Why Could You Not Just Stay Silent?: Feminist Revisionist Mythmaking in Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad and Madeline Miller’s Circe

Since the twenty-first century, feminist retellings of myths have become increasingly popular. As an epic, Homer’s The Odyssey brims with female characters. However, mythology is often considered to consist of archetypal and universally applicable stories about the nature of the universe and human life, which often leads to the notion that myth is stagnant and unchangeable. As a rising genre, feminist revisionist mythmaking aims to focus on the role of women in myth. By using Hélène Cixous’ essay The Laugh of Medusa and Alicia Ostriker’s definition of feminist revisionist mythmaking, this thesis aims to illustrate how Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad (2005) and Madeline Miller’s Circe (2018) revise and adapt previously marginalised female characters. This thesis will give an analysis of the women in Atwood’s The Penelopiad, focussing on Penelope’s voice and reputation, female rivalry, and the unjust hanging of the maids, followed by an analysis of Miller’s Circe that focusses on...Show moreSince the twenty-first century, feminist retellings of myths have become increasingly popular. As an epic, Homer’s The Odyssey brims with female characters. However, mythology is often considered to consist of archetypal and universally applicable stories about the nature of the universe and human life, which often leads to the notion that myth is stagnant and unchangeable. As a rising genre, feminist revisionist mythmaking aims to focus on the role of women in myth. By using Hélène Cixous’ essay The Laugh of Medusa and Alicia Ostriker’s definition of feminist revisionist mythmaking, this thesis aims to illustrate how Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad (2005) and Madeline Miller’s Circe (2018) revise and adapt previously marginalised female characters. This thesis will give an analysis of the women in Atwood’s The Penelopiad, focussing on Penelope’s voice and reputation, female rivalry, and the unjust hanging of the maids, followed by an analysis of Miller’s Circe that focusses on Circe’s voice and personal growth, sisterhood, and female sexuality. Both The Penelopiad and Circe confront issues such as gender and justice that are present in The Odyssey as well as present-day society. By focussing on women’s presence in a literary canon that historically seen has been dominated by the male gaze, Atwood and Miller emphasize that these women have survived despite the male-focused dominance and that it is never too late for them to speak up.Show less

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Why Could You Not Just Stay Silent?: Feminist Revisionist Mythmaking in Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad and Madeline Miller’s Circe