Maynard 1

Anna Maynard

English G Block

Portfolio

Rise Up to Fight and Conquer

The male dominance that fills the lives of Odysseus, the maids, and Penelope allows for

brutal events to transpire at the price of the women. While women are suffering, men thrive off

the complete monopoly of power they hold over women. During their life on Earth, the maids

constantly endure rape and torture under the allowance of Odysseus, he permits noblemen to

rape the maids with his “permission”. The maids face a terrible death at the hands of an

unwilling Penelope and an all too willing sovereign. The twelve girls tell their stories of pain

through the choruses which have a frequent occurrence throughout The Penelopiad. The death

and rape of the maids in Margret Atwood’s The Penelope represent the overwhelming patriarchal

dominance that has been persistent throughout society since ancient Greek times.

Noble men and visitors of Odysseus enter the palace and immediately obtain power over

the maids due to their gender. Men have ultimate power over women in almost any position and

“So in effect, these maids were forced to sleep with the Suitors because if they resisted they

would have been raped anyway, and much more unpleasantly” (182). The expectations of the

maids are to oblige to any male command or the outcome for them would be much worse. The

maids have no power over the dominant men and are an object for the men’s pleasure at any

time, day or night. In society, it is okay for men to dominant over women and hurt them without

their consent because Odysseus, a man and the maid’s owner says it is okay. The maids must

constantly oblige to any command laid upon them by the men, the men have total power and can
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abuse and rape the women to their pleasure. The pain put onto the maids goes unnoticed because

they are not seemingly important figures in society. The maids suffer dehumanization through

Odysseus and other noblemen. Their opinion does not matter and due to their lesser accounted

for gender, they constantly face unfair pain and torture. Men make decisions about what

women’s bodies should to go through, not even considering the pain and misery this brings

women.

From the perspective of Odysseus and other noblemen, the death and rape of the maids is

a part of society and it passes as unimportant and normal; men assume a higher position of power

in society, so they believe it is fine to do whatever they want to the less fortunate gender. The

women are not seen as people but as items and “[are] consider[ed] pure symbol. We’re no more

real than money” (168). The maids express that they are not highly valued, they are just a symbol

of the patriarchal dominance engulfing the world. The men imprint the mindset of inferiority

upon the women and force them into a position of constant unimportance. The insignificant

impact of their deaths, signifies how men down play the real significance of murder and rape,

especially when it happens to women. The maids encounter rape because to the men, they

represent objects, the maids receive less respect than money because replacements come easy

and the need of replacements due to death has real no impact on society. Their true worth,

demolished through male intervention goes unknown to all readers of The Odyssey; in The

Penelopiad, however, Atwood shows the true value and impact that women can have on society

through the frequent chorus lines. The raped maids, and the nonexistent impact their death has on

society comes to show that the men of Odysseus’ time could care less about the lives of twelve

young girls. Their deaths go unaccounted for while men use them as objects for fulfillment of

their wishes.
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Odysseus should have been the one killed, but due to male dominance the maids were

dead in his place. Once the maids see what terrible conditions have consumed their lives, they

realize that patriarchal superiority is to blame. Odysseus and the other monstrous noblemen got a

free pass, they left the entire encounter unscathed and got away with murder due their dominant

gender. The “hanging did indeed take place, but it was we, the twelve moon-maidens, who did

the swinging in his place” (167). The murder in addition to the rape and unjust cruelty forced

upon the maids is completely outrageous. The maids face torment and terrible behavior and then

suffered because of it. Men have complete control over the solution of problems, and women are

left without any power; lacking the ability to stand up for themselves and others due to a dark

shade covering them, men. The maids correctly believe that Odysseus should be the one facing

consequences, there is no reason why women should have to suffer due to torment brought upon

them by men. The completely dominant male figures in society suppresses women,

dehumanizing them and giving them no chance to get out of their current position to rise. Men

are at free will to rape and abuse women and not face any punishments for their outrageous

crimes because they completely influence all aspects of society.

The maids unjust rape and murder represents the complete control that men hold over

women throughout society. Men can easily commit crimes and go unscathed due to the

impressive regime of backup that does not permit men to suffer true consequences. Rape is

unacceptable, and men not only get away with it, but somehow the ultimate punishment

confronts women. In both historical and modern society, men are the dominant gender, it is

without a second thought that women fill the passenger seat while men control through the

government and social media. Goals put in place to destroy this hierarchy go unreached due to

historical prejudices. For society to ever reach its maximum potential, all genders, races and
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groups of people need to be involved, men and women need to realize that the historically

initialized dominance is impermissible and women must try to abolish it by whatever means

necessary. Women must rise and compete to gain the respect that is rightfully theirs.
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Work Cited

Atwood, Margret, The Penelopiad. Great Britain: Canongate Books Ltd, 2005, Print.

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