The Penelopiad Chapters v & vi Summary & Analysis

Chapters v & vi

Summary: Chapter v. Asphodel

Penelope says the Underworld is mostly dark, though brighter among the fields of asphodel, a white flower. Sometimes, when the fog parts, the spirits can see the world of the living. In the past, they could even visit it when a person made an animal sacrifice to conjure a spirit. The spirits would make intentionally vague prophecies so that they might be conjured again. However, customs changed over millennia, as spirits were sent to a flashier version of the afterlife. They are still sometimes conjured by magicians, and they can travel via television signals. However, magicians have never had much interest in conjuring Penelope, despite her fame, instead preferring her cousin, Helen. Penelope finds this treatment unfair because Helen has a much worse reputation than Penelope. Helen was supposedly the daughter of Zeus, who in the form of a swan raped Helen’s mother, though Penelope does not believe this story. While Helen is still admired for her beauty, Penelope knows she herself has never been particularly attractive. She thinks that if she were a magician, she would rather conjure a woman who started a war by driving men mad with lust too. Penelope wonders why Helen was never punished when others were for much smaller crimes.

Summary: Chapter vi. My Marriage

In Penelope’s time, all marriages were arranged, and only important people with inheritances were married at all. In the court of Penelope’s father, a groom was chosen for a noblewoman through a contest. The man would then gain wealth through the marriage. Penelope refers to this wealth of treasures as “trash” as it has since ended up at the bottom of the ocean, under the ground, or in new palaces visited by people who then buy replicas of it. The treasures would then stay with the bride’s family. Penelope suggests that her father saw her as one of the treasures, which was why he wanted to keep her close after attempting to drown her. Penelope then wonders again why he threw her into the sea. She thinks she may have been a sacrifice to Poseidon.

When Penelope was fifteen, she watched the men competing in a race for her from her window. However, she knew it was not her they wanted, but the treasures that came with her. Penelope asked her Maids about a barrel-chested man among the suitors and learned that his name was Odysseus. Though Odysseus was not considered a serious candidate because of his rustic kingdom, he was known for being very smart, as well as a cheater and a thief. Helen arrived and patronizingly joked that Odysseus would make a fine husband for Penelope. Penelope thinks back to Helen’s obsession with looks and how this obsession caused the trouble that led Helen to leave her husband, Menelaus, for the Trojan prince Paris. Odysseus won the race by drugging the wine of the other contestants with help from Helen’s father, Penelope’s Uncle Tyndareus. Penelope has heard a story that Odysseus facilitated the marriage of Helen and Menelaus in exchange for Tyndareus’s help with winning Penelope. However, Penelope believes Tyndareus, who alternated ruling Sparta with Icarius, wanted Penelope and any sons she might have sent away so that he could have the throne to himself. After the race, Penelope and Odysseus were married, and Penelope recalls watching Helen smirk.

Analysis: Chapters v & vi

In these chapters, Penelope again reflects on the nature of perspective and how it relates to truth. She considers how much truth is in several stories that she has heard and that have been passed on as myths throughout the ages. Helen’s parentage by Zeus in the form of a swan is a well-known myth, though because of Penelope’s unfavorable views of Helen, she dismisses it. Similarly, the pact between Odysseus and Tyndareus is a part of Greek mythology. However, Penelope, who is more intimately aware of the rivalry between her father and her uncle, offers a different perspective on this long-established version of events.

While Penelope offers some insight and clarity by telling the story from her perspective, she also introduces certain biases. While thinking about the treasure promised to her groom, Penelope again reflects on the reason behind her father’s attempt to drown her as a baby, this time wondering whether she was a sacrifice to the gods. Penelope can fill in the blanks in some stories where she has preconceived notions, but she is vexed by a story from which she can draw no rational conclusions. She does not want to believe that her father wanted to kill her, so his motivations still haunt her.

The oppression of women raises its head as the relationship between Penelope and Helen is introduced. Penelope resents her cousin for her beauty, a quality Penelope knows she does not possess. Especially at the time Penelope and Helen would have lived, beauty was one of the greatest assets a woman could have. Penelope knows this has not changed very much in the modern day, as Helen is still conjured by people so that they can admire her beauty. Even as a spirit, Penelope holds onto the envy she has had of Helen ever since she was a young girl. An insidious effect of women’s oppression, then, is in how they try to tear down one another. In blaming Helen entirely for the Trojan War, rather than any of the thousands of men who fought in it, Penelope reveals her bias against Helen. She also introduces the idea of the subjectivity of justice, as she wonders why Helen has not received punishment for the crime of starting a war. However, Penelope’s longing for justice likely has more to do with her jealousy than due process.

The oppression of women is also shown in the customs surrounding Penelope’s marriage. Penelope points out that marriage and procreation were used only as a means of passing on wealth, the implication being that women were viewed as no more than vessels, for either children or money. When Penelope points out how these treasures are now “trash,” she suggests that the subjugation of women in the name of wealth was even crueler for how such treasures lost value so quickly. Similarly, while marriages were never based on love matches, men had more control over the process than women did. It was no secret that Odysseus cheated to win Penelope, who had no say in the matter. Tyndareus, too, uses Penelope as a pawn to gain power. In a society that views women as vessels instead of people, it is no wonder that Penelope’s story has gone untold for so long.