Throughout the entire novel Penelope is being bombarded by the twelve maids, which are haunting her in the after life. The way that the twelve maids haunt Penelope leads to the question, how responsible is Penelope for the death of the maids? When we envision Penelope we see a faithful, loyal, kind, and loving wife to Odysseus. However, is there something more cynical behind this reputation she has made for herself? In the third chapter Penelope tells of her childhood, and wants us to believe she's a victim. In reality she is the daughter of a Naiad, or rather a water nymph, and most of the time those who wanted to impose harm to her attempted to throw water, which is her element, so their harm was unsuccessful. Now in the fourth chapter we hear of the maids terrible childhoods, which consisted of child labor without any regulation. As children of servants they are made servants from the moment they were able to do work, and if they were sleeping on the job they'd be kicked until they got up. No one was ever there to comfort them when they had been knocked down. When comparing childhoods it seems that the maids had it worse, because they were unable to protect themselves. It is clear when comparing the maids' lives to the life of Penelope that Penelope is no victim. Penelope lived a life of luxury as the wife of Odysseus, while the maids lived like no bodies their entire lives. Now that we have established that Penelope is not a victim the next question is, is Penelope guilty in this situation? Also, if she is guilty, what makes her guilty? When the maids first interrupt Penelope the first thing they say is, "we are the maids, the ones you killed the ones you failed" (pg 5). This statement right off the bat is extremely profound and shocking, but it does quickly reveal how the maids feel about Penelope. In the trial at the end of the book the maids' points are undermined, since after all they are slaves and they have to do everything through their master. Then the judge brings to light that the slaves were raped, and the only witness they had to this was Penelope. When Penelope is asked about the situation she claims she was asleep and all she knew were their claims after the fact. Then she made it seem like she believed the maids and she felt terrible about how they were treated by the suitors, which begs the question, why didn't she stop Odysseus from killing them for "sleeping with the suitors''? After careful consideration of all the evidence provided in the book I believe it is reasonable to say that Penelope is guilty for the death of the twelve maids. Now, Penelope did not have much power in this patriarchal society; however, since it was her husband who wanted to kill them she could have talked to him. Rather it seems that Penelope remained as a bystander as she watched the maids being hung. Their blood now will rest on her hands for all of eternity, because she chose to remain quiet when she knew the situation was unjust.
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