The Penelopiad in reshaping The Odyssey Tracey Tran 11th Grade

In the novella “The Penelopiad” written by Margaret Atwood, Ancient Greek values predominant in “The Odyssey” are reshaped, including Penelope’s contemporary perspective on justice as one that portrays the maids and suitors as unworthy of losing mortality in a malevolent and inhumane way and desire for a stronger female authority and voice, and abandoning archetypes of women as temptresses and maids, which is contrasted within “the Odyssey” , where justice is defined as giving divine and omniscient authorities to male citizens and gods, and Odysseus, as a hero, admired through physical values of strength and emotional values of deception and independence. Justice is depicted through Penelope giving the maids omniscience and a sarcastic tone, which questions Odysseus’s character and fulfillment of the archetype of a hero, and her sense of passionate femininity, that challenges the audience to revisit the suppressed identity of women and how society deems their innocence. This is justified through the elimination of female archetypes, which embody the emotional values of frailty, fidelity, and obedience, which have been the first male orientated in “The Odyssey”. Therefore, Ancient Greece values of alienating female rights and...