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Chapter 18
Themes
and Colors
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
Circe is overwhelmed with terror for what will happen to Telegonus. She wracks her brain to think of some spell to protect him, keeping the boy tied to her at all times. At last, she thinks of a plan. Gods, except those that rule the dead, are not allowed to step into the underworld. Circe begins to work with the blood that Odysseus collected from his visit with the dead.
Circe uses the power that she has to protect Telegonus. Significantly, she doesn’t ask anyone for help. At this point in the story, Circe has learned that it is usually ineffective to trust other people to help her.
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The two potions Circe creates are complicated: one of them contains the blood from the underworld, and the other contains bits of all parts of the island. She is exhausted but is at last ready to cast the spells. She pours the blood-based draught onto the highest peak of Aiaia and speaks the words of power to create a protective layer of “living death,” which Athena will be unable to penetrate. The other spell binds the whole island to Telegonus, so that it—and all the creatures and plants on it—will protect the boy if he is threatened.
While Circe’s previous act of defying the gods—transforming Glaucos and Scylla using forbidden magic—was done out of selfishness, disobeying Athena is done out of love for her son. Additionally, when she was determined to keep Glaucos for herself, she was ready to commit evil deeds, which she did eventually do when she transformed Scylla into a man-eating monster. Now, however, she commits no evil or violent acts in protecting Telemachus. The difference in her approach demonstrates how she is determined to no longer add to the cruelty of the world in which she lives. Although she cannot stop all the violence of the world, it is in her power to refuse to contribute to it.
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Circe waits for some response from Athena, but none comes. She is exhausted from the work. Plus, the spells need renewing every month, which means that her work is never finished. But Circe will do whatever it takes to protect her son. Feeling relieved at last, she joyfully tells Telegonus that they are safe at last.
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Looking back, Circe calls herself a fool. Telegonus is an impossibly restless child, and Circe spends her days trying to catch and calm him. The only thing that brings him peace is the sea. He is always most difficult when Circe is hurriedly working to renew to the protective spells. It is during one such period when Telegonus has a particularly wild screaming fit. In a moment of fury, Circe brews a sleeping draught, something she had forbidden herself to do, as it is too reminiscent of something Aeëtes would do.
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Circe gives Telegonus the potion and then, as he continues screaming, says the word of power. He drops to the floor, his eyes revealing his panic. Horrified at what she has done, she breaks the spell. Telegonus crawls away from her in fear, causing Circe to weep with shame. She apologizes profusely until Telegonus lets her hold him.
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That night, when Telegonus is asleep, Circe desperately asks the slumbering boy why he is so wild. At her question, she envisions Helios’s halls and remembers how she had wanted to run about, shake her father from his work, and learn all there is to know. She, of course, never did, as she knew that Helios would scorch her. Looking down at her son, it dawns on her that Telegonus is not afraid of being punished for his curiosity.
Years pass, and at last, Telegonus calms. He is a sweet boy, happiest when he is by the sea. As he grows older, he begins to make up imaginative stories with clear morals about the value of bravery and integrity. Circe cherishes Telegonus’s innocence and how he sees the world as a simple place of right and wrong. She knows that Telegonus’s worldview is unrealistic, but she doesn’t want to ruin it for him.
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One evening, Circe decides to answer Telegonus’s questions about his father. Although he has asked many times before, it is not until now that she is ready to tell him. When Telegonus asks whether Circe thinks that Odysseus is still alive, she confirms that she believes he is (she guesses he is about 60 years old). Telegonus presses her to tell more stories of his father. As she tells him the tales that Odysseus had told her long ago, she finds herself altering them to make them less brutal, realizing that her impression of Odysseus has since changed.
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The few times that Circe does tell a tale in all its brutality, Telegonus, upset, tells her that she must have gotten it wrong, believing that Odysseus must be honorable through and through. Sometimes, Circe wonders how she would tell Telegonus her own stories. But he never questions her about her past and only ever clamors for more stories of his father.
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One day in fall, Telegonus spots a floundering ship near their island. He begs Circe to lift the spell so that they can help them, insisting that the men onboard would be thankful for any aid. Circe hesitates, darkly thinking how “men in most need hate most to be grateful, and will strike at you just to feel whole again.” He continues to pressure her, so she at last relents, under the condition he stay in his room until the men have drunk their wine.
Circe quickly mixes the same old potion to combine with the wine. When the men come, she wants nothing more than to cast them out—but, aware of Telegonus’s silent presence in the other room, she welcomes them to her hall. After the men eat, the captain, his eyes hungry, rises toward her, asking whom to thank her for the meal.
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At that moment, Telegonus, who is 15 at the time, steps into the hall. He confidently announces that they have the goddess Circe, Helios’s daughter, as their host. He introduces himself as Circe’s son and welcomes them. The captain kneels at Circe’s feet. Telegonus tells the man to stand and then sits among the ship’s crew to eat with them. Circe watches with astonishment as the men, eyes filled with admiration, gather around Telegonus, eager for his attention. The men stay on the island for three days, all the while seeking out advice from Telegonus as they fix their boat.
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Literary Devices
For the following months after the boat’s departure, Telegonus spends most of his time by the beach and away from Circe, at one point asking if he can have a cave to himself. She allows him, knowing that all young people need secrets. On his 16th birthday, he brings her down to the cave, inside of which is a boat of his own creation. Circe is impressed, until Telegonus accidentally lets slip that Hermes has been helping him build it. Furious, she demands to know everything the god has told him.
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Telegonus reveals his intention to sail to Ithaca to meet Odysseus. He informs Circe that Hermes has promised to help him. She scoffs at that and warns him that Hermes is a liar and trickster. Telegonus tries to reassure her, saying that he is bringing his bow and has been learning how to use a spear. He gestures toward the makeshift spear that he has constructed from a stick and a kitchen knife.
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Fury flooding through her, Circe sharply tells Telegonus that he cannot be sure that Odysseus, let alone Telemachus, will welcome him—he is a bastard son, after all. She reminds her son that Athena still wants him dead. When Telegonus still does not back down, Circe tells him she forbids him from leaving and threatens to burn his boat.
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That night, Telegonus prepares to sleep outside to show his defiance. On his way out, Circe tells him that he has to acknowledge the threat that Athena poses. He snaps, ranting that fearing the gods is the only thing Circe cares about while he longs to freely live his life, like so many fearless, happy people around the earth. He exclaims that she has never let him live and that, even if he dies, he will accept that price if it means getting to see life beyond the island. Gripped by rage, Circe threatens him to drug him so that he will never leave. To Circe’s satisfaction, Telegonus looks afraid at last. He runs out the door.
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Thinking of Telegonus’s childhood, Circe sees that her wish for him to grow up unafraid has come true. Now, she wonders whether she should have told him more of the cruelty of the world. Perhaps, she thinks, she should have made him observe every process of her protective spell work, so that he would know the labor she has put into keeping him alive. But Telegonus has always wanted to leave—he has always loved the sea. Knowing she will do anything to keep him safe, she starts crafting a plan.
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