Da Odisséia à Odisséia de Penélope: o Coro de escravas como porta-voz da alteridade, violência e redenção

Abstract

The patriarchal nature of Greek mythology, concretized in the Odyssey, among other instances, in the episode of the twelve hanged maids under Odysseus’ orders, has instigated Margaret Atwood to rewrite the story of Penelope and of her twelve maids, based on other  mythic sources. By giving the telling of the story to Penelope and to her maids from their birth up to Odysseus’ return, and therefore as first- person narrators, in order to bring out  unrevealed aspects  in the Homeric texts, Atwood does so from an unusual point of view: the maids form a Chorus that sings, chants, and dances while it tells its true story. This  account  reveals their alterity as synonymous of an objectal condition and of lack of identity, which left them exposed to all types of violence, thus leading to their condemnation and execution. Nevertheless, through the device of different poetic genres and styles, the Chorus reconstructs not only its story but simultaneously creates its own language – polyphonic, parodical, accusatory – in this way also deconstructing the image of the Homeric hero. The maids’ redemption   occurs as they take Odysseus not only to a trial in the twenty-first century, but mainly by assuring  him that he will be eternally followed by the Furies. It is the account of this route  from alterity to violence and redemption which this work will focus on.