The Symbolism Of Circe In Homer's Odyssey '

Circe prophesied that Odysseus would not return home unless he consulted Tiresias in the Underworld. Tiresias, a dead prophet, was the only one who would be able to help him with his next endeavor. In order to get to Tiresias, they would need to sacrifice a ram and a black ewe. Once again, Circe came to their rescue, and provided them with the needed offerings. After their return from the Underworld, Circe showered Odysseus and his men with more knowledge about the next stages of their journey. Her advice about Scylla, which was to grasp the side of the cliff and lose six men, and Charybdis, which was to row as fast as possible through the body of water, proved effective when the time came. Circe’s next word of advice dealt with the Siren, whose singing lured men to the rocky coast of their island. Even so, Odysseus wished to hear the Sirens, so his men plugged their ears and Odysseus had his crew tie him to the mast. Once again, Circe’s advice proved fruitful to Odysseus and his crew, as without her advice, the lure of the sirens would have destroyed Odysseus ship. Circe’s final word of advice regarded Helios’ cattle. She told Odysseus not to eat his cattle, but Odysseus did not follow her advice. Fortunately, Odysseus survived Zeus’ punishment of the cattle eating, but unfortunately, all his men died. Had Odysseus not met Circe, his journey would

When Odysseus and his men come to their island Calypso, first, uses her beauty to captivate him and keep him with her. She wanted him to stay with him and be an immortal husband to her. She was ordered to release him and she eventually did. However, Circe wanted Odysseus for herself. She lured Odysseus and his men with her beauty, she then poisoned them and kept Odysseus for herself. He gave in to the temptation. “So she spoke to them, and the rest gave voice, and called her and at once she opened the shining doors, and came out, and invited them in, and all in their innocence entered; only Eurylochos waited outside, for he suspected treachery. She brought them inside and seated them on chairs and benches, and mixed them a potion, with barley and cheese and pale honey added to Pramneian wine, but put into the mixture malignant drugs, to make them forgetful of their own country. When she had given them this and they had drunk it down, next thing she struck them with her wand and drove them into her pig pens, and they took on the look of pigs, with the heads and voices and bristles of pigs, but the minds within them stayed as they had been before.” (Homer, 1994-2009)

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,

Showing sympathy and compassion to others is one of the major lessons that the parents teach their children about at a very young age. When I was only four years old, my mother told me about the importance of being sympathetic because if you give someone a second chance, later on down the road they might give you one too. Being sympathetic not only benefits the person you are being sympathetic towards, but you might eventually get something out of it as well. Despite his frightening appearance, the cyclops Polyphemus from Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey is quite the sympathetic character. The reader sees sympathy in Polyphemus in the way the cyclops treats Odysseus and his men.

“‘Eurylochus, ready half of our men! We shall go search this blasted island to find water!’ And so we set out. As we reached the end of this small island, a small town stood abandoned. I searched

     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.

husbands and wives, fathers and their children, mothers and sons)  Penelope had been waiting for Odysseus for a long time and he was Circe’s lover for a year o Role of the gods in the lives of mortals  Zeus sends a storm Odysseus’ way  Hermes tells Odysseus to eat an herb called moly to protect himself from Circe’s drugs. Books 13-24: Odysseus’ Return  Arête o Book 15  Telemakhos shows arête when he welcomes Theoclymenus and offers him hospitality once they reach Ithaca.  Euamaeus shows arête when he invite Odysseus to stay for longer when Odysseus tests his hospitality.

Further along his journey, Odysseus sails upon the island of Aeaea, where Circe, a goddess with magical powers, lives. When he goes to confront her, after she has turned his men into pigs, “The god Hermes stops him to give him a

Every human being is capable of taking action into any situation they are put in. Heroes are within those humans, as they have been given attention for the obstacles they face, not unlike Odysseus, the epic hero in The Odyssey. Yet, traits possessed while put in front of a problem makes up how others see them as a hero, although the qualities of heroes are not always positive, and many men and women considered modern day heroes take hold of these traits. The character Odysseus encounters many life-threatening obstacles in his tale. He handles these in a rather disappointing way, using guile to sneak his way past the enemy.

Circe’s Power is a poem that tells a portion of The Odyssey from Circe’s perspective. It reflects upon and expands upon themes and ideas prevalent in The Odyssey. Some of these include the idea of not wanting to go home and the theme of illusion versus reality. Throughout the novel, it has been shown that after going to war, Odysseus and his men aren’t the same as when they left. Also, despite the fact that they are on a journey home, they keep going in circles, both internally and externally.

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

It is important to keep reading, “The Odyssey.” Even though it is 2800, years old, students still need to learn about it. It is important to continue studying “The Odyssey” because is it a moral story, the historical significance is important, and it is essential to study other culture’s mythology.

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