Sexual Fables |
This article accompanies the fable Margaret Atwood exploits it... After writing from Circe’s point of view when she was somewhat younger, she turned to Penelope later in life in The Penelopiad (2002). Penelope opts to stay with Odysseus but she is under no illusions – her husband is a liar and a drunk - but then Penelope herself doesn’t emerge from the story in an unflattering light either. She is self-pitying and haunted by the unjust murder of her 12 maids. She blames Helen of Troy for everything and Helen actually comes across as more interesting than she does.
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