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Chapter 7
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
One sunset, Circe’s work is interrupted by Hermes, who greets her by teasing her plain appearance and gardening. Although nervous to see him, she swallows her fear (she knows that such a powerful god would leverage it) and bluntly asks what he expected. He tells her that Zeus is certain that she is crafting magic to attack the gods. Hermes denies Circe’s accusation that he is a spy and reveals that he is visiting in hopes that she will host him while he is hiding from Apollo, whose lyre he has stolen. Circe hesitates—Apollo’s wrath is deadly. But she is tired of fearing what gods might do to her, so she welcomes him into her house.
Circe has grown wiser since her time in Helios’s halls, and she’s now wary to show her real emotions lest someone (like Hemes) uses them against her. After all, the last time she was truthful to someone (confessing her powers to Helios), it resulted in Zeus and her father exiling her. In this way, Circe understandably feels like she cannot trust those around her, which leads to a sense of emotional isolation. Circe welcomes Hermes not out of kindness, but out of spite for the gods. She is tired of living in fear, and now that she feels confident and in-control of her power, she’s no longer as willing to honor the gods for the sake of winning their favor. After all, none of her kindness or deference helped her in the past—the gods exiled her anyway.
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Hermes is a wonderful storyteller. That evening, he tells Circe tales of the gods’ fights and vices. She’s captivated by his skill, acknowledging that the rumors of his charm and wiliness are true. When she asks whether he will get in trouble for visiting her, he says that while she can’t leave, anyone can visit. Helios and Zeus didn’t consider the details.
The fact that Helios and Zeus never planned out the details of Circe’s exile demonstrates how insignificant she is to them. Although their reasoning isn’t explicitly stated, it is likely that they assume that Circe will remain relatively powerless because she is a woman, and they don’t expect her to ever obtain a significant amount of power.
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Hermes starts playing the lyre upon Circe’s request and asks if she can sing. She tells him that she can, but that others cringe at her voice, which they say “sounds like a gull.” He says that she doesn’t sound like a gull at all, but she has a human voice, a common characteristic of lesser nymphs. He also informs her that, should she ever meet mortals, they will not fear her as much of others, because she sounds like them. Circe humors him and sings.
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Circe asks Hermes the name of her island, which he gives her: Aiaia. She recognizes that name as a battle site during the Olympian-Titan war, which means that divine blood fell on her island. Hermes slyly voices the coincidence that Helios would choose to exile her here. Circe knows that he’s trying to pry information from her, but contrary to her past self, she will not give him whatever he wants. She asks him whether he would dare to stay, knowing that she is a witch. He rises to the challenge, and they become lovers.
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Hermes continues to visit Circe, and the two become close. They have enjoyable conversation and sex, but they are not in love. When Hermes asks Circe to have his child, she laughs at his request. They are barely friends—they amuse each other, but that could change at any moment. Hermes tells Circe gossip from around the world, from Pasiphaë’s family to Perse’s gloating pride about her children. She enjoys his stories but knows that he gossips about her in the same way.
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Literary Devices
One day, Circe asks why Zeus had been so furious at Prometheus for helping mortals. Hermes says that it is because miserable people make better offerings to the gods. Happy people are too busy with their lives, which they come to claim as their own. When Circe expresses outrage, Hermes reminds her that Helios is one of the most brutal gods. Circe is silenced, thinking of how she used to be proud of the offerings Helios got.
During another visit, Circe asks Hermes about Scylla. He says that she is near Aiaia; she lives in a cliff on one side of a strait whose opposite border has a whirlpool. Whenever a ship passes, she eats sailors. Circe is horrified, knowing that all these deaths are her fault. Hermes admits that Helios or Zeus could stop her, but they won’t: monsters inspire many prayers. On this same visit, he tells her that a prophecy states that a man named Odysseus, who is also a descendant of Hermes, will come to her island.
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Circe’s favorite moments are when she walks the forests with her lion at midnight, after Hermes leaves. After waiting several months since their first talk (she doesn’t want Hermes spying on her), Circe finds the flower she wants: a blossom that sprang from divine blood. She names it moly and sees that it has the capability to ward off evil. The days pass, and her island thrives. She is mostly happy, although she cannot forget the deaths she causes via Scylla.
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