Circe The Bewitching Queen Of Aeaea Analysis

In the poem, Circe acknowledges the fact that Odysseus’ men aren’t bad men, but an undisciplined life caused them to act like pigs. However, she and her ladies sweetened them right up. This sweetening up allows the men to rest and recuperate after the

He then uses the phrase "filed in naively behind her” to show that once she had captured the attention of Odysseus's crew, they just followed her no questions asked as a form of trust. Lastly, it states that she “laced this potion with insidious drugs” to show that once she had gained their trust and gotten them inside her home, she started to use her wicked potion to make them “forget their native land” showing her true intent was to harm them succeeding through subtle manipulation. From this, the reader can understand that Circe is manipulative. Later on in the text, Odysseus, and his crew encounter other manipulative

Circe is smarter than people would expect, and uses her role as a female to her advantage, since she is typically underestimated. When Odysseus and his men came to her house, they didn’t expect her to be so tricky, but she surprises them. “She opened her gleaming doors at once and stepped forward, inviting them all in, and in they went, all in a sense. Only Eurylochus stayed behind – he sensed a trap.” (237) In this quote, Circe has good hospitality and invite the visitors in, and they expected her to be nice and comforting, like a

At first it appears as though the only reason Odysseus sleeps with Circe is to regain his companions, but she easily persuades them to stay. And what’s even worse is the fact that Odysseus isn’t even the first one ready to go. His men are the ones who urge him to leave: "What ails you now? It is time to think about our own country". So though at a glance it appears that Odysseus is merely succumbing to Circe’s schemes for reasons related to their health and well-being, if we read between the lines, we soon begin to realize that Odysseus is weak in the voracious hands of lust.

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

      Circe and Calypso, while very tricky and sly, are still very strong feminine characters.  Circe takes Odysseus' crew and turns them into swine; when Odysseus is able to resist her spell, due to the Moly he had been given by Hermes, she is dismayed and takes him as her lover. She is mysterious and seductive and is strong even up against Odysseus.  Calypso is a sea nymph who keeps Odysseus captive for nine years, hoping to make him her husband.  She is a strong-willed temptress whose sultry ways are able to reel in even the most determined man.

Women are portrayed as seductresses. Odysseus and his crew arrive on the island of Circe, lured in by the sound of her voice. Homer describes her as "Low she sang/ in her beguiling voice,

The nymph, Calypso, is a prime example of the use of sexuality by women in this story. Calypso has Odysseus held captive on her island, and attempts to make him stay there and become immortal, to be her mate. Calypso is looked upon negatively by the gods for having slept with a mortal man, but Calypso wishes for Odysseus to be made immortal by the gods and to stay with her on the island, as was done for Dawn. Calypso is a nymph, described as lustrous and queenly. Since she has kept him captive, Odysseus won’t believe her at first when she tells him he is being let go to journey home. She has kept him on her island, and in her bed, and kept him from the wife he loves. And even before he leaves the island, she makes him sleep with her one last time.

This example of Circe’s bewitchment on the crew is a perfect example of cunning but can be contrasted with Athena in terms of the reason for using their cleverness. A general trend throughout the book seems to be Odysseus’s ability to think outside the box and usually escape a dangerous situation because his ideas were original and not usually thought of. The above passage was a perfect example of this as he “overpowered” Circe’s “evil” intents. While it is necessarily known whether or not her intents were evil, she definitely did not have right inttentions. If we compare Circe’s action and then look

Hermes helps him out and gives him a plan to help save his men. So our hero is saved by the god Hermes from a horrible fate. Still Odysseus is not content to sail on and leave the goddess behind (Odyssey 10:269-532). Here Odysseus lost sight of his goal, thinking he was in full control of the situation. Only after a full year has past does he even ask Circe to help them on their way and only at the urging of his crew. He forgets that it was only by the gods help that he was able to triumph over Circe. There was no other way he could have survived her magic. In a sense he is beat by her because he forgets his voyage home and wastes a year in tarring there. By forgetting the voyage he denies himself, a hero, and forgets his family and subjects in Ithaca. Exactly the same threat that the lotus eaters posed to Odysseus and his men. The temptation that Circe offers is a life of pleasure. Anything you desire: food, sport, beautiful women, anything at all. For a time Odysseus is taken in my her offer but thanks to his men he is able to break free of it and remember his home and family.

This time spent on Circe's island was a test of whether he could resist lust from a goddess, and he fails. At first it appears as though the only reason Odysseus sleeps with Circe is to regain his companions, but she easily persuades them to stay. What makes it worse is the fact that Odysseus is not even the first one ready to go. His men are the ones who urge him to leave: "What ails you now? It is time to think about our own country" (Book X, line 472). At a glance, it appears that Odysseus is merely succumbing to Circe's schemes for reasons related to their health and well being, if we read between the lines, we soon begin to realize that Odysseus is weak in the voracious hands of lust. Odysseus arrives on Calypso's island in her cave. At first, it seems like Odysseus doesn't seem much to mind her taking care of him, but over time it is plainly evident that he is unhappy with her. When Hermes arrives on Calypso's island to give her the message from Zeus to release Odysseus, he is bawling on the beach-- a daylong activity for him. Calypso is holding him with her by force; she has no companions to help him back to Ithaca, nor has she a ship to send him in. Athena pleads with Zeus to give Odysseus good fortune,

While Penelope is pursued vigorously by some of Ithaca’s most powerful men, this lust is shown to give Penelope some leverage of her own. The Suitors themselves say “, (Telemachus) it’s your own dear mother, the matchless queen of cunning. Look here. For three years now, getting on to four, she’s played it fast and loose with all our hearts, building each man’s hopes(96).” While Penelope remained heartbroken, awaiting Odysseus’ return, she was able to tug on the hearts of her suitors to postpone her forced marriage for years. Circe doesn’t just seduce men for her own protection, she seduces men to

Circe, a powerful sorceress, shows her strength by being in control. Whenever Circe turns Odysseus’s men into pigs she shows her strength by overpowering them. Odysseus’s men underestimate Circe for the powerful sorceress she is because she is a woman. Because they do so, they are turned into pigs.

Odysseus is telling Circe that he is worried about his men and he can’t eat because of that but if she lets them free then he will eat. This shows that Odysseus is getting rid of his selfishness and starting to think about others. Although curious, Odysseus still obeys Circes wishes while they sail past the Sirens’ island.

After Odysseus came from the encounter he had with the beautiful witch goddess Circe,, his men are grateful to see him . His men gather around him like a master and a shepherd, his men surrounded him. Odysseus a well respected man who is admired by his men and treated as a mortal god due to his God like qualities . While his crew are stranded in the middle of a cross road without his leadership and guidance, pivoting towards all directions but incapable of moving forward with