Circe

by

Madeline Miller

Odysseus Character Analysis

Odysseus is a warrior who, on his way home to Ithaca from Troy, stops on Circe’s island. Odysseus is extremely clever, which attracts Athena to be his patron. Odysseus is also extremely proud, and he gets his men in trouble many times because of his vanity and greed. When he arrives on Aiaia, he sends his men ahead to her house, where Circe—still traumatized from the violent rape she suffered at the hands of previous sailors—turns them into pigs. Odysseus then arrives bearing moly, which Hermes (his ancestor) gave him to protect him from Circe’s magic. He and Circe have an enjoyable conversation, and they become lovers, with her restoring Odysseus’s men to their original forms after she and Odysseus have sex. Odysseus and his men stay on Aiaia for several months: first to rest from their journey and fix their ship, and then because Odysseus enjoys Circe’s company. Circe falls in love with Odysseus and his sharp intelligence. She particularly loves Odysseus’s scars, which she sees as integral to his identity. Before Odysseus returns to Ithaca, Circe becomes pregnant by him, although Odysseus never learns of this. When Penelope and Telemachus come with Telegonus to Aiaia, Circe hears the rest of Odysseus’s tale: after returning to Ithaca, Odysseus killed all the men who hoped to marry Penelope. And he didn’t stop there; he wanted to send a message about what happens to those who try to usurp his power, and so he killed everyone connected with the suitors, even the innocent bystanders and the serving girls whom the suitors raped. Telemachus is especially haunted by what happened and feels guilty for having been a part of the murders. Odysseus continues a downward spiral into paranoia and violence until he accidentally kills himself on Telegonus’s poison spear when he attacks Telegonus, thinking that he is a pirate.

Odysseus Quotes in Circe

The Circe quotes below are all either spoken by Odysseus or refer to Odysseus. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Power, Fear, and Self-Preservation Theme Icon
).
Chapter 16 Quotes

The scars themselves I offered to wipe away. [Odysseus] shook his head. “How would I know myself?”

I was secretly glad. They suited him. Enduring Odysseus, he was, and the name was stitched into his skin. Whoever saw him must salute and say: There is a man who has seen the world. There is a captain with stories to tell.

I might have told him, in those hours, stories of my own […] His face would be intent as he listened, his relentless mind examining, weighing and cataloguing […] He would gather my weaknesses up and set them with the rest of his collection, alongside Achilles’ and Ajax’s. He kept them on his person as other men keep their knives.

I looked down at my body […] and tried to imagine it written over with its history: my palm with its lightning streak, my hand missing its fingers, the thousand cuts from my witch-work, the gristled furrows of my father’s fire […] And those were only the things that had left marks.

There would be no salutes. What had Aeëtes called an ugly nymph? A stain upon the face of the world.

Related Characters: Circe (speaker), Odysseus (speaker), Aeëtes, Achilles
Related Symbols: Scars
Page Number: 215
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 21 Quotes

“You pity me. Do not. My father lied about many things, but he was right when he called me a coward. I let him be what he was for year after year, raging and beating the servants, shouting at my mother, and turning our house to ash. He told me to help him kill the suitors and I did it. Then he told me to kill all the men who had aided them, and I did that too. Then he commanded me to gather up all the slave girls who had ever lain with one of them and […] kill them as well.” […]

“I hanged them” […] Each word was like a blade he thrust into himself. “I had never seen it done […] I had some thought that it must be more proper. I should have used the sword instead. I have never known such ugly drawn-out deaths. I will see their feet twisting the rest of my days.”

Related Characters: Circe (speaker), Telemachus (speaker), Scylla, Odysseus, Penelope
Page Number: 308-309
Explanation and Analysis:

An owl passed its wings over my head. I heard the sound of scuffling brush, the beak snap, A mouse had died for its carelessness. I was glad Telemachus would not know of those words between me and his father. At the time I had been boasting, showing off my ruthlessness. I had felt untouchable, filled with teeth and power. I scarcely remembered what that was like.

Related Characters: Circe (speaker), Telegonus, Telemachus, Odysseus, Athena
Page Number: 310
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 22 Quotes

“When I was young, I overheard our palace surgeon talking. He said that the medicines he sold were only for show. Most hurts heal by themselves, he said, if you give them enough time […] I took it for a philosophy. I have always been good at waiting, you see. I outlasted the war and the suitors. I outlasted Odysseus’s travels. I told myself that if I were patient enough, I could outlast his restlessness and Athena too […] And while I sat, Telemachus bore his father’s rage year after year. He suffered while I turned my eyes away […] But this world does have true medicines. You are proof of that. You walked the depths for your son. You defied the gods. I think of all the years of my life I wasted on that little man’s boast. I have paid for it, that is only justice, but I have made Telemachus pay as well.”

Related Characters: Penelope (speaker), Circe, Telegonus, Telemachus, Odysseus, Athena
Page Number: 329-330
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 24 Quotes

Penelope’s face was bent to the floor. “I have, goddess. He is set in his course. You know his father’s blood was always stubborn.”

“Stubborn in achievement.” Athena snapped each word like a dove’s neck. “In ingenuity. What is this degeneracy? […] I do not make this offer again. If you persist in this foolishness, if you refuse me, all my glory will leave you. Even if you beg I will not come.”

“I understand,” he said.

His calmness seemed to rage her. “There will be no songs made of you. No stories. Do you understand? You will live a life of obscurity. You will be without a name in history. You will be no one.” […]

“I choose that fate,” he said.

Related Characters: Circe (speaker), Telemachus (speaker), Athena (speaker), Penelope (speaker), Odysseus
Page Number: 352
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 25 Quotes

“Her name,” he said. “Scylla. It means the Render. Perhaps it was always her destiny to be a monster, and you were only the instrument.”

“Do you use the same excuse for the maids you hanged?”

It was as if I had struck him. “I make no excuse for that. I will wear that shame all my life. I cannot undo it, but I will spend my days wishing I could.”

“It is how you know you are different from your father,” I said.

“Yes.” His voice was sharp.

“It is the same for me,” I said. “Do not try to take my regret from me.”

He was quiet a long time. “You are wise,” he said.

“If it is so,” I said, “it is only because I have been fool enough for a hundred lifetimes […] I must tell you, all my past is like today, monsters and horrors no one wants to hear.”

He held my gaze. […]

“I want to hear,” he said.

Related Characters: Circe (speaker), Telemachus (speaker), Scylla, Odysseus, Trygon
Page Number: 373-374
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Circe LitChart as a printable PDF.
Circe PDF

Odysseus Quotes in Circe

The Circe quotes below are all either spoken by Odysseus or refer to Odysseus. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Power, Fear, and Self-Preservation Theme Icon
).
Chapter 16 Quotes

The scars themselves I offered to wipe away. [Odysseus] shook his head. “How would I know myself?”

I was secretly glad. They suited him. Enduring Odysseus, he was, and the name was stitched into his skin. Whoever saw him must salute and say: There is a man who has seen the world. There is a captain with stories to tell.

I might have told him, in those hours, stories of my own […] His face would be intent as he listened, his relentless mind examining, weighing and cataloguing […] He would gather my weaknesses up and set them with the rest of his collection, alongside Achilles’ and Ajax’s. He kept them on his person as other men keep their knives.

I looked down at my body […] and tried to imagine it written over with its history: my palm with its lightning streak, my hand missing its fingers, the thousand cuts from my witch-work, the gristled furrows of my father’s fire […] And those were only the things that had left marks.

There would be no salutes. What had Aeëtes called an ugly nymph? A stain upon the face of the world.

Related Characters: Circe (speaker), Odysseus (speaker), Aeëtes, Achilles
Related Symbols: Scars
Page Number: 215
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 21 Quotes

“You pity me. Do not. My father lied about many things, but he was right when he called me a coward. I let him be what he was for year after year, raging and beating the servants, shouting at my mother, and turning our house to ash. He told me to help him kill the suitors and I did it. Then he told me to kill all the men who had aided them, and I did that too. Then he commanded me to gather up all the slave girls who had ever lain with one of them and […] kill them as well.” […]

“I hanged them” […] Each word was like a blade he thrust into himself. “I had never seen it done […] I had some thought that it must be more proper. I should have used the sword instead. I have never known such ugly drawn-out deaths. I will see their feet twisting the rest of my days.”

Related Characters: Circe (speaker), Telemachus (speaker), Scylla, Odysseus, Penelope
Page Number: 308-309
Explanation and Analysis:

An owl passed its wings over my head. I heard the sound of scuffling brush, the beak snap, A mouse had died for its carelessness. I was glad Telemachus would not know of those words between me and his father. At the time I had been boasting, showing off my ruthlessness. I had felt untouchable, filled with teeth and power. I scarcely remembered what that was like.

Related Characters: Circe (speaker), Telegonus, Telemachus, Odysseus, Athena
Page Number: 310
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 22 Quotes

“When I was young, I overheard our palace surgeon talking. He said that the medicines he sold were only for show. Most hurts heal by themselves, he said, if you give them enough time […] I took it for a philosophy. I have always been good at waiting, you see. I outlasted the war and the suitors. I outlasted Odysseus’s travels. I told myself that if I were patient enough, I could outlast his restlessness and Athena too […] And while I sat, Telemachus bore his father’s rage year after year. He suffered while I turned my eyes away […] But this world does have true medicines. You are proof of that. You walked the depths for your son. You defied the gods. I think of all the years of my life I wasted on that little man’s boast. I have paid for it, that is only justice, but I have made Telemachus pay as well.”

Related Characters: Penelope (speaker), Circe, Telegonus, Telemachus, Odysseus, Athena
Page Number: 329-330
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 24 Quotes

Penelope’s face was bent to the floor. “I have, goddess. He is set in his course. You know his father’s blood was always stubborn.”

“Stubborn in achievement.” Athena snapped each word like a dove’s neck. “In ingenuity. What is this degeneracy? […] I do not make this offer again. If you persist in this foolishness, if you refuse me, all my glory will leave you. Even if you beg I will not come.”

“I understand,” he said.

His calmness seemed to rage her. “There will be no songs made of you. No stories. Do you understand? You will live a life of obscurity. You will be without a name in history. You will be no one.” […]

“I choose that fate,” he said.

Related Characters: Circe (speaker), Telemachus (speaker), Athena (speaker), Penelope (speaker), Odysseus
Page Number: 352
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 25 Quotes

“Her name,” he said. “Scylla. It means the Render. Perhaps it was always her destiny to be a monster, and you were only the instrument.”

“Do you use the same excuse for the maids you hanged?”

It was as if I had struck him. “I make no excuse for that. I will wear that shame all my life. I cannot undo it, but I will spend my days wishing I could.”

“It is how you know you are different from your father,” I said.

“Yes.” His voice was sharp.

“It is the same for me,” I said. “Do not try to take my regret from me.”

He was quiet a long time. “You are wise,” he said.

“If it is so,” I said, “it is only because I have been fool enough for a hundred lifetimes […] I must tell you, all my past is like today, monsters and horrors no one wants to hear.”

He held my gaze. […]

“I want to hear,” he said.

Related Characters: Circe (speaker), Telemachus (speaker), Scylla, Odysseus, Trygon
Page Number: 373-374
Explanation and Analysis: