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Chapter 23
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 Penelope takes Telemachus to the beach to tell him of Athena’s plan, Telegonus asks Circe why she can’t just use moly to stop the protective spell. When Circe reminds him that she can end the spells whenever she so chooses, Telegonus frowns and asks whether Athena will be upset when she finds out that Circe is making her wait an extra three days. Aghast at his innocence, Circe tells him that she won’t tell Athena anything. With the gods, one needs to “keep [one’s] tricks close or [one] will lose everything.” With Circe buying them extra time, Penelope and Telemachus get more time to talk.
Circe lied to Hermes about needing three days in order to generously give Penelope and Telemachus more time to repair their relationship. This action shows that Circe knows she cannot change Athena’s selfish plan to use Telemachus as a tool to achieve her own goals, but she can make a difference with helping Penelope and Telemachus find peace. She does what is in her power to make a bad situation better. Meanwhile, Telegonus shows his naïveté. He prioritizes honesty and doesn’t realize that sometimes one must lie in order to survive, because people in a power-obsessed will exploit others’ weaknesses for their own gain. Circe knows this, and she keeps the details of her powers secret from the gods. Part of her powers’ strength is that the gods do not know what she can and cannot do. If they did, they would use this knowledge to their advantage and to Circe’s detriment, proving once again the gods’ selfishness and insatiable hunger for power.
Themes
That evening, Circe goes out into the forest, where she finds Telemachus brooding. After he thanks her for delaying Athena’s arrival, Circe asks if he feels ready. He brusquely asks if one can ever know what to expect with gods, a statement that feels cutting to Circe. In the darkness, Circe feels their prior connection fading, which she reminds herself she always knew was coming.
Telemachus expresses his resentment over how the gods use their power to heartlessly control the lives of mortals. As a mortal, he can never be sure how that gods will change his life. His comment feels like an insult to Circe, who resents her immortality because it connects her to the gods and their cruelty. She feels like Telemachus is pushing her away, and she tries to remind herself that she knew all along that she and Telemachus could never be together. Her immortality assures that she will continue existing while he dies—in this way, her immortality is a barrier to forming a deeper connection with him.
Themes
Over the next few days, Circe doesn’t speak to either Penelope or Telemachus, who are spending their days together. On the day of Athena’s arrival, Circe, climbs to the highest peak of Aiaia and breaks the protective spell at last. Circe then hurriedly joins Penelope, Telemachus, and Telegonus back in the hall, where they wait for Athena’s arrival, Circe grasping the poison spear.
Circe wants to keep the spear by her side in case Athena tries to harm her, Telegonus, or her guests in some way. Although Athena has greater supernatural powers, Circe hopes to keep her afraid of the poison spear, illustrating how fear can be used to maintain power and control.
Themes
Athena appears. She tells Telemachus that a new empire is being founded in the west and that she will lead him to greatness in this new city. But Telemachus refuses, saying that he has no desire to build empires. Athena is enraged and warns that by turning her down, he will be doomed to “a life of obscurity.” Telemachus calmly replies that this is the life he chooses.
Telemachus’s refusal of Athena illustrates his dedication to not being like his violent and power-hungry father, Odysseus. Plagued by guilt for his complicity in Odysseus’s violence, he has spent many years wishing that he’d acted differently. Now that he is given another chance to follow his father’s footsteps, he turns it down; he chooses to have a quiet life, sacrificing his chance at glory.
Themes
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Athena turns scornfully from Telemachus and addresses Telegonus instead. Horrified, Circe calls out to her son, telling him to stay silent. When Athena cuts in, furious that Circe is trying to thwart her again, Circe tries to persuade the goddess that she doesn’t want the murderer of Odysseus. But Athena shrugs off Circe’s argument, saying that Odysseus failed himself and died at his own hand.
Athena’s blaming Odysseus for his own death demonstrates her lack of concern for mortals. Even though she took special interest in Odysseus, she never actually cared about his happiness or quality of life. She only ever wanted him to amuse her with his intelligence and to bring her glory.
Themes
Telegonus speaks up a last. He tells Circe that he wants to go west to the growing city. Circe feels an encroaching despair, but she knows that her son will never stop desiring to leave Aiaia. As soon as she tells him that he must decide his fate, Telegonus is overjoyed, and Athena tells him that he must leave that afternoon.
Circe realizes that all her attempts to keep Athena at bay have only prolonged the inevitable: that Telegonus will leave her. Telegonus has always wanted to leave Aiaia, from his childhood fixation on the sea to his journey to Ithaca. All of her magic and protections were able to keep him alive, but none of them could change his mind to make him want to stay with her. Although she was able to have temporary company and form a lasting relationship with someone by having a child, she cannot rely on Telegonus to fill her loneliness and bring richness her life, implying that it is often ineffective (particularly in the long term) to rely on other people.
Themes
Putting on a brave face so that Telegonus will not see her grief, Circe helps her son pack. When he asks whether she is angry, she denies it. She knows that she has never been angry, just scared, since “He was what the gods could use against [her].”
Circe realizes that all the anger she unleashed on Telegonus was because she was scared of losing him. She used fear to make Telegonus obey her, in order to keep him safe. She was afraid of losing her control over him, and so she used fear to keep it, just like so many other characters in the story.
Themes
Telemachus interrupts their packing to give Telegonus the bow that had once belonged to Odysseus. As her son marvels at the gift, Circe considers the differences between the two men: her young and eager son, and a “man who chose to be no one.” Just as Athena had instructed, a ship comes at noon to collect Telegonus. After a final embrace, Circe watches her son sail away.
By contrasting Telemachus and Telegonus, Circe highlights the significance of Telemachus’s decision to give up fame, adventure, and power. In a society where power and dominance are dearly prized, to turn it down is a notable sacrifice. By giving up his chance at glory, Telemachus demonstrates his refusal to participate in the cycle of power and abuse that causes harm to so many. His action sets him apart from his power-hungry father, Odysseus, and illustrates how a person can disrupt systematic violence by giving up the advantages that they inherent (for Telemachus, these are patronage from Athena, power, and fame).
Themes
Without Telegonus, Circe feels her life shrink before her once again. Pacing across her island, she feels the eternity of her immortality—she is doomed to the same monotony forever. She considers how, even if she were close to Penelope and Telemachus, it wouldn’t matter, for their presence would only be a blip in her life. After all the mortals of her life pass away, she will be left only with other gods—the Olympians, the Titans, her father. Then, an idea rising in her mind, she calls out for Helios.
Circe sinks into despair regarding her immortality. Because she will live forever, she is doomed to watch all the mortals she loves die. Faced with this realization, Circe feels like all connections with mortals are meaningless—why bother caring about someone when you know that they will leave you? Many other gods have mirrored this attitude throughout the story, which suggests that because their immortality makes them jaded and indifferent to the people they meet, they rarely form emotionally fulfilling connections. Without significant relationships, the lives of gods are much less rich than the lives of mortals.
Themes
