#flashwrite#lit#thepenelopiad#chapter
Section A Question 1
Explore the significance of the passage in the text
This passage takes place in Chapter 18, News of Helen, as Telemachus successfully arrives back from his voyage, one he went on without consulting or asking Penelope. The extract further establishes the struggle for power in the world of the text, with an “ambush” always set out to dethrone those in power. Further, the extract furthers our understanding of entitlement and power.
Telemachus mentions how “he didn’t need anyone’s permission to take a boat”, while the chapter previous told us of the maids dreaming about boats, to be able to escape. This entitlement, to be able to take whatever he wants furthers the audience’s understanding of the motif of boats and water that permeates the novel, representing a sense of agency and being able to enact your own will, having the power to make a change. The extract makes it evident that Telemachus has no sense of consequences, where he was saved “more by good luck than good planning”, showing how those with power born into high status can so often disregard the outcomes of their actions.
The passage is crucial to understanding Telemachus’ views and inherent entitlement to power, and whenever the patriarchy is defied in any way, such as Penelope doing “what was usually considered a man’s business”, he gets “irritated by it” expressing that he needs to “[get] out from under the thumbs of the women”. Atwood uses this idea to further push and reinforce the idea that children are a product of society’s values and flaws, and there was no difference between the maids and Telemachus at birth, only the way that the world treated them. It also furthers our understanding of gender roles within the novel, where once again Penelope is stripped from her individual identity, being referred to as “the women”, where her gender defines her even to her own son.