The Penelopiad

Contemporary Penelope, wise and dead, begins her chapter on marriage describing the utility of marriage in those days. She emphasizes the maids’ point that marriage was only for the upper crust: “All the rest was just copulation of various kinds” (23). Dead Penelope is able to give some cynical perspective on the ordeal—that marriages are for having children, to carry dynasties and fortunes into the future. In underlining the utilitarian and dynastic aspects of marriage, Penelope strips it of any romance, while also engendering sympathy for the unmarriageable maids.

As an aside, Penelope still wonders about her father’s attempt at murdering her. This now-confident-seeming spirit still showcases a deal of insecurity and naiveté in searching for rationales for her father’s act. Here, in attributing it to a divine demand, she’s again taking the blame out of his hands, forgiving him for an inexcusable act. It’s a testament to how betrayed she felt by Odysseus that he is not given the same benefit of the doubt in her asides.

In chapter 6, Penelope describes just how young and naïve she was—unable to understand coarse jokes and highly susceptible to Helen’s digs. It also shows how alone she already felt—ignored on her own wedding day by men competing against each other, instead of for her, and gawking at Helen. So, too, begins the habit of getting information from her maids, whose freedom from scrutiny allows them more freedom to study the competitors. The first she hears of Odysseus is that he “was too clever for his own good” (31), which sets the tone for his entire characterization in the book.

This chapter also furthers the storyline of contemptible, arrogant Helen, who remains in competition for Odysseus’ affections (at least in Penelope’s mind). Helen’s reference to Odysseus’ attempt to win her hand in her own marriage competition reinforces that Penelope is “at best only second prize” (35).

At every turn, when an action of Odysseus’ might seem moral or chivalrous, Penelope does not fail to color it with her cynical hindsight. He doesn’t drink in order to prevent his wits from getting dulled, and his kindness toward her in the bedchamber is characterized as one of his persuasive tricks. While she, in her youthful innocence, develops feelings for him, she says, “he behaved as if he reciprocated them” (48). She is careful to avoid painting any of his kind actions as romantic or chivalrous, but always notes how his actions were carefully calculated and self-serving.

This section’s chorus once again uses a lighthearted frame to address dark topics. In the form of a “popular tune,” which the maids perform and then bow (even passing a hat like buskers), the verses express a cliché wish to be whisked away and married to a young hero. However, the repetitive chorus is much darker, telling them to sail on water “as dark as the grave,” (52) where their little boat might sink, concluding that it’s “hope, and hope only, that keeps us afloat” (52). While the power of hope might seem at first glance a sweet sentiment, the chorus is really saying that the maids should take a risk, which might well end up being deadly. Any attempt to escape the life of drudgery and dirt into which they’ve been born will more than likely end up in death.

As Penelope begins to settle into Ithaca, she continues to admire Odysseus, though, again, she cuts any sentiment with the observation that “his manner was that of an older person to a child” (57) and that he studied her like a puzzle. Her mother-in-law and father do little to welcome her, and Odysseus’s nurse Eurycleia leaves her little duties with which to busy herself, but she does help her adjust much more than her in-laws. So, Penelope continues to feel isolated, and rely on maids for company and aid.

Still, Penelope finds herself compared to Helen. At the birth of Telemachus, Odysseus notes that ‘Helen hasn’t borne a son yet,’ (64) which, though it should make her feel better, only reminds her that he continues to think of Helen (“why was he still—and possibly always—thinking about Helen” [64]).

This chorus’ content is perhaps the most plainly dark of them all, and yet the form is noted as an idyll. An idyll is typically a short description of a picturesque incident in pastoral life, but the content of this poem is a dark analysis of how the maids were treated compared to Telemachus, their contemporary. Again, they emphasize the worthlessness of their bodies, how they were “animal young, to be disposed of at will” (67). And, much like Penelope’s descriptions and experiences, this chorus nurtures empathy for the maids, by describing them as growing up beside Telemachus, “helpless as he was helpless, but ten times more helpless as well” (66).