18 pages • 36 minutes read
Margaret AtwoodHelen of Troy Does Countertop Dancing
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1995A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Further Reading & Resources
Related Poems
“Siren Song” by Margaret Atwood (1974)
This poem, from Atwood’s collection You Are Happy, is another dramatic monologue from a figure in Greek mythology. Circe is one of the half-bird sirens who seduces Odysseus’s men to “leap overboard” (Line 5) and drown. Here, Circe gives advice about “the song / that is irresistible” (Lines 2-3). Speaking to a man, Circe’s speech is similar to Helen’s whispers to her client: “I will tell the secret to you, / to you, only to you. / Come closer. This song / is a cry for help: Help me! / Only you, only you can, you are unique” (Lines 19-24). Circe admits “it is a boring song / but it works every time” (Lines 26-27), showing that she, like Helen, knows how to use her power to seduce men.
“Eurydice” by Margaret Atwood (1984)
First appearing in Interlunar (1984), “Eurydice” is part of a cycle of poems that center on the Greek myth of “Orpheus and Eurydice.” In the myth, the musician and demi-god Orpheus falls in love with the mortal Eurydice. After Eurydice tragically dies, a heartbroken Orpheus makes a bargain with Hades to rescue her from the Underworld. Unfortunately, Orpheus breaks a prohibition from Hades and loses Eurydice forever. Atwood has Eurydice tell her side of the rescue as she notes her ambivalence about leaving the Underworld for her dim memory of mortal life. Like Helen, Eurydice feels empty, displaced, and misread by the man who rescues her. Orpheus “says he is singing to [her] / because he loves [her] / not as [she] is now, / so chilled and minimal” (Lines 16-19), but because of the vision he used to have of her alive. This disconnect between the male vision of someone, and the reality of her experience is also evident in “Helen of Troy Does Countertop Dancing.”
“The Penelopiad” by Margaret Atwood (2005)
This novella is also a retelling of events around the Trojan War. The focus of the novella is on Penelope, the wife of Odysseus, and the aftereffects of the war on her life. Like “Helen of Troy Does Countertop Dancing,” the story’s idea of masculine heroics is challenged as it gives voice to both Penelope and her twelve murdered maids, who were executed because they were thought to have been disloyal. Like Atwood’s exotic dancer Helen, Penelope speaks in the first person and sometimes addresses an outward “you.” While we never know Helen’s full purpose in rendering her story, with Penelope, it is to undo Homer’s narrative angle. Helen of Troy is also a character, but here she serves as Penelope’s nemesis.
Further Literary Resources
“Helen of Troy” by Mark Cartwright (2021)
This entry on The World History Encyclopedia website covers Helen’s lineage, history, and relationships as well as what led up to the Trojan War. Cartwright also details her fame as the “most beautiful of all mortal women.” He describes how after the Trojan War, Helen was perceived as “a symbol of moral failure and the perils of placing lust above reason” and alternately as a “goddess” or “semi-divine human figure” linked with Aphrodite, the goddess of love. In Ancient Greece, Helen “represented the aspects of erotic desire and beauty which Aphrodite similarly represented.” All these elements can be seen in Atwood’s poem.
“How Margaret Atwood Redefined Mythology Through Her Feminist Retellings” by Prasanna Sawant (2019)
Sawant discusses Atwood’s feminism and how her retellings reconstruct male-dominated storytelling. Characters from Greek myth like Helen, Penelope, the Sirens, Daphne, and Eurydice are often dismissed as submissive to men, but Atwood, Sawant claims, repositions them as powerful. Sawant suggests Atwood uses these new voices to “tell living truths” regarding contemporary women.
Interview with Margaret Atwood by Alan Twigg (1988)
This is a reprint of an interview Alan Twigg did with Atwood in 1988, years before the writing of “Helen of Troy Does Countertop Dancing.” Twigg asks her questions about her writing and her feelings about her poetry. She notes that “If you think of language as a series of concentric circles, poetry is right in the centre. It's where precision takes place.” This precision of phrasing can be seen in Helen’s monologue. Further, Atwood discusses her themes and position as a writer. She thinks of writing as a “social vehicle. It reflects society. Serious writers these days don't write uplifting books because what they see around them is not uplifting. It would be hypocritical to say the world is inspirational. It's not.” The bleakness we find in Helen’s story as well as her ability to find social dynamics seem foreshadowed here.
Listen to Poem
Scottish actress, Laura Gentile, reads Atwood’s poem for her website Croque-Melpomene. Gentile has degrees in English Literature as well as Film and Visual Culture. She is of German-Italian descent, and speaks with a slight accent on the recording, which is accompanied by informative slides.
Related Titles
By Margaret Atwood
