Summary
"Yelp of Joy"
Penelope has just finished praying for Odysseus's return when he stumbles into the courtyard disguised as a dirty old beggar. Penelope recognizes him because of his barrel chest and short legs, as well as the fact that he broke the neck of a fellow beggar (according to Penelope, this is Odysseus's style). Penelope keeps quiet about the fact that she has recognized Odysseus, both to keep his disguise in place and to protect his pride. Odysseus spends his first few hours in the palace among the suitors, who harass him. The twelve maids are also rude to the beggar and Telemachus. Penelope resolves to tell Odysseus that the maids had been acting under her direction once his disguise has been lifted.
Later, Telemachus introduces the beggar to Penelope, and she realizes that her son is also in on Odysseus's disguise. The disguised Odysseus claims to have news of Odysseus's whereabouts and that Odysseus would be home soon. Penelope tells the beggar about her suffering these past years and says she fears his story is not true. Penelope then asks the beggar for advice: she says that she plans to bring out Odysseus's bow with which he had shot an arrow through twelve circular ax handles. She will then challenge the suitors to duplicate Odysseus's feat and marry whoever wins. Penelope knows that only Odysseus will be able to perform this trick, and he will be able to reveal his true identity. The beggar responds that this is an excellent idea.
Penelope then tells the beggar about a dream where a huge eagle kills her beloved flock of geese. The beggar tells her that the dream is foreshadowing Odysseus's return, when he will slaughter all of the suitors. Penelope later learns that this dream is portending Odysseus's return, but the geese represent her twelve maids. Penelope orders the maids to wash Odysseus's feet, but he refuses, saying that he does not wish to be bathed by someone who disrespects him for being poor. Penelope then orders Eurycleia to do the job. Eurycleia recognizes a scar on Odysseus's leg and yelps for joy.
"Slanderous Gossip"
Penelope takes a break in the narrative to "address the slanderous gossip" that has been circulating about her over the centuries (143). In particular, the rumors accuse Penelope of sleeping with one of the suitors, Amphinomus. Other rumors accuse Penelope of leading the suitors on or sleeping with all of them, one after the other, and giving birth to the god Pan. Penelope emphasizes that she maintained proper decorum the whole time. The reason Odysseus did not reveal himself to Penelope right when he arrived in Ithaca is not because he did not trust her (as rumors suggest) but instead because he was afraid that she would dissolve into tears and give him away.
"The Chorus Line: The Perils of Penelope, a Drama"
In this chapter, the maids put on a play about the alternate scenario, in which Penelope was disloyal to Odysseus. In their depiction of Penelope, she has given in to her lust and has been sleeping with the suitors in Odysseus's absence. She expresses fear to Eurycleia that Odysseus will murder her. Penelope tells Amphinomus to hide and asks Eurycleia who knows about her affairs. Eurycleia responds that the twelve maids know, and Penelope asks her to tell Odysseus that the maids are "feckless and disloyal" so that they will not reveal the truth to Odysseus (150). Eurycleia and Penelope plan to blame it on the maids, who will be punished instead of Penelope.
"Helen Takes a Bath"
Penelope encounters Helen in the underworld, who tells her that she is on the way to take a bath. Penelope replies that they are spirits without bodies and there is no need for them to take baths. Helen counters that baths are a spiritual exercise for her. Penelope intuits that she is simply getting undressed to please the horde of male spirits that follow her around in the underworld. Helen says that because so many died for or because of her, they deserve something in return. Penelope accuses Helen of "washing their blood of [her] hands" (155). Helen argues that Odysseus also slaughtered hundreds of men in Penelope's name—though not as many that died for her, of course.
"Odysseus and Telemachus Snuff the Maids"
Penelope sleeps while Odysseus and Telemachus kill all of the suitors and the twelve maids. Eurycleia tells Penelope what happened while she was asleep. While still disguised as a beggar, Odysseus watches Telemachus set up the twelve axes and watch all of the suitors fail at the trial. Then, Odysseus grabs his own bow and shoots it through the twelve holes. Following this, he shoots Antinous in the throat, throws off his disguise, and kills the rest of the suitors. Telemachus and his friends help Odysseus. Once the suitors have all been killed, Odysseus orders Eurycleia to show him the maids who had been "disloyal." Eurycleia chooses Penelope's twelve maids. He then orders the maids to clean up all of the blood and guts. After they are done, he orders Telemachus to kill them, and he hangs them from a ship. Penelope is immediately distraught. She blames herself for not telling Eurycleia about her scheme. Penelope does not tell anyone about who those maids really were. Instead, she emerges to reunite with Odysseus.
"The Chorus Line: An Anthropology Lecture"
In this chapter, the maids pose as an anthropology professor who is giving a lecture on the symbolism behind their deaths. They suggest that the symbolism behind their number—twelve—connects to the moon, which could have transferred them into "moon-maidens" rather than "maids." This connects them to the goddess Artemis and turns their death into a ritual sacrifice. In this view of their deaths, they are reduced to pure symbols.
Analysis
In this part of the Penelopiad, we see Odysseus's long-awaited return. After being on her own for twenty years, Penelope's prayers are suddenly answered when Odysseus shambles into the courtyard disguised as a beggar. Penelope identifies Odysseus beneath the costume: "His disguise was well enough done—I hoped the wrinkles and baldness were part of the act, and not real—but as soon as I saw that barrel chest and those short legs I had a deep suspicion, which became a certainty when I heard he'd broken the neck of a belligerent fellow panhandler" (136). Penelope's intelligence takes center stage again, as she is immediately able to recognize Odysseus despite not having seen him in two decades. She is also careful about this knowledge: she does not reveal that she has recognized him right away. She does this to protect both Odysseus and herself. She does not want to wound Odysseus's pride by seeing through his disguise so easily: "Also, if a man takes pride in his disguising skills, it would be a foolish wife who would claim to recognize him. It's always an imprudence to step between a man and the reflection of his own cleverness" (137). Instead, Penelope welcomes the beggar into the castle and lets Odysseus play out his own plot. She does make sure, however, to enumerate her numerous sufferings to the disguised Odysseus, "as he would be more inclined to believe it" (138).
Penelope immediately recognizing Odysseus is a major re-write of Homer's Odyssey. In the original tale, Penelope is none the wiser when she meets the beggar. But in this version, Penelope tells that she certainly knew what was going on. Despite this, she did not immediately rejoice over her husband's presence, fall at his feet, and disrupt his plan to trick the suitors. Instead, she cleverly and carefully acts in her own self-interest, making sure to let Odysseus knows exactly what his departure did to her. Then, she helps Odysseus by offering the idea of testing the suitors with the bow and axes, knowing full well that Odysseus will be the only one able to complete the feat. Despite the genius of this idea, Penelope does not get credit for it because of her feigned ignorance. She tells us, "the songs claim that the arrival of Odysseus and my decision to set the test of the bow and axes coincided by accident—or by divine plan, which was our way of putting it then. Now you've heard the truth" (139).
Penelope "sets the record straight" again later in this section of the novel when she addresses "slanderous gossip" that she had succumbed to the suitors' advances. She adamantly maintains that she was faithful to Odysseus throughout his entire absence. The arguments for her infidelity use three points of evidence: first, that Anticleia, Odysseus's mother, did not mention the suitors nor Penelope when Odysseus visited her in the underworld (she would have had to mention Penelope's infidelity if she mentioned the suitors, which would have kept Odysseus from returning home); second, that Penelope did not punish the twelve imprudent maids, which means that she must have been behaving in a similar manner herself; and third, the fact that Odysseus did not reveal himself to her the second he returned to Ithaca. In response to these arguments, Penelope gives her counter-arguments: first, that Anticleia did not like her, and she would have been more than happy to speak poorly of Penelope in the underworld if there was anything to tell; second, the maids were acting on her direction as her spies; and third, Odysseus was probably worried that she would dissolve into a flood of tears upon seeing him.
In the next chapter, "The Perils of Penelope: A Drama," however, the maids counter Penelope's arguments. Despite the fact that this is Penelope's narrative—the entire novel is even named after her—the maids posit "another story" beneath the surface (147). In their play, Penelope expresses dismay at Odysseus's return because she has been unfaithful to him. Eurycleia tells Penelope that the twelve maids "must be silenced" because they know about Penelope's indecency (150). Penelope orders Eurycleia to let the maids take the fall: "Point out those maids as feckless and disloyal, / Snatched by the Suitors as unlawful spoil, / Polluted, shameless, and not fit to be / The doting slaves of such a Lord as he!" (150). As literary analyst Mihoko Suzuki points out, Atwood does not let Penelope have "the final word on the matter." Instead, Penelope's and the maids' version of events are giving the same weight within the Penelopiad: "Atwood declines to resolve whether we are to believe Penelope's self-defense or the maids' accusation." Ultimately, the decision on who to believe is left to the reader: do you believe Penelope, who we have been following this entire novel, or the maids, who have been painted as helpless victims throughout the text? Penelope and the maids both have reason to lie: Penelope wants to protect her reputation, even after death, and the maids are still angry at Penelope and consider her one of their oppressors (we know this because they refuse to even talk to her in Hades). Perhaps the real version of events is stickier, a mix of the two, and lost forever to history.
The final chapter of this section, "An Anthropology Lecture," is perhaps the most difficult for readers. It uses academic, college-level language that is a bit hard to parse. This chapter is an allusion to a study entitled "Myth and Ritual School of Interpretation" by Sir James Frazer at Cambridge University in 1915. In this study, Frazer argues that the hidden meaning of myth lies in the cycle of fertility. In this chapter, the twelve maids ironically suggest they are nothing more than fertility symbols: "thus possibly our rape and subsequent hanging represent the overthrow of a matrilineal moon-cult by an incoming group of usurping patriarchal father-god-worshipping barbarians" (165). However, the maids reveal their true feelings about this kind of study through their sardonic tone. They sarcastically assure the "educated minds" in their audience: "Point being that you don't have to get too worked up about us, dear educated minds. You don't have to think of us as real girls, real flesh and blood, real pain, real injustice. That might be too upsetting. Just discard the sordid part. Consider us pure symbol. We're no more real than money" (168). Literary scholar Hilde Staels suggests that the twelve maids are participating in a feminist "demythologizing" project that "play[s] with the boundary between truth and lies and historical fact and fiction." Whether or not they can be read as symbols in classical myth, they are endowed with a voice and perspective of their own in Atwood's novel. This means that their violent deaths should have an emotional effect on the reader—they have been brought to life as characters as real as Penelope herself.
