Circe the Superwoman! (AKA Character Sketch)

Circe, friend or foe? Honestly, neither. Circe is a power-driven woman who seems bent on breaking the usual objectification of women by making men her victims and turning them into animals. In Circe’s world, the women rule and the men are at their mercy. Talk about role reversing. Though what struck me were the animals she chose to turn the men into. The poem speaks of the men coming across lions guarding (or more like purring) at the doors to Circe’s home and later of the men turning into swine. Was this some sort of way of Circe showing men’s true nature through the animals she turns them into? Seeing as how the men came into Circe’s home and feasted without a second thought, the idea seems plausible. Also, how the language in which Homer uses to describe how Circe continues to feed them add to this visual of the powerful Circe. “In front of them Circe threw down feed,
acorns, beech nuts, cornel fruit, the stuff
pigs eat when they are wallowing in mud,” (Bk 10, lines 242-244).

When Odysseus confronts her and frightens her like Hermes tells him to, Circe cowers. Is she really cowering, though? Or is she using her feminine allusion to stop Odysseus from attacking her and convince him to share her bed? In a small world consisting of only women and animals, Circe must not get many men worthy enough to share her bed. In this way, Circe is a trickster. Granted, Odysseus persuades her to swear not to harm him, but I don’t think that was an ulterior motive for Circe. I believe she wanted a bed warmer and the simple joy of company. All the while, however, Circe maintains the upper hand. Her tool? Her femininity. How does she trick the men at first? By being a proper lady and offering them food and wine. How does she trick Odysseus? By acting like a weak woman in need of mercy. But besides all that, Circe still maintains full control. For example, she doesn’t allow Odysseus and his men to simply leave her household. They must perform the daunting task of traveling to the underworld. Convincing them to travel to the world of the dead? Is this some how a projection of Circe’s ideas of men? Perhaps.

In other words, Circe wants the men to know she is the only thing keeping them alive at this point in their adventure. You want to leave? Fine. Travel to the underworld and speak with the dead first. Also (to go off of a point made in class), when the drunken Elpenor left Circe’s protective inner circle of her home, he fell from the roof and died. None of the men had before left her home after convening together. Circe always has the power and the control.

Even when the men go to the underworld, Circe still controls the situation. She gives them the two animals needed for the sacrifice for their excursion to be a success. Also, she tells them where they need to go to speak with Teiresias. Without Circe’s interference, they would have failed.

-- Georgia