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So what? What is Murray-Smith and Atwood teaching us about...…
So what? What is Murray-Smith and Atwood teaching us about... (similiarities and contrasts)
Times of Crisis
Momentary and women can overcome them
Re-birth and renewal
Risk
Tiggy, Mary, Winsome, Zoe, Penelope, Maids
Different
Offers useful ways of getting around some of the pitfalls of being a woman
Manic
Merryl, Theresa, Penelope
Penelope killing the maids to keep them silent
Expose inner most troubles and concerns
Characters are faced with the moment in which their lives become less stable or what they have relied on or known starts to fail them
The theme described, in the authors note of "women of the edge" unites the six characters
Challenges of being a woman
Burden - of expectations and possibilities
Perfection
Myth
Undermine the myth that marriage automatically provides a grounding sense of identity
Penelope and Odysseus's marriage bed is partly made from a tree, symbolises the continuity and permanence of their marriage
For many of the woman, feel the need to be loved and accepted by men before they can be happy with their own identities
Draws on range of cliches
Her final scram, is an expression of rage and despair directed at a society where women are seduced by romantic dreams and celebrity dreams and made to believe that these would bring happiness
Just as Penelope as does not confront her suitors or husband head on, preferring to outwit them instead, so the Penelopiad does not openly challenge or dispute the mythic narratives on which it is base
Penelope's narrative is interspursed with snippets from the maids point of view on how they are treated
Women were treated as prizes or possessions
Many of the women define themselves in their relations with others and when these relationships breakdown through either divorce or death or being on stage so does their concept of self.
The label of widow (Winsome) becomes an anchor in a life in which her needs are mostly ignored
A crushing sense of monotony
Atwood draws out contrasting strategies for female survival in a world dominated by men
The use of Penelope's voice is so we see how she completley outwits the many men that are around her and that she is conscious of how others percieve her. (we are aware of her regrets of her actions)
Atwood presents Penelope's world as one of survival.
As the underdogs in a society dominated by men the women of ancient greece competed with each other, to be heard, to be noticed or to sustain what little power they had
Exacerbated by celebrity
These identities operate as contradictions in someones concept of self-feeling or self-being
Struggle to measure up, to the various images of successful womanhood, celebrated in popular culture.
Superficially reflect the stereotypical female ideals
Clash uncomfortably with the characters needs to express their individuality thus, creating pressures that erupt into turmoil
Inner and Outer world collides
Characters grapple to find words in an attempt to articulate these internal experiences
Jealousy
Is this always a bad thing?
Motivating factor
Teenager represented by many
Resilience, Egotistical
weapon resilience
"Cut throat world"
These inter-related narratives suggest a close community network in which women, measure themselves against other women
Penelope
Managing the farm
Giving a characteristic Helen doesn't have
Exposing Helen's short coming
Feeds insecurities
Mary epitomises the generalisations associated with teenage girls having total belief in one's self and one's abilities
Tiggy Entwhistle halting monologue is continually interrupted by a pause or "beat" as she struggles to compose herself or to reveal a painful truth
Is this always the case?
Winsome and the other widows
Keep each other company and offer a support network
Women may have been forced by gender to congregate and work together but this does not mean they would necessarily form close bonds or protecte each other
Owns her past therefore, others disregarded
Zoe Strutters has risen above the negative nature (competitiveness)
Have inappropriate conversations about other women
Beneath the bravado is a nagging fear that someone else might win
As the daughter of a Naiad Penelope has a close affinity with water her way is not to challenge but to find a way to get what she wants with cunningness
The contrast in drawn out by Atwood with binary opposites in the personal antagonism between the two women in the underworld
The marginalised
Children, servants and women particularly less attractive women were among those who were without power or status in Ancient Greece
The voice given to the maids provides an outlet for the marginalised and allows them to seek justice and vengeance
The ever-changing of the maids sections reduces their weight and significance in comparison to Penelope and
diminishes their status
as serious characters (even the modern day court room scene mostly ignores their point of view)
Post feminist literature
Choice
Respecting choice and not judging
Empowerment (sisterhood)
Story-telling
Attempts to justify her decisions and make sense of the challenges that have come her way.
Provide the internal dialogue of how they cope with and react to these events
The voice Murray-Smith gives to each woman expresses the challenges that can be faced externally but also more significantly how difficult it can be to verbalise and deal emotionally with what happens to their security and belief in self
In Atwood's retelling of Homeric myth "women speak" and what they speak of are not "heroes and incredible feats" but the "inhumanley human things" done in war time
The effect is to subvert the archaic, heroic, masculine perspective of the source text by countering it with an ironic, witty, modern sounding female voice
Atwood debunks the version of the story found in the Odyssey by suggesting a more prosaic, less heroic alternative
The hanged maids tale
The maids increasingly interrupt the narrative of Penelope, they denounce the "inhumane things" done to them by Odysseus and expose the partiallity of Penelope's story
The maids voices are witty parodic, tongue in cheek but also plaintive and haunting
The form a chorus (linked to ancient greek drama) and provide a plurality of perspectives
Atwood gives, a voice to the voiceless victims of male violence
Rather than resisting the authority of her mythical sources, Atwood goes around it by probing them for what they leave unsaid
Thus Penelope and Atwood "spins a thread of her own" on her mythical loom while the heroes of homeric myth are left to rebbl, womanise, and slaughter outside
The owls traditionally the keepers of knowledge, owls are the guardians of the underworlds
Penelope says she wants to scream out but when she does "she sounds like an owl" which refers to the fact that she knows things about the events that take place upon Odysseus's return (these secrets must remain with her)
Distinct purpose of clearing her name
The reader must question her motives and facts as she relays them
Atwood suggests that storytelling is a matter of perspective
Individual Empowerment
Career
Maternity
Sexuality
Penelope's proposed relationships with suitors
If their are two means of survival available to women in The Penelopiad "wit and clitoris" then Penelope mainly relies on the first, Helen on the second
Penelope
Relies on her wits, not her clit
Pg. 21" I was smart though ... a plain and smart wife"
"Penelope the duck" Pg. 28
Pg. 37 "Plain jane Penelope"
Pg. 35 "second prize"
Helen
Relies on her sexual allure
Pg. 21-22 "'a woman who driven hundreds men made with lust"
Pg. 33 "Intolerably beautiful"
Pg. 37 "Radiant Helen"
First Prize
The opening line "now I am dead I know everything" is an engaging and appealing start to the story. As the narrative progresses, Penelope builds her own voice as she becomes her own story-teller
Resilience and Change
Post Feminists are sexual activity who use their body and attractiveness as an instrument to achieve societal and personnal change.
Murray-Smith's window into women hood in a post feminist society show, how easily modern women can disappear inside the impossible pressure to be great
Post Feminism concentrates on furthering the idea of empowerment, the celebration of femininity,
freedom of choice, liberation and empowerment
These pro feminist themes continually encourage the audience to evaluate the situation of women in society
General sentences
We thus, arrive at the crux of the problem
These publications give voice to a diverse range of young women
Murray-Smith and Atwood uncover the types of ..........
They pinpoint the challenges that face twenty-fort century women at different stages of their lives.
Black humour and humour is used frequently throughout the play to lighten the atmosphere and temper what would otherwise be a heavy or tense moment
Crafted narratives offering multiple perspectives, giving voices to those who are often silenced and power to the disempowered.
Unlike Bombshells, The Penelopiad is based on a hypotexte which is an earlier text that serves as a source for a later work of literature
Atwood reworks her male authored sources in much the same way that Penelope deals with the overbearing men in her life
Penelope's voice is at times cheeky and plain spoken
Humour and sarcasm add a new perspective that challenges the idea that Penelope is just a loyal and subserviant wife
Their voice often changes as it mimics several genre styles at times it appears playful and fun and at others it is outraged and sorrowful
As we move to each section of the maids, their voice becomes
increasingly angry
Although the changing style of the maids voice may cause the reader to dismiss or gloss over their silliness in true greek theatre their voice is the most authoritative
Atwood draws on the arhyaitypes of women in literature and challenges societal notions of these women as passive, victims or villians
Atwood gives the women contemporary voices to challenge the restrictions of ancient greece
Two faces of war
The Illiad
The manly face of war
Courage on the battle field
Equipment and generals
Outside (public sphere)
Legacy
Epic poem
The Penelopiad
The womanly face of war
Slaughter of the palace
Household goods and handmaids
Inside (Private sphere)
Multi-vocal mixed narrative
Inhumanely human things
Adjectives to describe characters
Odysseus
Determined to return home
Cunning