Masarykova univerzita Filozofická fakulta Katedra anglistiky a amerikanistiky Bakalářská diplomová práce 2021 Beatrice Křížová - Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies English Language and Literature Beatrice Křížová Rewriting Greek myths of Homer: Voicing Female Experience Bachelor’s Diploma Thesis Supervisor: Prof. Mgr. Milada Franková, CSc., M.A. 2021 - I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography. …………………………………………….. Author’s signature - Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisor, prof. Mgr. Milada Franková, CSc., M.A., for her valuable feedback and guidance and above all for our shared passion on the topic. I feel privileged that I could choose a topic we were both interested in despite the fact this is usually taken for granted. I would also like to express my gratitude towards my family and friends who supported me when I was losing faith in myself. And finally, I would like to thank my loving partner who took care of me and practical aspects my life when I was working on the thesis. Thank you all again. - Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 6 1. Archetypal Tradition of Greek Myths .................................................................................... 8 1.1 The original myth of the Iliad and Homer’s portrayal of women............................................ 9 1.1.1 The Iliad and role of women in the plot ................................................................ 9 1.1.2 Women’s portrayal in the Iliad ........................................................................... 12 1.2 The original myth of the Odyssey and Homer’s portrayal of women .....................................22 1.2.1 The Odyssey and role of women in the plot ........................................................ 22 1.2.2 The archetypical portrayal of women in the Odyssey .......................................... 23 1.3 Misogyny and archetypes in the traditional Greek Myths .....................................................26 2. Retelling the myths; search for authentic female silenced experience in the novels.............30 2.1 Multiplicity of truth .............................................................................................................35 2.2 The Critique of Romanticizing the Relationships..................................................................49 2.3 Problem of Deities ...............................................................................................................55 2.4 Motive of Silencing Women’s Voices, Authors’ Devices .....................................................59 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................66 Bibliography ...............................................................................................................................69 Resumé .......................................................................................................................................73 Summary ....................................................................................................................................74 - Introduction Greek mythology has had an extensive influence on Western culture and it is claimed to be an inherent part of European civilization’s cultural heritage. Artists from the ancient to our times derived inspiration from Greek mythology and have discovered contemporary significance and relevance in the themes. Thus Greek myths record not only ancient civilizations’ traditions, culture, rituals, beliefs, events and daily life but also they have a potential quality to mirror themes of our contemporary world. Since the start of the 21st century a phenomenon of re-imaginations of the myths in a form of bestselling and by critics approved novels has appeared. Many of world acclaimed writers retell the stories of the Greek myths and in their novels they advocate their thoughts on current problematics by using or deconstructing the ancient patterns. This process is nothing new in the world of adaptations in general, but between the years 2005-2020 quite a lot of well received novels emerged retelling the Greek myths in feminist reading form. They adapt the myths that are important part of oral tradition of the Greek mythology; stories of Trojan War and its aftermath which are best known from Homer’s epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey. In this thesis I intend to analyse these renditions of Greek myths focusing on their aspects of portraying female characters and their experience of the events known from the Iliad and the Odyssey. In the recent adaptations women prove to play more profound roles in the stories under influence of the feminist attitude towards art work. In the first chapter of the thesis I will provide analysis of archetypal tradition in Greek myths, which is vital for better understanding of the process of feminist retelling in the novels under study. I will analyse the portrayal of women in Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, because without being aware of the original shape of the portrayal of women the modern adaptations cannot be analysed and understood in-depth. Therefore, the first - 6 - chapter will provide the reader with the context of Homer’s portrayal of female characters in order to understand the context of the origin, which is then usually deconstructed in the novels. Focus will be also placed on feminist archetypal theory as presented by scholars and theorists. The second chapter covers the in-depth analysis of novels under study. These are Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad, Pat Barker’s The Silence of the Girls, Natalie Haynes’ A Thousand Ships, Colm Tóibín’s House of Names and Madeline Miller’s Circe. Nevertheless, I note that the emphasis will be put on the first two of the enlisted novels so I would be able to present a close look on the novel’s aspects. Thus in the second chapter concepts and aspects of the retellings will be studied to illustrate how they use mythology and its archetypes to mirror female experience and how they voice their silenced, up till now unheard voices. In my thesis, I employ a critical textual analysis of both the ancient epics and their rewritings in order to show how the process of feminist retelling works. In other words, in order to explore why is there a need to deconstruct archetypal notions of the original myths and to convey different points of view to emphasize the overlooked aspects of the Illiad and the Odyssey. This thesis also tries to find patterns in the novels under study which the authors use to redefine what had been ever since defined just by male- thinkers and writers, and to voice authentic female experience. I will discuss how the authors show the potential of textuality of the myths in the novels to tell the “true” experience of women despite the fact their stories are fictional. - 7 - 1. Archetypal Tradition of Greek Myths In this chapter I intend to describe the context in which the modern novels under study of the thesis have been written. Conception of the original forms need to be explained first to have a better understanding of how the patterns of archetypal tradition in Greek myths are broken or used in the novels. The novels under study are all retellings of the Greek myths and mythology; which shaped not just ancient cultures, but also our - more recent - Western culture and civilizations. As Korkmaz states in her study: myths “are not simple, innocent stories about old gods and goddesses, but symbols and images, which bear political, social, historical and cultural meanings and codes” (Korkmaz 1). Prior to the analysis of the novels, which retell these traditional stories from women’s point of view, it is important to discuss the traditional context and archetypes well- known from the original works the novels were derived from. Feminist readings of these myths enable to mirror and voice female experiences and sufferings they have gone through. Korkmaz explains the reasons behind the rewritings: “As the inferior positioning of women in hierarchal societies has been the most consciously and intentionally practiced agenda for centuries, feminist thinkers and writers, too, have used the myths to lay bare the reasons, means, and consequences of this systematic oppression women have been suffering for ages” (Korkmaz 1). Thus this chapter will be looking at the archetypes in the original works to emphasize the inferiority and silence and often helplessness in portrayal of women’s characters, which makes them tragic figures in Homer. Since the novels under study are renditions mostly based on Homer’s the Iliad and the Odyssey, the chapter will first focus on the original myths described in these two epics, thereafter the emphasis will be placed on - 8 - the women’s portrayal in the two works and then a subchapter on feminist archetypal theory will close the chapter. 1.1 The original myth of the Iliad and Homer’s portrayal of women 1.1.1 The Iliad and role of women in the plot The Iliad is an ancient Greek poem traditionally attributed to Homer, although it is not sure whether he was the actual author, in this thesis I will not further discuss these considerations and I will further refer to him as to the author of the texts. The Iliad is divided into twenty-four books and it covers the story of the Trojan War