloyalty by
their mothers. But—do both have cause?
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How do the maids compare to their
counterpart, Iphigenia?
p. 164 & study guide question #87
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The twelve maids seem to annoyed that
they are not considered martyrs to the
struggle between the matriarchal and
patriarchal systems as much as is this
princess.
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Provides segue into discussion of Artemis,
who was the protector of virgins.
Study guide questions #78, 79, 80
Artemis (Diana in Roman),
Goddess of the Moon (sister of Apollo)
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Free-spirited, aloof, also known as goddess of the hunt
and the maiden goddess; a virgin & a protector of young
women (and was reportedly angry about Agamemnon’s
sacrifice of Iphigenia)—thus virginal but deadly.
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According to the maids in “An Anthropology Lecture,”
they were the twelve moon-maidens, companions of
Artemis... “The thirteenth was our High Priestess, the
incarnation of Artemis herself. She was none other than
— yes! Queen Penelope!” (165)
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The maids deny that their theory is just “feminist
claptrap” (166) and argue that the patriarchal epic The
Odyssey serves to erase the legacy of the prepatriarchal Mother cult. (Atwood is here, of course,
making fun of feminist criticism, even though she herself
is a feminist writer.)
In “An Anthropology Lecture” Atwood spoofs
ideas of Robert Graves/his seminal work.
Graves proposes the existence of a European
deity, the "White Goddess of Birth, Love and
Death," who was inspired by and represented
the phases of the moon and who lies behind
the faces of the diverse goddesses of various
European mythologies—thus, a matriarchal
lunar cult.
Atwood satirizes this idea by eruditely arguing
that the murder of the maidens = the overthrow
of the matriarchal society in favor of patriarchy.
(The last line of the lecture chapter is actually
taken from anthropologist Levi Strauss—
“Consider us pure symbol. We’re no more real
than money.” )
Feminism and Feminist
Literary Criticism
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The Penelopiad has been called "feminist,”
and more specifically "vintage Atwoodfeminist,” but Atwood disagrees, saying, "I
wouldn't even call it feminist. Every time
you write something from the point of view
of a woman, people say that it's feminist."
(www.absoluteastronomy.com)
Ritual Labrys Axes
Double-headed axes
 Symbolic of female labia at the entrance to
the womb
 Connected with the idea of rebirth
 The twelve maids argue in “An
Anthropology Lecture” that the twelve axes
used in Penelope’s test of the suitors and
Odysseus are of this kind (166).
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Sisyphus
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A trickster and a liar (the wily Sisyphus)
According to myth, Sisyphus cheated death in two ways:
1) by locking up Hades so that no mortal could die; and
2) by instructing his wife not to bury him and not to put the
traditional coin under his tongue to pay Charon the ferryman,
and then convincing Hades’s wife Persephone to allow him to
cross over the River Styx (back to the land of the living) in
order to arrange a proper burial.
Once back on earth, Sisyphus evaded death for some time. As
eternal punishment, he was forced to roll a boulder up an incline in
Hades, watch it roll down, and then complete the task over and
over again.
Why would Sisyphus be
connected in this way to
Odysseus?
Both are tricksters, liars, and cheats!
 (Recall: rumor has it that Sisyphus—and
not Laertes—may have been the father of
Odysseus.)
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The Great God Pan
The god of shepherds and flocks
 He wandered around plying his
Pan-pipes and chasing nymphs.
 He is associated with fertility and with the
mother earth goddess.
 In The Penelopiad, rumors are reported
about Penelope’s affairs with the suitors
resulting in the birth of Pan.
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Who is most responsible for
the rumors that debase
Penelope’s virtue?
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Anticleia, her mother in law!
Sibyl
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A female prophet or a witch