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The Penelopiad

The Penelopiad. Mythological Connections. Aeschylus’s trilogy, The Orestia (458 B.C.). Part 1 of Trilogy: Agamemnon ; Agamemnon is King of Mycenae, brother of Menelaus.

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The Penelopiad

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  1. The Penelopiad Mythological Connections

  2. Aeschylus’s trilogy,The Orestia (458 B.C.) • 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.

  3. The Orestia, cont’d. • Part 2 of Trilogy: The Libation Bearers (Electra & Orestes reunited; Orestes gets revenge by killing mom, Clytemnestra); • 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).

  4. Erinyes [AKA Furies] [ih-rin-ee-eez] • Three cruel earth goddesses of revenge and retribution, symbolizing divine vengeance. • 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) • Dreadful creatures with appalling features—burning breath, poisonous blood dripping from eyes, heads wreathed with serpents, bodies of dogs, bat/bird wings • 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. • In The Penelopiadthe maids call on the furies for help in the courtroom scene. HOW DOES THE COURTROOM SCENE ALSO RECALL THE ORESTIA TRILOGY?

  5. Erinyas/Furies(“The Remorse of Orestes”)

  6. 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?

  7. How do the maids compare to their counterpart, Iphigenia? p. 164 & study guide question #87 • 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. • Provides segue into discussion of Artemis, who was the protector of virgins.

  8. Study guide questions #78, 79, 80 Artemis (Diana in Roman), Goddess of the Moon (sister of Apollo) • 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. • 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) • 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 pre-patriarchal Mother cult. (Atwood is here, of course, making fun of feminist criticism, even though she herself is a feminist writer.)

  9. 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.” )

  10. Feminism and Feminist Literary Criticism • The Penelopiadhas been called "feminist,” and more specifically "vintage Atwood-feminist,” 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)

  11. 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).

  12. Sisyphus • 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.

  13. 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.)

  14. 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.

  15. Who is most responsible for the rumors that debase Penelope’s virtue? • Anticleia, her mother in law!

  16. Sibyl • A female prophet or a witch

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