Penelopiad #2

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After completing Penelopiad, it is clear that Atwood's goal was to explain the plot hole of the twelve deaths of the maids in The Odyssey. However, in some ways, it raises even more questions.

Towards the end of her book—or shall we call it an essay—Atwood plays around with the format and perspective. For the most part her writing is relatively consistent, switching from Penelope's first person perspective as events unfold in the afterlife and her version of events as they happened during her lifetime. Then, it begins to introduce much more unique and modernized concepts, such as in the form of a courtroom transcript. In these scenes, Odysseus is on trial in a modern-day court for the wrongful murder of the twelve faithful maids. This jarring effect strengthens Atwood's arguments about the injustice of the maids' suffering during their tenure at the palace by using the court system
as a lens through which we can view the ancient events. Not only does this format pull the events into the present day and force a confrontation, she also uses this platform to showcase the "naysayer" arguments. This means that Atwood utilizes the judge as a physical representation of a critic who is judging Atwood's feminist take of The Odyssey. Even though Atwood gave the maids a voice to protest against Odysseus in the courtroom, the judge frees him of responsibility due to "different customs and expectations" at the time of the crimes. 

Her idea that the infringement of women's rights are often explained away by using the excuse of it happening in the past, under with different expectations and social norms is explored in a variety of Atwood's works. Most famously, the epilogue to The Handmaid's Tale takes place centuries after the death of her main character and the fall of her dystopian republic. In the epilogue, an "expert" and college professor gives a lecture to his class, during which he made allowances for Gilead's inequality because the republic followed more ancient laws and practices, and viewed women as innately inferior. He also criticized the bias of the narrator. The trend of women's injustice and the feminist lens has been a focal point in a number of Atwood's works, which has solidified this idea as her leitmotif.  :)

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