The Penelopiad

The Penelopiad Literary Elements

Genre

Feminist literature, historical fiction

Setting and Context

Ancient Greece, the Trojan War and its immediate aftermath

Narrator and Point of View

The narrator is Penelope, who offers an alternative perspective on the story of Odysseus.

Tone and Mood

The tone is grave, melancholy, and violent.

Protagonist and Antagonist

The protagonist is Penelope, and the antagonist is Helen.

Major Conflict

The major conflict of the novel is between Penelope and the false version of her story, which she is trying to challenge.

Climax

The climax is the murder of the twelve maids.

Foreshadowing

Odysseus tells Penelope that if she cheated on him, he would kill her. This hint of his violence foreshadows his later killing of the maids.

Understatement

Atwood believed that the significance of the killing of the twelve maids has been understated in typical cultural representations of this story.

Allusions

Atwood alludes to many figures of Greek mythology, including Helen of Troy.

Imagery

This book is full of imagery of violence, most notably when Odysseus kills the maids.

Paradox

N/A

Parallelism

The experiences of the twelve maids are paralleled with the experiences of Penelope, as they are all women living in ancient Greece.

Metonymy and Synecdoche

Atwood uses the word "grave" as a metonym for death.

Personification

Charybdis is the personification of a whirlpool.