The Role Of Circe In Homer's Odyssey

Primarily, Hermes informs Odysseus of his men’s dire situation and Circe’s potential harm. Firstly, Homer uses imagery to depict that Odysseus’ men have been changed in form as Circe decided to turn them into pigs: “...Your men are all in there, in Circe’s palace, cooped like swine, hock by jowl in the sties,” (312-313). Here the reader can picture how squished the men are together and there is once again a hint at the potential risk Odysseus could be in because he could be turned into a swine like the rest of his men were. Finally, Hermes departs with fair warning by saying “but have her swear the binding oath of the blessed gods she’ll never plot some new intrigue to harm you” (331-333). This dialogue shows the potential harm Circe could cause if Odysseus doesn’t make her swear the oath and shows that the oath is a binding agreement of some sort between a god and an epic hero when an epic hero is in a risky

In Homer's composition, The Odyssey, the roles women play are very significant. The best examples of the true nature of women occur when Odysseus encounters Circe and Calypso. These two characters illustrate the thoughts and feelings of how women how a woman feels and how they think. As the quote states, Circe and Calypso illustrate how women really can be crafty, intelligent, sneaky, disloyal, and cruel. In contrast to battles with men, Cyclops, or animals, sexual battles with women are sometimes much more difficult to win.

In another adventure, Odysseus lands on the island of the Greek goddess Circe who turns his men into pigs. Odysseus once again devises a way to cleverly defeat her, save his men, and return to the sea. After his encounter with Circe, Odysseus must journey into the underworld where he meets with his mother and some of his comrades from the Trojan War. ( Kleiner, David. The Odyssey. West Berlin, N.J.: Townsend Press, 2005. Print.)

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

In The Odyssey, Circe's character traits of intelligence and dominance over a situation change Odysseus’ way of thinking and the way he views his future adventures and endeavours. Interestingly, Circe, attempting to help Odysseus survive his future, advises him on how to proceed: “...there is a choice of two courses, and I will not lay down for you which to take; use your own judgement” (Homer 150). The reader sees Circe use her wisdom and begins to understand the overall instincts of Circe. This results in the changing of the way Odysseus acts in the future and alters the way the reader feels about the novel as Circe does not tell Odysseus which choice to make. In addition Circe,

     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

First, Odysseus men came to Circe island and some of his men went off to hunt for food. To begin, One of his men come back and told Odysseus that everyone else was turned into an animal by a witch and one of them is the pig the men who stayed back were trying so hard to kill. Second, when Odysseus went back to his men he almost died from falling from the mountain that Circe house was on. Third, Odysseus boat was almost destroyed from the sand and erosion that happened to it, but that did not stop him, he fixed up his boat and went back to his journey. Finally, Odysseus did not back down from a witch that could have easily harmed him but he was not scared he wanted to keep his men safe.

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

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

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.

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.

The islands of Circe and Calypso in Homer’s Odyssey are places where Odysseus’ most challenging problems occur. In contrast to battles with men, Cyclops, or animals, sexual battles with women are sometimes much more difficult to win. These two female characters are especially enticing to Odysseus because they are goddesses. Though it is evident that Odysseus longs to return to Penelope in Ithaka, it sometimes appears that he has lost vision of what life was like with a wife, a son, and with thousands of people who regard him as King. Although his experiences on the islands of these goddesses were similar in that he was retained from Ithaka for the longest periods of his adventure, these goddesses and the

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

At this point, a brief summary of the events leading to Odysseus' underworld experience is in order. The hero and his crew make landfall on an island ruled by the Sorceress, Circe. According to several traditions, she is daughter to Helios, the sun god. When encountered by an advance party commanded by Eurylokhos, Circe transforms all the men into pigs by means of a powerful drug insinuated into food and drink. Eurylokhos escapes this fate and is able to warn Odysseus. Hermes then descends to instruct Odysseus in how to overcome the witch. It is curious that, instead of displaying his power to nullify Circe's magic, Hermes arms Odysseus with a sprig of a plant called moly. Evidently, the aura of herbalism was such that only more herbalism could compete. Having rendered the sorceress helpless, Odysseus is persuaded by her to remain on the island for a full year. At year's end, Circe advises the hero to journey to Hades in order that he may learn from the shade of the blind prophet, Tiresias, how a

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.