Feminine Relationships in The Robber Bride
Margaret Atwood’s Classic Tale of Betrayal, Mystery and Female Power
Sep 14, 2009
It is through the examination of these first three women, and the relationship each has with Zenia, that readers see the cruelty, intensity and manipulation that festers within feminine relationships.
Through the pages of The Robber Bride, readers discover that Zenia has managed to not only lie her way into the lives of Tony, Roz and Charis, but also to steal their money, their men, and their morality along the way.
Tony and Zenia
Zenia manages to manipulate Tony, Charis and Roz by playing on their main weaknesses. For Tony, this is history. After her mother runs off with several men and eventually commits suicide, and her father does the same, Tony reverts to books and history as a way to get through life.
Tony is short, shy and one-dimensional and Zenia feeds off this to become friends with her. She tells her an exorbitant tale about being a White Russian child prostitute which Tony eats up. In college Tony meets Zenia’s boyfriend, West, a lanky overachiever much like herself and they form a special friendship. Zenia manages to get term papers and money out of Tony’s naivety and, in the end, runs off on both West and Tony. Tony is left to put together the pieces and eventually marries West. They start an unassuming life together as professors until, the day Zenia returns and sweeps West away. Tony’s meekness, combined with her naivety makes her the perfect target for Zenia.
Charis and Zenia
Perhaps it is the story of Charis and Zenia that is the most unforgiving. After her mother abandoned her (and her father remains unknown), Charis, who then goes by the name Karen, is left with her aunt and uncle who sexually abuse her until she is 13. Charis attends university where she undergoes a transformation, shedding the body of Karen and taking on the spirit of Charis.
She meets an American freedom fighter named Billy and starts a courtship with him. Then Zenia re-enters her life. She lies to Charis, claiming she has cancer and is dying. Charis takes her into her home, feeds her, pays her living expenses and nurses her for six months. When Charis discovers she is pregnant, she also learns that Billy and Zenia have run off together, leaving her with absolutely nothing.
Zenia and Roz
Roz, another product of the war, grew up not knowing her father, or her identity, until one day her dad returns back from the war with a lot of money. Roz later learns this is dirty money, but it is also the money used to start a women’s magazine and an enterprise that follows.
Zenia enters the picture when she tricks Roz into hiring her by claiming she is a freelance political journalist. Zenia forms a special friendship with Roz and transforms the magazine from a controversial feminist publication to a run-of-the-mill gossip rag that makes money. In the process; however, Zenia manages to steal Roz’s husband out from under her and run off with $50,000 of their money.
And this is just the beginning, as Roz, Charis and Tony soon discover. Because Zenia is back from the grave, and has even more plans up her manipulative little sleeve.
The Importance of Zenia
It is through the tale of Zenia that readers learn the truth about Tony, Charis and Roz. Furthermore, readers are able to see eerily similar patterns emerge, as their childhood memories are re-lived in their own lives. Zenia, although completely heartless and cruel, allows these three women to come to terms with their own identities. Furthermore, Zenia proves that all three of these women are individual, self-sufficient ladies who can handle anything.
After all, Tony, Roz and Charis all survived the path of Zenia, and, as readers will come to learn, this is a feat worth celebrating.
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