Circe Of Aeaea Research Paper

Calypso being the temptress that she is kept Odysseus on her island, Ogygia, for seven years. Eventually, after Zeus talked to Athena, Zeus told Calypso that she must set Odysseus free. Even with Zeus’ orders she did not want to let Odysseus go so Odysseus had to escape her dreadful island and return home on his own. Then after he left the island of Calypso, he ran in to Circe. Circe started to mess with all of Odysseus’ men and made it harder to get home. Both Calypso and Circe, made Odysseus’ journey home so much harder than it needed to be. Since Calypso trapped him on the island for seven years, his family and everybody at home was starting to believe he was dead. They had no hope that they would ever see him again. So they started to push themselves on Penelope. Also if Circe would have just left him alone and did not mess with any of his men and stayed out of the way, he could have made it home faster. Since both of the Goddess wanted him for their selves they both interfered with his journey in many different ways. Some ways was the same like giving him the gift of immortality and persuading with other stuff. Some ways was different like trapping him in a cage for seven years and turning his men into pigs so he could not leave as

     After two more stops Odysseus proves again that he is a real hero by out smarting the Cyclops and escaping the giant Laestrygonians. However, even hero's can't win all of the time and he losses many of his men to the Cyclops and the cannibal Laestrygonians. By the time he arrives at Circe's island his ship is the only ship left. Odysseus, being more cautious now, sends a group of men ahead to check out her house. The men called to Circe, and she came out of the house. She invited them in to share a meal. Unfortunately for them, Circe had mixed a magical drug into their food. This drug caused them to forget their native land, and turned

Next, they reached a place called Aiaia. Odysseus and his men decided to separate into two groups to explore the island. The group without Odysseus found the hut where Circe, "A terrible goddess" lived (115). All of the men, except Eurylochos, entered the house, "For he expected a trap" (117). Circe gave the men some wine, "But she put dangerous drugs in the mess, to make them wholly forget their native land. When they had swallowed it, she gave them a tap of her wand at once and herded them into pens; for they now had pigs? heads and grunts and bristles" (117). She had turned them into pigs. At this place the goddess, Circe, who lived there turned half of the men into pigs. Eurylochos went and told Odysseus, who vowed to go save the men.

Circe gives Odysseus a golden cup of honeyed wine for when Odysseus does not turn into an animal Circe, knows that he is Odysseus. Circe helps Odysseus and his men by telling Odysseus the dangers of their journey ahead. Circe says, "Son of Laertes and the gods of old, Odysseus, master, mariner, and soldier, you shall not stay here longer against your will; but the home you may not unless you take a strange way round and come to the cold homes of Death and pale Persephone. You shall hear prophecy from the rapt shade of blind Tiresias of Thebes, forever charged with reason even among the dead; to him alone, of all the flitting ghosts, Persephone has given a mind undarkened" (Applebee et.al 925). In conclusion, Circe is an archetypal hero because she gives Odysseus advice and aids him to Persephone who tells him how to return to

As Odysseus drew his sword about (pretending) to strike Circe, these were her words, “Who are you? From what family? What city? You drank my drugs, but you were not entranced. No other man has ever passed that test; for once that potion’s passed their teeth, the rest have fallen prey: you have within your chest a heart that can defeat my sorcery. You surely are the man of many wiles, Odysseus, he whom I was warned against by Hermes of the golden wand: he said that you would come from Troy in a black ship. But now put back your blade within that sheath and let us lie together on my bed: in loving,

Little did they know that once they sat down to eat, they would be turned into pigs. Later in the chapter, Odysseus realizes the amount of power that Circe holds, begs for mercy, and calls Circe out for the wrongs that she had done him. “Circe, Circe, how dare you tell me to treat you with any warmth? You who turned my men into swine in your own house and now you hold me here as well… not until you consent to swear, goddess, a binding oath you will never plot some new intrigue to harm me!’.” (241) Circe is a confidant woman who speaks the truth, and will call people out for lying and being phonies. She is wise with her power, and uses it strategically to her advantage. She used it to defend herself when she claimed to only expose the people for who they truly were. Deep down, I believe that she is a nice person, but doesn't want people to try taking advantage of her and doesn't want to be seen as a push-over. These strong confidant actions of her disprove any gender stereotypes that may have existed because she is actually standing up for herself, and speaking her mind. Unlike many other characters that someone might read about in literature, Circe

Odysseus was able to get help from the god Hermes and Odysseus came against her spell and transformed the pigs back into his soldiers. They stayed on her island for a year in comfort before moving on and resisting the temptations of the dangerous Sirens. They also had to go through between the sea monster, Scylla and also had to go through the whirlpools of Charybdis and the deepness of Hades to get a prophecy from the blind seer Tiresias. Resting on the island of Helios Odysseus' men didn’t listen to his orders to not touch the oxen. At sea, Zeus punished them. All but Odysseus died in a

by Hermes allowing Odysseus to enter Circe’s house without getting hurt or turned into a pig like his men. Hermes giving Odysseus the charm, helps Odysseus on his journey because Circe offers him and his men a place to stay for a year. Hermes gives Odysseus a charm that helps him get through Circe’s house, “All right, I will help you and keep you safe. Here, take this charm, and then you may enter the house of Circê: this will keep destruction from your head’’ (118). Hermes helps Odysseus, so that he will be okay to enter the house of Circe. Hermes allows Odysseus to change his men that turn into pigs, back into men. All heroes need people

After Odysseus’ flea from the island of the Cyclopes he docks his vessel on the island of Aeolus, who is the God of Winds. Aeolus provides Odysseus with a sack of wind rapidly delivering him to his home. However, Odysseus’ crew assumes the sack of winds contains treasures and they rip the bag wide open, releasing the wind. Odysseus and his crew are thrusted back to the island of Circe and the God Circe transforms the men into pigs. When Odysseus begins to search for his men the God Hermes approaches and provides him with a herb that will deflect Circe’s altering abilities. Consequently, after Odysseus overcomes Circe, she offers him

In literature, mankind is often seen as imperfect and flawed. From sacred texts like the Bible to classic books such as The Odyssey we can see the true flaws of humans. Specifically book twelve of The Odyssey shows the flawed nature of mankind and how it leads to mankind's downfall. Circe, the goddess that Odysseus encounters during his initially half hearted journey home, gives advice to Odysseus about the dangers ahead and what he should do in order to get past them. Despite the advice given to him by a goddess, Odysseus "cleared [his] mind of Circe's orders..." because they were "cramping [his] style..."

Another temptress role was Circe, whom Odysseus and his men encountered after leaving Calypso. Circe turns Odysseus's men into swine after drugging them, and seduces Odysseus by playing the submissive and obedient role.

The second woman who was responsible for problems that Odysseus faced was Circe. Firstly she turned all but one of Odysseus’ men into pigs and delayed Odysseus’ progress. “Now they had pig’s heads and bristles and they grunted like pigs; but their minds were as human as they had been before,” (Page 131) this quote depicts Circe’s cruelness towards Odysseus’ men. Secondly Circe again stalls Odysseus from completing his journey back to Ithaca. “You are worn out and dispirited, always brooding on the hardships of your travels. Your sufferings have been so continuous that you have lost all pleasure in living.” (Page 136) This quote shows how Circe convinced Odysseus and his men to spend more time on the island. Thirdly Circe made Odysseus and his men take a different route, via the prophet Teiresias, rather than going straight back to Ithaca. “But Circe has marked out a very different route- to the Halls of Hades and the dreaded Persephone.” (Page 139) This makes the rest of Odysseus’ crew very upset. “When I told them they were heart-broken. They sat down where they were and tore their hair out.” (Page 139)

Circe plays more of a cunning role as a women. Odysseus and his crew are greeted by Circe and she gives them food and wine. She tricked them into drinking a magical drink that turned all of them into pigs. As Odysseus is running out to check on his ship, Hermes runs into him and serves him a mysterious plant. This plant relieves Circe’s power that she had set on Odysseus. He was unhappy and stayed with Circe for a short period of time then wanted to go home. Circe was upset with this answer and granted Odysseus to the Land of the Dead. All of these women portray a different role in the poem and help us understand how the roles of women have changed

After the encounters with the Sirens, Odysseus had to face a terrifying creature that he feared of. Circe warned Odysseus about the dangers of Scylla. He is informed that she will snag six of his men and tells him that it is much better than loosing everyone. “Nobody would feel good seeing her, not even a god who crossed her path. She has a dozen feet all deformed, six enormously long necks, with a horrible head on each of them and three rows of teeth packed closed together, full of murky death” (Steele and Alwa, 489). Odysseus knew that in order for his survival and to be able to get to the island, he had to sacrifice his men and escape this monster. “Monsters such as the Sphinx are often represented as female, as if to imply that women are on the borderline between human and “other” than human”(Steele and Alwa, 41). Odysseus also had to deal with his love affair with the witch goddess, Circe. She lived with nymphs on a mythical island. She changed all of Odysseus’s men into animals when he showed up to see her. Hermes helped Odysseus remove the men from the spell. “Many men appear to have felt that they could truly not love women who were not educated well enough to read, write, or engage in informed dialogue with their husbands”(Steele and Alwa, 43). The love between Odysseus and Circe failed due to her lack of ability to engage with men, by

One day a group of men arrived on my island, Aeaea. The leader of the group was known as Odysseus and he had come with forty-five other men. I’m not sure why they are here but it must have something to do with the war in Troy. Maybe they're on a journey? As I watched them on their ship I saw their leader leave and go to scout out my island. He walked around for awhile until he caught sight of my castle. He heard my wolves howling and didn't dare to go on. When he returned to his men they feasted on a deer they had killed and I watched them fall into a deep sleep on the shore. When I awoke in the morning Odysseus and another man that I was unfamiliar had split the remaining men into two groups and were trying to decide who would come and explore