Beyond the First Glance: Margaret Atwood’s Feminist Mythological Revision in ​Morning

in the Burned House.

Margaret Atwood represents various feminist viewpoints in her ekphrastic poems:

Manet’s Olympia ​(24-25) and ​Sehkmet​ , ​The Lion-Headed Goddess of War, Violent Storms,

Pestilence, and Recover From Illness, Contemplates the Desert in The Metropolitan Museum of

Art​ (39-41). Both female speakers—Olympia and Sehkmet—continue to fight the female

stereotypes by being bold and finding their true voice. ​Manet’s Olympia ​features Édouard

Manet’s realistic nude painting in 1863, which also alludes to Titian’s ​Venus of Urbino ​(1534).

On the contrary, the mythological goddess Sekhmet expresses her powerful identity through

different observations in the Museum of Art. Atwood’s connotative diction highlights the beauty

of female representation in her ekphrastic poems. The utilization of vivid imagery displays a

sense of personal self-worth; it also criticizes the audience’s displeasing remarks toward

feminine qualities. Furthermore, Atwood challenges different gender ideologies in order to

identify the invisible speech and expression concealed in both illustrations through other

elements: tone and narrative approach.

Manet’s Olympia​ is one of the most recognizable ekphrastic poems from Atwood’s

collection. The canvas features both visible and hidden content from Olympia, and she further

interprets feminist aspects to be recognized and appreciated. The poem begins with the use of

third-person narrative and describes the nude woman in the foreground: “Her right arm sharp

angles. With her left she conceals her ambush” (Lines 4-5). Atwood’s euphemism with the word

“ambush” parallels the usage of censorship over controversial images. The following statement

juxtaposes the idea of realism and a synthetic object: “The flower behind her ear is naturally not
real” (Lines 7-8). Atwood compares realism and a synthetic flower to Olympia’s genuine body,

thus demonstrating a woman’s submissiveness. In addition, the setting emphasizes Olympia’s

unknown surroundings: “The windows (if any) are shut (Line 10). The parenthetical digression

emphasizes the questionable background; it points out that there are other audiences judging

Olympia. Perhaps the assonance “this is indoor sin” develops the concerning immoral acts from

the male perspective (Line 11). The language in the last line of the first stanza evokes a disgusted

tone: “An invisible voice balloon:​ Slut”​ . Through this, Atwood elicits such vulgar comments to

further objectify Olympia.

The second stanza carefully observes the evaluation of the silent image. Olympia’s

exposed posture, her body is defined with a personification: “the pale nipples staring you right in

the bull’s-eye (Lines 15-16). The narrative of the poem transitions from third-person point of

view to second-person. Regardless of Olympia’s exposure, the thin black bow around her neck

indicates the separation between her face and exposed body; the idea portrays her hidden

language and lucid imagery. In this case, the nude portrait directly addresses the audience with

the word “you”. The spectator demonstrates sexual dominance over Olympia, but she continues

to be unbothered. Atwood’s assonance in the nineteenth line, “A fine line threadline” separates

the division of the male’s gaze and Olympia’s visual expression. Atwood includes a sexist

remark to further shame the subject: “Put clothes on and you’d have a schoolteacher” (Line 24).

Fantasizing the rawness of the illustration exploits the romanticized female figure. Atwood

suggests another assonance to maintain the flow of the poem: “You, Monsieur Voyeur” (Line

27). The speaker finally addresses the crude audience, especially the male figure. In this moment,

Olympia’s influential tone directly places the men to be observed rather than criticizing women’s

standards.
 Another equally important poem, presented as a prosopopoeia is Atwood’s Sehkmet, ​The

Lion-Headed Goddess of War, Violent Storms, Pestilence, and Recover From Illness,

Contemplates the Desert in The Metropolitan Museum of Art.​ The speaker Sekhmet, begins to

narrate her experience in a different setting, the museum. According to Egyptian mythology,

Sekhmet is considered to be “the goddess of war and destroyer of the sun god Ra” (Britannica).

The first stanza refers to a man alongside the speaker. Atwood utilizes the repetition of “he” to

refer to the fact that the god is not a typical patriarchal figure: “He was the sort of man who

wouldn’t hurt a fly”. The second stanza continues to use the anaphora of the word “he” to

indicate the god’s gentle behavior: “He was not my patron. He preferred full granaries”. Atwood

juxtaposes the previous statement to Sekhmet’s powerful attributes and reveals the first-person

narrative: “I battle” (Line 6). The irony in lines seven through nine imply that Sekhmet is strong

and belligerent at the same time: “My roar meant slaughter. Yet here we are together”. Atwood’s

quick rhyme shows the gender disparity between Sekhmet’s companion and her own

determination. Moreover, Atwood uses a latin phrase “​sic transit”​ or “thus passes” to explain the

never-ending crowd visits, especially “children learning the lesson of multi-obliteration” (Lines

11-13). Sekhmet refuses to go back to the time when people glorified her, especially displayed to

children discovering information about the diversification of Egyptian culture. The second stanza

starts with an anaphora of the word “I”. Sekhmet’s vivid imagery of the “hot conical tombs'' is

compared with the use of a simile: “Like a dunce’s hat”. The humor in this circumstance mocks

her visitor’s naivety towards the mythological gods and goddesses.

The third stanza’s hypophora: “What did you expect from gods with animal heads?”

(Lines 24-25) expresses Sehkmet’s tired and honest tone. She answers her own question with the
humans’ expectations and also refers to the pharaohs: “the ones made later, who were fully

human” (Line 27). Her complete power led to gift-giving “and prayer and lip service” (Line

34-35). A flashback occurs in the fourth stanza; the idea connects what the observers think of

when they see Sekhmet and her own changing perspective. Her internal monologue reflects on

her past life and records “something in all of this I missed (Lines 36-37). She makes it clear that

her generosity does not always authorize the observers’ favors: “if it’s selfless love you’re

looking for, you’ve got the wrong goddess” (Lines 37-38). Atwood displays the correlation

between a lion head and a goddess to reveal both feminine and masculine qualities. She

juxtaposes the main physical figures of Sekhmet to her visitors in the museum. Sekhmet, in the

fanciful sense, yet likewise the poem addresses the concurrent existence of feminine and

masculine attributes; the idea of life and death; true development of an entity while also having

the strength to erase someone from existence. However, the final stanza displays the importance

of Sekmet’s divine virtues despite the chaos she can initiate through tactile imagery: “lick you

clean of fever and pick your soul up gently” (Lines 48-49). Atwood appears to bolster the idea of

female and male standards to another level with the juxtaposition of “darkness and paradise”

(Line 50). The female speaker is neither positive nor negative, and she is not in a spot between

the two: Sekhmet accepts all of those conceivable outcomes simultaneously and confirms her

self-worth.

Atwood manages to display heroism and understands that the male figures described in

both works mean nothing to the female speakers. In addition, Atwood further reveals how

women are being sexualized, objectified, and ignored through the speakers’ direct and honest

tone. Both speakers refuse to be judged by a dominant male observer, thus the direction of the

gaze drifted and reversed. In ​Manet’s Olympia,​ Atwood ultimately changes the point of view to
first-person—the female speaker becomes the observer. Nevertheless, the male viewer is the one

being ridiculed by Olympia: “​I, the head, am the only subject of this picture. You, Sir, are

furniture. Get stuffed” ​(Lines 30-32). This specific comment appears to be comical, yet it also

reveals the speaker’s genuine tone. Olympia uses the word “I” to undoubtedly allow herself to

communicate the hidden invisible thoughts, and they continue to convey the significance of

language in the whole depiction. Atwood emphasizes the reversed roles of the gazer and the

glanced. She compares the male viewer similarly to a “furniture” because Olympia specifically

stated that she finally has the ability to voice her feminist points. On the contrary, the

mythological statue Sekhmet embraces what she truly feels for herself while also admiring her

fierce personality: “a kind lion” (Line 45). In this case, Atwood successfully separates the gender

dichotomy between femininity and masculinity.

In the same manner, she truly values the lucid details within Olympia and Sekhmet

because those important qualities anchor the feminist perspectives. Atwood utilizes mythological

allusions by a great deal; she contributes influential beliefs and gives her protagonists a different

perspective. The speakers were normally seen as pitiful women in the beginning of both poems,

but Atwood uses them to show a different and much stronger side to the cliche speakers.

Ultimately, Atwood typically ignores the submissive side to both Sekhmet and Olympia; she

uses these figures to motivate the feminist revision and makes them impressive.

Word Count: 1446

Bibliography

Atwood, Margaret. ​Morning in the Burned House.​ Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1995. Print.

​ oronto: McClelland &

Atwood, Margaret. “Manet’s Olympia.” ​Morning in the Burned House, T

Stewart, 1995, pp. 24-25.

Atwood, Margaret. “ Sehkmet , The Lion-Headed Goddess of War, Violent Storms, Pestilence,

and Recover From Illness, Contemplates the Desert in The Metropolitan Museum of Art.”

​ oronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1995, pp. 39-41.

Morning in the Burned House, T

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Sekhmet". Encyclopedia Britannica, 6 Feb. 2020,

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sekhmet. Accessed 3 February 2021.