The Penelopiad

Atwood opens the book by explaining its premise: while Odysseus’ story and his character are well known due to the fame of Homer’s Odyssey, the story of his wife, Penelope, is less well understood. While she is portrayed with “intelligence and constancy” (xiii) throughout the book and, more centrally, with faithfulness, Atwood advises that there are other sources of Greek mythology that paint a more nuanced portrait of Penelope’s early life and marriage. So Atwood’s Penelopiad is her story, told by Penelope herself and the twelve maids who slept with Penelope’s suitors and are hanged by Odysseus and her son Telemachus for their crimes. Atwood writes not only to explore Penelope’s actions and motives but to analyze why the maids were hanged and how it might haunt Penelope, as it haunted Atwood as a reader.

This chapter is told through prose in the voice of Penelope. She establishes that she is speaking from beyond the grave; she is dead and ready to tell her tale. Penelope acknowledges that her husband “was tricky and liar, [she] just didn’t think he would play his tricks and try out his lies on [her]” (2).