Atwood's Revision Of Mythological Figures

Hailed as the "Queen of Canadian Literature", Margaret Atwood holds a unique position as an accomplished contemporary Canadian celebrity in international milieu. As a prolific writer, she has over fifty works to her credit which include poetry, children's literature, fiction, and literary criticism that have received critical acclaim. Her literary accomplishments have won her widespread reputation and she has been the recipient of numerous literary awards and honorary degrees including Booker Prize and Governor General's Literary Awards.Women's Identity crisis has constantly been holding Atwood's attention and been one of her variegated topics of works. Atwood reveals her meditation on the lost voice of women through revising mythological figures in many of her poems such as Eurydice, Siren Song, Helen of Troy does Counter Dancing, Daphne and Laura and so forth. Still her newly-launched novella The Penelopiad, an adaptation from Homeric Epic, is permeated with her concern with and contemplation on women's mute stance. Through above-mentioned revisions, Atwood endows previously silent figures with voice and makes them give vent to their emotions, and thus exposes and criticizes inequality in gender-biased literary society.The originally mythological image of Helen has been presented diversely by authors of successive ages. Helen under Atwood's writing is a "cunning" female who familiarizes herself with rules of patriarchy society and weakness of male. Her deliberate flirtation takes expectant male in her control and thus renders herself to surpass the bondage imposed. However, actually, the superficial triumph sinks her into the swamp of patriarchy society to the core and makes her a pathetic victim. My dissertation tries to elaborate the vicissitudes of Helen as a literary image from the silent "Other" to a pathetic victim through analyzing Atwood's revision in the novella The Penelopiad and the poem Helen of Troy Does Counter Dancing.The first part is the dissertation is Introduction which serves as a general survey of Margaret Atwood's life, her literary accomplishments and her revision of myth; finally, a literary review on her myth revision by critics at home and abroad is presented.Next is the Body of this dissertation which comprises three chapters. Chapter One goes to illustrate Atwood's revision skills of female and male figures by taking Eurydice, Siren, Daphne, Penelope, Orpheus and Odysseus as examples so as to demonstrate her skills of mythological revision. Chapter Two extends to analyze different images of Helen in Homeric Epic, Euripides'canon Helen, Atwood's novella The Penelopiad and poem Helen of Troy Does Counter Dancing respectively. Chapter Three introduces feminist literary criticism and its employment to re-evaluate female literary images. Then this dissertation tries to approach Atwood's depiction of Helen from feminist perspectives so as to show the vicissitudes of Helen as a mythological figure from the silent "Other" to a pathetic victim, and then proceeds to discuss the significance of Atwood's myth revision.The last part is the Conclusion which summarizes Helen's textual vicissitudes and its pathetic image in Atwood's revisions. Atwood points out the permanent dilemma that women will encounter on their way to real emancipation and independence——how to protest against patriarchal injustice without losing women's true selves. Finally the conclusion points out the inadequacy of this dissertation and expresses the author's willingness to do further research on this subject.