Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Circe, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Power, Fear, and Self-Preservation
Women, Power, and Misogyny
Change, Initiative, and the Self
Mortality, Fragility, and Fulfillment
Family and Individuality
Summary
Analysis
Looking back from the future, Circe thinks of how the famous song describing her meeting with Odysseus portrays her as weak and bested by Odysseus’s guile. She isn’t surprised; poets often reduce women’s power in their stories.
Circe criticizes how history and literature often portray women as weak and easily outsmarted by men. In a society that chooses to believe that women are inferior to men, people falsely document events to reduce women’s importance.
Themes
After Circe and Odysseus have sex, Odysseus describes how grueling his trip from Troy has been—they have encountered cannibals, storms, and a cyclops, and endured the fury of various gods. He adds that Athena, who was his supporter throughout the war, has now abandoned him because he didn’t prayed to her before sailing away from Troy, since he was anxious to get home.
The gods treat humans as tools for their own personal gain or amusement. Multiple gods have used and mistreated Odysseus for their own purposes, not caring that their actions make his life miserable. Even Athena, who is supposed to be Odysseus’s patron, mistreats him, probably so that he will be all the more grateful for her (and therefore give her more attention and offerings) when she decides to help him again. It is as Hermes described previously: gods prefer that humans are miserable, so that humans feel the gods’ power more acutely.
Themes
Circe can see Odysseus’s exhaustion plain on his face. Feeling her old desire to help those who are broken, Circe tells Odysseus that he can rest on her island for the evening. He is visibly relieved, but when she brings him to the feasting hall, he refuses to eat until his men are transformed back to their old selves. She leads him to the pig pen, where she turns the animals back into his crewmen.
Odysseus is the first man to treat Circe with dignity since the man raped her, and his kindness has a significant effect on her. Odysseus’s treating Circe with respect has rekindled her empathy and her desire to fix problems, which suggests that respect is a key factor in forming genuine connections and inspiring people to help others. In particular, Odysseus’s respect is what allows Circe to feel more whole—she feels her old desire to do good deeds, which make her feel more fulfilled—and less inclined to be violent.
Themes
Now joined by his men, Odysseus feasts joyfully. After the dinner, the men troop off to sleep, but Odysseus joins Circe at her fire for conversation. She impresses him by informing him that her loom had been made by Daedalus, whom Odysseus always admired as a child. After a few tales of the war, including Achilles and his downfall after the death of his lover, Odysseus begs Circe for more help: he and his fatigued men need more rest on her island. Inwardly rejoicing at more time with Odysseus, she grants them the month he requests.
Circe and Odysseus strengthen their bond through engaging conversation, even finding common ground on their admiration for Daedalus. By telling Circe about his experiences, Odysseus shows that he admires her companionship and trusts her with his stories. By asking for her assistance, he also recognizes her power (a rare gesture among the men in the novel), which shows that he respects her abilities. The more respect that Odysseus shows Circe, the more that she is inclined to help him and his men, which again shows how respect is a necessary part of connecting with others.
Themes
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For the next several weeks, Circe relishes Odysseus’s company. They dine together and, later, have sex, during which she loves running her hands over his battle scars. When they lie together afterward, Odysseus spins tales of the war.
Circe enjoys having Odysseus’s companionship and conversation. Her admiration for Odysseus demonstrates her capability and longing for genuine connection, something that is not often found among the gods. Her exile—and her prior abuse at the hands of men—means that finding such a connection is extremely rare. In this way, Odysseus is perhaps a novelty to her; this is what intrigues her, much like the other gods are intrigued by new people and things.
Themes
One night, Odysseus tells Circe that the people who really win wars aren’t the heroes or the generals. The winners are the men who can unite the men to work together, even if that means committing brutalities, from beating mutineers to abandoning ailing men whose wounds destroy other soldiers’ morale. One should be practical, Odysseus explains, before one is honorable. Circe thinks of how some men might have balked at Odysseus’s ruthlessness, but she knows that all heroes, such as Jason, commit horrible deeds.
Circe is not alarmed that Odysseus is so casual in admitting his readiness to commit violent acts, which suggests that the cruelty that she has witnessed throughout her long existence has jaded her. Additionally, she has engaged in the ruthlessness of the world by turning all men (whether guilty or innocent) into pigs. At this point in the book, she accepts that the world is a wicked place, and that brutality is necessary to survive.
Themes
The days pass, and Circe marvels at mortals’ persistence and resilience. Odysseus often complains of various pains, and she does her best to soothe them, once even offering to use her magic to remove his scars. But he declines, asking her “how would [he] know [him]self” if his scars were gone. Circe is inwardly pleased at this decision; Odysseus’s scars indicate that he is a man of many stories.
This passage draws a connection between scars and a person’s history and identity. Odysseus’s scars indicate what he’s been through and how he’s grown into the person that he is now. He even says that he wouldn’t recognize himself without his scars, which suggests that a person’s identity is formed by how they respond to and grow from their experiences.
Themes
Circe considers telling Odysseus a bit about her own past, but she worries that doing so would expose her weaknesses. Sometimes, she wonders what her body would look like if it scarred like a mortal’s: missing fingers, charred skin, countless knife cuts from harvesting herbs. Circe remembers Aeëtes’s words regarding Scylla from long ago, that ugly nymphs are “a stain upon the face of the world.” Brushing aside her thoughts of scars, she embraces her identity as a witch without a past.
Circe, as a goddess, doesn’t scar—she doesn’t get to see how her prior failures affect her body, even though she knows that they affect her character. She momentarily considers telling Odysseus about her past but is worried that revealing her mistakes would make her ugly and undesirable to Odysseus, which reveals how society only values women for their sexuality and not for their character. Additionally, Circe doesn’t fully trust Odysseus; she knows that he’s a wily man who would nevertheless use her weaknesses for his own advantage, regardless of the kindness he’s shown her. Her prior experiences with men have taught her that they will use women to get what they want. In this way, her jadedness as an immortal prevents her from developing a deep and fulfilling relationship.
Themes
Over the weeks, Circe learns that Odysseus is short-tempered and occasionally strikes out at his men. Circe is calm with him, drawing out his stories, which always end with him telling her of Ithaca, his home. When the month is nearing its end, Odysseus asks for an extension of time so that the men can stay the winter and leave in the spring. Circe is again secretly overjoyed, but she does her best to hide it, and she agrees to their continued stay.
While a compelling leader, Odysseus is a restless, violent man who lets his anger get the best of him. Circe knows how to keep him calm, but this also means that she likely hides any frustrations from him. Her catering to his moods in this way suggests an imbalance in their relationship, one that prevents Circe from really being herself with Odysseus.
Themes
Circe and Odysseus continue to grow closer, with Odysseus telling her of his past and complaining about his unruly men, and Circe asking him to do chores around the house. She knows that he will leave for home and that such an adventurous and cunning man—particularly a mortal—will never be content with an isolated and domestic life. But still, she weaves herself closer to him, preparing his favorite meals and asking his advice.
Circe longs to keep Odysseus with her, but she knows that he must leave at some point. Not only does he have a wife and a home away from Aiaia, but he is also a mortal, which means that he will die. Whatever relationship she builds with him must end at some point, but the joy that Circe feels in the present overrides her sadness about the future.
Themes
Although Circe tries to ignore the fact that Odysseus is married, she at last asks about his wife. He launches into an adoration of his wife, Penelope, whom he calls faithful and clever. Circe is stung to still hear so much love in his voice and realizes that all their time together has not changed his feelings for his wife. Thinking over their time together, Circe also notes that it is likely that Odysseus, so accustomed to war and its challenges, is using his stay with Circe as a kind of practice for domestic life.
Circe is jealous of Odysseus’s love for Penelope, which makes clear that even after all the attention and care Circe has spent on Odysseus, his love for his wife is unchanged. Odysseus’s unmoved love for another woman demonstrates how Circe is limited in her ability to change the world in which she lives, particularly when it comes to trying to change people’s emotions or behavior. She loves Odysseus and secretly hopes that he will want to stay with her and make her happy in her exile—but she cannot change his mind, which demonstrates how trying to create change through other people is often ineffective. Additionally, Circe knowingly sleeping with a married man and trying to keep him for her own illustrates her selfishness and egotism, traits that are common in her family.
Themes
When winter comes, the men stay in the hall, where Odysseus tells them glorious tales of the war with Troy. They glow at these stories, whispering among themselves about how they once fought beside and against the great heroes of the war. Afterward, Odysseus laughs at them, mocking how they delude themselves into thinking that they had personally stood against warriors such as Hector, the greatest of the Trojans; even Odysseus himself wouldn’t have dared.
Odysseus doesn’t have much empathy for his men, as he makes clear in his taunting them. Mocking other men as stupid seems to be one of his ways of distinguishing himself. Odysseus’s greatest asset is his intelligence, and he uses it ruthlessly to establish his dominance over others, whether through deceiving them or mocking them. In this way, Odysseus is an eager participant in the race for power, always seeking ways to outsmart others.
Themes
Circe asks Odysseus for more of Hector’s story, so he tells her of how, after the Greeks won the war and killed Hector, one of the Greeks soldiers brutally murdered Hector’s young son. Odysseus goes on to say that the murder was unavoidable, for sons must avenge their fathers’ deaths. He even says that the thought comforts him that if he died, his son Telemachus would hunt down the murderers.
A vengeful murder is a way of showing power, as it demonstrates that a family is still strong after the death of the patriarch. Odysseus accepts these murders as natural and good, which shows how invested he is in shows of power.
Themes
When Circe asks Odysseus to describe Telemachus, he lingers on the boy’s sweetness, telling her of all the characteristics that he can remember. Circe is surprised at all his memories of Telemachus, thinking how Odysseus knows more about his son from one year than Helios does of Circe for all eternity. He pauses, then tells Circe of how he still hopes to “leave some mark” on his son, who is now already a teenager. Ruminating on how fast mortals’ lives pass them by, Circe imagines the young Telemachus grieving daily for his father, hoping that he may return. Lying in the dark with Odysseus, Circe suddenly wonders whether there might be “a living breath” still within her.
Odysseus wants to have an effect on his son and a hand in his development. Raising their children to be like them is a way for mortals to live on past their own deaths, which may encourage mortals to be more loving and involved parents than the gods are. Apart from wanting to have an effect on his son, Odysseus doesn’t speak of using his son as a self-serving tool, an approach that’s common among the gods. Odysseus’s love for Telemachus inspires Circe, and her wondering if she has “a living breath” within her suggests that she is considering having a child to enrich her life.
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