|
Have questions?
Contact us
Already a member? Sign in
|
Get every literary device explanation for Circe
Plus so much more...
Sign up for LitCharts A+
Get instant access to every literary device explanation, plus so much more...
Foil
Explanation and Analysis—Circe and Odysseus:
Odysseus is one of several foils for Circe. An allusion to The Odyssey in Chapter 26 helps to make clear the way his character sets hers apart:
I breathed my house’s air, thick with the clean smell of herbs. I felt that pleasure the bards sing of so often: homecoming.
In my room the sheets of my wide, gold bed were fresh as they ever were. I could hear Telemachus telling his mother the story of Scylla.
Not only is homecoming a major theme in The Odyssey, but also Odysseus and Penelope's marriage bed is a major symbol of the home that awaits Odysseus at the end of his journey—no matter how long it takes him. Odysseus carved one of the bed posts out of the trunk of a standing olive tree, so that his and Penelope's house would be built around the immovable centerpiece of their bed. It symbolizes how steadfast their marriage is, even through Odysseus's decades-long absence from home (and multiple extra-marital affairs).
Circe's return to her "wide, gold bed" is an allusion to Odysseus's marriage bed. Like Odysseus, Circe spends what seems like forever trying to find her way home. Neither of them knows exactly what their home will look like when they find it, but they struggle on toward it nonetheless and make plenty of mistakes along the way. Both of them hurt people and worry about their sons. At last in this chapter, Circe returns to Aiaia and feels like she is home. As she climbs into her own bed, she even takes Odysseus's place as the third member of Penelope and Telemachus's family.
While the mention of Circe's bed helps draw a parallel between her homecoming and Odysseus's homecoming, it also draws a contrast between the two characters, their desires, and their choices. Circe's bed is not as comforting to her as it first seems, and not nearly as comforting as Odysseus's bed is to him. Gold and covered in sheets that are "ever fresh," it is a bed only a god could have. It never bears a trace of having been slept in, so it feels no different climbing into it after a long absence than after centuries of successive nights in it. Her bed reminds her of her immortal disconnection from all of the life on her island. Plants, animals, Penelope, and Telemachus will die one day, and Circe will still be here sleeping on the same sheets, "fresh as they ever were."
Circe distinguishes herself from Odysseus when she chooses to relinquish her immortality in favor of a more ordinary, mortal life. Whereas Odysseus spends his life seeking immortal glory and taking his ordinary bed at home for granted, Circe decides she would rather not miss the glory of ordinary life itself. She chooses a short lifetime of sheets that need changing over an unlimited future of mythical feats. Consequently, she lives out her days in happy obscurity. Odysseus, on the other hand, spends the last years of his life paranoid, violent, and too obsessed with his own glory to enjoy his home.
Monthly
Annual (Best Value)
$595USD/mo
Charged $71.40 USD every year
Quote explanations & citation info
Every PDF download
Printable PDFs for every guide
"Would not have made it through without the printable PDFs. They're like having in-class notes for every discussion!"
– LitCharts A⁺ user
One-page Quick Lit Guides
Understand key basics—fast
Printable, one-page guides that cover the plot points, themes, and ideas you need to know.
Detailed chapter analysis
Get what happens and what it means
Targeted analysis next to the summary ensures you’ll understand more than just the plot.
Line-by-line poetry analysis
Get the meaning in every line
Never feel lost reading a poem again with clear and in-depth analysis of each and every line.
Literary & poetic device analysis
Decode the author’s language
Quickly find and understand the key devices in whatever you’re reading.
Unlimited quizzes
Unlimited quizzes and feedback
Boost your learning with quizzes that pinpoint and address knowledge gaps.
Advanced search
Find exactly what you need
Refine your search using advanced filters like genre, time period, literary movement, author context, grade level, and more.
Ask LitCharts AI
Ask LitCharts AI
Instant answers to all your lit questions. Powered by LitCharts content and AI.
Theme comparisons across books
Compare and contrast
Identify similar themes across books, making comparisons fast and simple.
Highlight, take notes, & save guides
Make LitCharts your own
Add highlights or notes, save guides for easy access later, and request new titles.
Teacher$795USD/mo
Charged $95.40 USD every year
Quote explanations & citation info
Find the perfect quote
Then understand it perfectly. And get the citation, too. For all 35,000+ quotes we cover.
Every PDF download
Printable PDFs for every guide
"Would not have made it through without the printable PDFs. They're like having in-class notes for every discussion!"
– LitCharts A⁺ user
One-page Quick Lit Guides
Understand key basics—fast
Printable, one-page guides that cover the plot points, themes, and ideas you need to know.
Detailed chapter analysis
Get what happens and what it means
Targeted analysis next to the summary ensures you’ll understand more than just the plot.
Line-by-line poetry analysis
Get the meaning in every line
Never feel lost reading a poem again with clear and in-depth analysis of each and every line.
Literary & poetic device analysis
Decode the author’s language
Quickly find and understand the key devices in whatever you’re reading.
Unlimited quizzes
Unlimited quizzes and feedback
Boost your learning with quizzes that pinpoint and address knowledge gaps.
Advanced search
Find exactly what you need
Refine your search using advanced filters like genre, time period, literary movement, author context, grade level, and more.
Ask LitCharts AI
Ask LitCharts AI
Instant answers to all your lit questions. Powered by LitCharts content and AI.
Theme comparisons across books
Compare and contrast
Identify similar themes across books, making comparisons fast and simple.
Highlight, take notes, & save guides
Make LitCharts your own
Add highlights or notes, save guides for easy access later, and request new titles.
Teacher editions
Save time with in-depth organizers
"THE best teaching resource I have ever used. My students love the handouts."
– LitCharts A⁺ User
Printable classroom resources
Cut prep time in half
Essay prompts, discussion questions, and comprehension checks—easy to print and ready to use in class.
Discussion question generator
Discussion question generator
Instantly create discussion questions that get people talking, through the power of LitCharts analysis and AI.
Essay prompt generator
Essay prompt generator
Quickly create thought-provoking essay prompts that will get your students writing, powered by LitCharts analysis and AI.
Quiz question generator
Quiz question generator
Effortlessly generate targeted quiz questions, powered by the world’s best literary analysis and AI.
Literature Guide PDFs
LitCharts PDFs for every book you'll read this year.
Instant PDF downloads of all 2257 LitCharts literature guides and of every new one we publish. Try a free sample literature guide.
"Would not have made it through AP Literature without the printable PDFs. They're like having in-class notes for every discussion!"
Quotes Explanations
Find the perfect quote. Understand it perfectly. Then rock the citation, too.
For all 50,338 quotes we cover.
For all 50,338 quotes we cover.
Teacher Editions
Close reading made easy for students.
Time saved for teachers.
For every book we cover.
Time saved for teachers.
For every book we cover.
Teacher Edition Contents
|
Close Reading Organizers |
|
Character Analysis Organizers |
|
Symbol Analysis Organizers |
|
Theme Analysis Organizers |
|
Quote Analysis Organizers |
Common Core-aligned
""
Try a free and complete sample Teacher Edition.
PDFs of modern translations of every one of Shakespeare's 37 plays, 154 sonnets, and 3 longer poems.
Every translation available to download as a PDF.
Try a free sample Shakespeare translation.
"Every teacher of literature should use these translations. They completely demystify Shakespeare. Students love them!"
Literary Terms and Devices
Definitions and examples for every literary term and device you need to know.
Plus a quick-reference PDF with concise definitions of all 136 terms in one place.
Plus a quick-reference PDF with concise definitions of all 136 terms in one place.
Try a free sample literary term PDF.
Advanced Search
Refine any search. Find related themes, quotes, symbols, characters, and more.
Related Themes
Comparing and contrasting texts? Find where any theme occurs across all of LitCharts in seconds.
Poetry Guides
Line-by-line explanations and analysis of figurative language and poetic devices.
For every lyric poem we cover.
For every lyric poem we cover.
