The Penelopiad & Photograph 51 comparative essay- Perfect woman PDF

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RAW 39 (2019). 85 SAC average.
Comparative Essay on 2 books: The Penelopiad & Photograph 51....

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‘The notion of the perfect woman is a myth that must be dispelled’. Discuss in relation to The Penelopiad and Photograph 51 Ideas about female perfection permeate the patriarchal values and the responses of women to the male gaze that is critiqued by Margaret Atwood in The Penelopiad and Anna Ziegler in Photograph 51. Both writers explore the ways in which women have dealt with their perceived need to achieve ‘perfection’ in the roles as wives, mothers, professional women, or women who are expected to serve men. Atwood and Ziegler use theatricality and extremism to depict the predicaments of women who struggle to live up to the expectations of men, of other women, and of the societies that they inhabit, although Atwood’s depiction is perhaps blacker than that of Ziegler. The concept of, and value placed upon female perfection, including ideas of feminine behaviour and appearances, is implicitly criticised by both writers. At the conclusion of the respective texts, Atwood and Ziegler offer their audiences the same advice, as one possible means of avoiding the myth of female perfection: while Atwood’s disembodied Maids ‘fly away’, Ziegler exhorts her audience to not ‘neglect’ personal emotions. The perceptions of men or of other women, can lead to women to develop unrealistic expectations that lead them to struggle to attain a form of perfectionism. As demonstrated by Penelope in The Penelopiad, her role as a perfectionated women she must maintain her qualities that made her ‘a package of meat in a wrapping of gold’. As such, Penelope is objectified as merely a proper in Odysseus’s thread into which ‘women […] are twisted into the strand’ of the lives ‘spun’ for men. Like Penelope, Rosalind Franklin in Photograph 51’s role as presented by Ziegler is a professional woman who ‘race[s] to the finish line’ of scientific discoveries who ‘must never be wrong’, she is destined to be the woman who could ‘lose’ everything over one imperfection. This responsibility of women to solely be perfect but to not ‘stand out’ amongst men presents the paradoxical aspects of the societal expectations for women to be perfect and yet to not ‘infringe’ men’s dominance in the patriarchal society. As well as this, the ‘need to look glamorous’ or ‘build up the estates’ keeping up with the homely ‘duties’ is compiled onto these actions. This is demonstrated in all generations portrayed through the texts. Even Penelope’s own mother isn’t exempt from criticism as ‘although she’d been a queen, [she] had not set a good example’ for Penelope. As such, both writers represent how with ‘too much to be done’, women cannot maintain the perfect feminine symbol many strive for. Instead, both writers demonstrate how ‘difficulties’ and hardship may motivate and allow women to further their abilities in a positive way without trying to live up to an ideal created y others – thus gaining a form of resilience. Instead, perfectionism or the epitome of a women a mother or a wife is condemned with the emphasis being on personal individual development portrayed by all female characters in the texts. Throughout history, women have ‘internalised’ perceptions of perfectionism that have led them to experience inner conflict as they strive to achieve the often unattainable. Thus, the writers demonstrate how the women may perpetuate such expectations by internalising them. Instead, the writers encourage their readership or audience to denounce the self-criticism that comes with

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unattainable goals and replace them with more realistic flexible expectations of what women can be. Women’s need to be seen, by themselves or by men, as ‘perfect’ wives, mothers and scientists seems to present them with an enduring dilemma. Both Atwood and Ziegler create women who, in different ways are struggling with notions of ‘perfectionism’. As such, the vitriolic nature of some women, can be considered a barrier in the texts that preserves unrealistic and negative associations of women. For instance, Rosalind Franklin in Photograph 51 is so focused on what a scientist should not be, she is constantly enraptured by her own exacerbating self-criticism of not doing ‘enough’ in her ‘scientific career’. Penelope too, via her own self-criticism and unwavering expectations of herself promotes a sense of guilt within herself, blaming herself for the suitors undying interest in her and their ability to have Telemachus ‘inheritance […] literally gobbled up’. However, the writers strongly contend that women should not be diminished or looked down at for insignificant mistakes or for being ‘far too firm’ for men’s likings. Alternatively, the internal perfectionated expectations of other women, supports the competitive malicious nature amongst women. By criticising other women’s abilities or lack thereof, women also reinstate an ideal that they too should be ‘achieving’ giving them the power to inflict such ‘hostile’ ‘bitch[-like]’ behaviour. By comparing the ‘beautiful’ Helen to ‘poison on legs’ that should be ‘kept in a locked trunk in a dark cellar’, Penelope demonstrates how differences in women – something that the authors condone, is seen as a negative as she feels threatened that she cannot fit into the man ideal of a ‘beautiful’ ‘swan necked’ woman. Helen, herself feels a similar way in which she describes herself as unable to keep up with Odysseus by not being as ‘clever’ as Penelope and ‘weave[s]’ herself into a cycle of self-competition in striving to become ‘more beautiful’. Self-competition mirrors the characters in Photograph 51 such as Rosalind consistently attempting to perfect the ‘never finished’ ‘work’ as her ‘bod[y] wind[s] down’, evident of her determination to ‘pursue’ the journey of science perfectly despite the undermining physical conditions and her ‘unrecognizable’ contributions. As such, Rosalind unknowingly supports the patriarchal ideal of women expected to be impeccable at all times. In doing so, both authors create an uncomfortable tension amongst their readership or audience as women demote themselves to ones whose only purpose is to fulfil predetermined duties as a result of their own inner conflicts and expectations. Both authors offer imperfect endings at the conclusion of their respective narratives, a metaphorical representation of the reality of life for most women. Penelope’s tale is ‘unresolved and she is left to ‘spin a thread’ of her own story. While Rosalind’s credibility

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