The Parody Art Of Atwood’s The Penelopiad

The Penelopiad is one of the works that best embodies Atwood’s parody art.Atwood’s parody contains two meanings.The first is to subvert the established narrative through parody of the source text and a particular genre.The second is to realize the parody of feminism by turning the perspective to women and making the voice of women.Based on the parody theory,this paper makes a comparative analysis of The Penelopiad with the tradition of ancient Greek mythology,the tradition of chorus in ancient Greek drama and dystopian literature and explores the deep meaning behind Atwood’s parody art.The thesis is mainly written from three aspects:The first chapter discusses the parody of the ancient Greek mythological tradition in The Penelopiad.First,it parodies the heroic themes in the ancient Greek mythological tradition.The novel reduces the image of Odysseus from a hero to a common man and reveals the identity of the persecutors of the hero male who is shielded behind him.Thus,the theme of praising heroes in Greek mythology was transformed into the theme of male oppression of women.Second,it parodies the theme of war in the ancient Greek mythological tradition.Men’s war for women is essentially the objectification of women,and the essence of war is the struggle for power and property.Women are only carriers of property and power.Third,Atwood parodies the silent female image in ancient Greek mythology.He reshaped a self-conscious female image and deeply criticized the misogyny tendency in the patriarchal consciousness through Penelope’s retort to Telemachus.At the same time,it disintegrates Penelope’s loyal image,lets Penelope speak out his own desire,and accuses the patriarchal society and the shackles of women.Chapter two explores the parody of the tradition of the ancient Greek chorus in The Penelopiad.First,the novel parodies the relationship between human and god in ancient Greek chorus.Twelve maids blasphemed Odysseus,the god of the world.In the accusation of Odysseus’ tyranny and the subversion of Odysseus’ image,they overthrew the absolute rule of God over man.Second,the parody of membership in ancient Greek chorus.The narrative of the relationship between the twelve maids as slaves and women and the master slave of Telemachus makes the women become the voices from the silent ones.The third is a parody of the twelve Titans in the chorus.Compared with the Twelve goddesses of Titan,the twelve maids have a stronger consciousness of awakening.They realize that they are persecuted,and actively fight against them to fight for the rights belonging to women.The third chapter discusses the parody of anti-utopia literature in The Penelopiad.First,by analyzing the critical parody of anti-utopia literature,it reveals the female political meaning of The Penelopiad,which is to resist the tyranny and roughness of male power.Second,it parodies the utopian nature of anti-utopia literature.It reveals that women should not escape their own survival situation,but to face their own situation,the courage to get rid of cowardice,develop self-awareness;Third,the parody of the court of anti-utopia literature.The court of anti-utopia literature is the court of the powerful,but the court in The Penelopiad resounded with the voices of oppressed and humiliated women.It was the court where women demanded equal justice.Perhaps men still used the court to suppress women,but the voice of women echoed through the court,and women could eventually usher in their own future.Atwood’s parody art is of revolutionary literary significance.It not only criticizes the imprisonment of women in the traditional culture from ancient Greek mythology to the present,but also takes parody as a means of women’s self-liberation and gives voice to women in the form of parody.No matter in ancient or modern times,the "secondary sex" status of women has not changed,and justice is just an illusion shaped by male power.Atwood advocates that women should be aware of the deceptive nature of democracy and freedom,because freedom and equality can only be achieved through unremitting struggle.