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Chapter 16
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
As spring approaches and the time for Odysseus’s departure comes near, Circe imagines pleading with him to stay until the end of summer. But she believes that her request would disappoint him, for “Golden witches are not supposed to beg.” So, she shows off her island to him and makes each day as glorious as possible. She can sense his hesitation, as do his men, who begin to pressure Odysseus to set sail.
Circe hasn’t shown any of her weaknesses to Odysseus, so she is certain that he sees her as perfectly sufficient and independent, which would prove that she is powerful. In this way, Odysseus’s interpretation of her power restricts who she can be and the feelings she can express. He knows her to be a “Golden witch,” which is to say a powerful woman. Circe believes that he would see her expressing her emotions as a weakness—after all, she hasn’t shared any of her most private thoughts and stories with him.
Themes
One night, Apollo visits Circe with a prophecy regarding Odysseus. Receiving the prophecy is not a pleasant experience: Apollo gags her by sending a rush of air down her throat. The vision that comes to Circe shows two scenes: one of Odysseus back on Ithaca, and the other of him visiting an old man, whom she knows to be Teiresias, in the house of the dead.
Apollo doesn’t have the courtesy to ask Circe whether she is willing to receive his prophecy—he simply forces her to bear it, which reveals his entitlement and lack of empathy. He thinks only of accomplishing his own needs and never considers that the people he uses as tools may feel taken advantage of.
Themes
Circe stuffs her mouth with moly and the vision recedes. Furious at being used as a bearer of a prophecy, she exclaims that Apollo’s actions will bring war from Helios. But he shrugs off her threat, nonchalantly saying that Helios was the one who had suggested Circe as a vessel for one of Apollo’s prophecies. She should be honored, he says. When he leaves, Circe lies on the ground, feeling enraged and embarrassed at yet again being a pawn for the gods.
Apollo is so self-centered that he thinks Circe should be honored that he is using her. An extremely powerful god, he likely doesn’t know how unpleasant it is to receive a prophecy; even if he did, it is unlikely that he would care. As the god of prophecy, he presumably uses people in this manner often and doesn’t consider how each individual feels about being forced to receive his prophecies. Circe is furious that another god is using her as a tool. It’s also embarrassing because it demonstrates that she has less power than so many other gods. Even on her island, the gods will still mistreat her.
Themes
Circe is miserable, as she knows from the prophecy that Odysseus will indeed return to Ithaca. That evening, Odysseus kneels before Circe and tells her that he must leave Aiaia. Circe is irritated at his sudden formalities, but she nonetheless tells him that he is free to do as he wishes, reminding him that she is “a host, not a jailer.” He thanks her.
Circe prefers to receive love over fear-based homage. When Odysseus kneels in front of her, he implies that he fears her, stressing the power imbalance between the two of them. He doesn’t see her as an equal, which makes Circe upset. Additionally, her negative reaction to Odysseus’s kneeling illustrates that she resents her divinity in that it prevents people from treating her as an equal, which isolates her and prevents her from forming deep connections.
Themes
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Circe then tells Odysseus of the prophecy, that he must visit Teiresias in the underworld before he makes it home. Odysseus pales at this instruction and despairingly asks whether the gods’ games will ever end. A wave of sympathy washes over Circe. She then tells him how to get to the underworld and how he must pour sheep’s blood into a pit to summon the spirits, among whom will be the prophet Teiresias. Odysseus grimly accepts her guidance.
Circe is sympathetic toward Odysseus’s despair because she also knows what it feels like to be a pawn for the gods. Circe’s empathy allows her to put aside her anger at Odysseus’s leaving her. Instead of unleashing her fury on him, she kindly helps him plan his journey to the underworld. Her reaction to Odysseus’s leaving her is very different from her reaction when Glaucos left her for Scylla. Instead of vowing to do evil to keep Odysseus by her side (as she did in her situation with Glaucos), she sets aside her selfish desires to help him. Her decision to be benevolent shows how she has grown over the course of the story. Instead of selfishly imprisoning him for her own desires—like Pasiphaë did with Daedalus, though she desired power rather than love—Circe proves that she is unlike her cruel family.
Themes
Odysseus is too anxious to sleep. At sunrise, Circe walks outside with him, only to find the dead body of Elpenor, one of Odysseus’s men. He has fallen from the roof, where he liked to sleep. Odysseus stonily accepts the man’s death as a sign that “The Fates [have] him in their yoke again.” Circe tells him to leave for the underworld now and return later to Aiaia to perform funeral rights for Elpenor. He and his men leave that day.
On Aiaia, Odysseus has been able to live a generally carefree life without the gods’ interference. With one of his men dying on the day he is leaving Aiaia, he realizes that he is leaving the sanctuary from the gods’ abuse that the island somewhat affords. He is a victim of the gods, who carelessly use him. His life means nothing to them, apart from what they can gain from it.
Themes
Circe spends the day preparing Elpenor’s body for his funeral and then harvesting herbs. As she works, she wonders how she will behave once Odysseus is gone for good. Her heart hurts at the thought of losing him, but she knows that she will not go mad as storied lovers do—she has known all along that, as a god, any mortal lover will leave her.
Circe is resigned to Odysseus’s leaving. Even though it hurts to see him go, she knows that he, a mortal, is destined to leave her. Her immortal life destines her to loneliness, as all her relationships with mortals have to end. Having already loved and lost in the past, her feelings are not as strong as they used to be. This shows how immortal life wears gods down, making them emotionally numb.
Themes
Circe pictures Odysseus among the dead. She had given him a vial to fill with the blood that the ghosts touched—she knows that their presence will give the blood power. Thinking of how this insensitive request would be something that her brothers would order, she regrets having asked it. She observes her boxed herbs, her eyes resting on her silphium, a plant that, up until this last month, she has consumed monthly since she first had sex with Hermes.
Circe’s request that Odysseus fill a vial with blood for her reveals some selfishness. When she reflects on it, she realizes how callous the action was and how it makes her like her brothers—and she regrets it, which demonstrates the importance of self-reflection in personal growth. When looking over her herbs, she spots silphium, an herb that the ancient Greeks used as a contraceptive. The implication is that Circe has been using silphium to prevent pregnancy up until her final month with Odysseus, which suggests that she has been trying to conceive a child with him. By doing so, she is taking her future into her own hands, choosing to have a child so that she no longer feels purposeless and alone on her island. She wants connection with others and makes the decision to have a child to achieve this goal. However, she has also been deceiving Odysseus in the process.
Themes
When Odysseus and his men return, Circe and her nymphs greet them with a feast. The men are pale from their encounter with the dead, but the food revives them. As the sun sets, Circe pulls Odysseus aside to tell her about the visit. He grimly tells her of seeing his old war companions, whose spirits now haunt the underworld and envy his life. Teiresias has given him another prophecy, he continues bitterly: Ithaca will be occupied by other men when he returns, and he will “die of the sea” while on land.
The gods are not letting Odysseus live his life free of their demands and expectations. He follows their instructions to go to the underworld only to receive more prophecies of what they expect from him.
Themes
Teiresias also informed Odysseus that he will stop at Thrinakia, the island with Helios’s sacred cows, on the way home. Circe is chilled by this news, knowing that Helios will kill them if any of Odysseus’s men hurt the cows. She urges him to not set foot on the shore, because if they see the cows, Odysseus and his men will be tempted to slaughter them.
Circe knows that Helios values his perfect cows far more than any mortal lives. If the men kill his cows, Helios will take it as an attack on his power and destroy the men.
Themes
Circe plots out the rest of Odysseus’s trip, telling him what dangers her will face. She avoids mentioning the worst peril until the end: he will have to face Scylla. Circe feels the weighty responsibility of yet more deaths at Scylla’s jaws. Odysseus wearily thanks her for the advice.
Circe has never let go of her regret over Scylla’s transformation. Significantly, she doesn’t try to dismiss her guilt or rationalize her action. She knows that what she did was wrong and wishes to undo it, which sets her apart from her family and signifies her personal growth from callous to caring.
Themes
Circe, Odysseus, his men, and the island nymphs give Elpenor his proper funeral, after which Odysseus and his men pack their ship. As they prepare to leave, Circe ruminates on the scars of the brilliant-minded Odysseus, and how “he let [her] pretend that [she] had none.”
Odysseus’s scars represent his flaws and his history. While Circe got to know Odysseus intimately, she never felt comfortable enough to be vulnerable with him and show him her faults. She let him believe (and pretend herself) that she is wholly powerful, without weaknesses. Hiding her flaws reduces her personality and prevents a deeper relationship, but it also protects her from manipulation or his disappointment.
Themes
