In today’s piece of evidence, I’m going to review Madeline Miller’s Circe and talk about different things we can learn from it. I think that at the beginning particularly, I didn’t think much of the book, it was more towards Circe’s exile, that I began to get interested, however that being said there were moments in the book before that that I enjoyed reading.
Just to start, I’d like to talk about how the gods and titans are represented and how they interact with each other. Before this I didn’t focus much on how nymphs, deities and titans interacted with each other but now, I can’t help but find it interesting as to why the author decided to portray them like this. Throughout the book, all these deities are portrayed to be the same — sly, backstabbing and cunning among other less than desirable qualities. An example is the story of Scylla.
The book states that before Circe had transformed her, she was beloved by creatures and gods of all manners thanks to her beautiful looks and was to be wed to Glaucon, hence Circe’s actions. However, after her transformation, everybody spoke openly of their mutual dislike and hatred for her with Selene, Circe’s grandmother, openly telling the tale multiple times leaving everybody laughing at her cruel fate. And so I bring this up only because I’m curious as to why Madeline Miller decided to portray the deities in this fashion. When I think of the Olympians and nymphs I never imagined them to be as cutthroat or as bickering as many humans are. But it raises the question, what does it mean to be a god? Another example from the book on what it means to be a god is the story of Glaucon.
Originally Glaucon was a fisherman who was never usually able to catch very many fish and as a result, suffered abuse from his father. Circe met him and fell and the two fell in love with each other, however, she knew that she couldn’t be with him because he was a mortal. And so whilst he slept, Circe gathered flowers covered him within it and he became a god. However, afterwards, he changed. He killed his father and his home town dedicated an altar to him. When asked if he would bless them with plenty of fish, he replied, “it depends on their sacrifice.” So it’s interesting how his attitude changed just because he was deified. But about the question “what does it mean to be a god?” I guess you could say that gods, in general, are powerful and it is that power that makes them selfish and unforgiving.
However, you could also argue that Madelline Miller is perhaps just trying to spread a message about how power can change people, like Glaucon, however that change isn’t necessarily bad, just look at Circe’s transformation from frowned-upon daughter of Helios to the powerful witch of Aeaea. But going back to my original question as to why did Madelline Miller present the gods in this way, perhaps she was trying to show the imperfectness of the gods, pointing out that people recognize the gods in their image only elevated in every way despite their obvious faults and lapses of judgment displayed in countless pages of ancient greek literature and mythological stories. And so because they are built in our image, it is inevitable for them to inherit our shortcomings, even though it is always thought of as being the reverse. It is very interesting to think about, did the gods build us in their image and so we inherit their failures only magnified, or because we perceive the gods in our image, as men and women-only elevated, they inherit our failure and flaws. (I feel like I’m probably asking too many questions rather than answering them — almost like Socrates in the symposium.)
One more thing from the book I want to talk about is the ending of the book. After killing Scylla with Telemachus, they both return to Aeaea, and Circe finds that Penelope has taken what she has taught her about herbs to delve more into witchcraft. She agrees to take up the mantle of the Witch of Aiaia. Circe uses the moly to make a potion to bring forth her true self. She has a vision of herself becoming mortal and living a life and growing old together with Telemachus. She drinks the potion. I thought that this was a nice ending. Throughout the book, Circe feels as if she doesn’t belong to the house of Helios or belong anywhere for that matter, only on Aeaea does she feel at home which is probably somewhat of a dark joke because she’s alone there. However, in the end, she finally finds her people Telemachus, Penelope and her son, a family which she feels she belongs to, and so she turns herself into a mortal to properly enjoy that life with her family, which I thought was a great ending. Do I think the book was as good as the song of Achilles, no, however, that being said, I thoroughly enjoyed it and all the concepts and questions it raised.
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