Circe Summary and Analysis

Section One Summary Childhood, Discovery of Pharmakia, and Condemned to Exile (Chapters 1–6)

Circe’s story begins in the palace of her grandfather Oceanos, where her mother Perse and Helios, Titan cousin of Oceanos, meet. The Titans were gods who once ruled the world, but by the time Circe is born, the Olympian gods rule. The greatest of the Olympian gods, Zeus is a son of the Titan Kronos; Zeus’s birth led to a great battle and the Titans’ unthroning. Helios and Oceanos sided with Zeus and his siblings against Kronos, and thus there is an uneasy truce between Zeus and Helios. These relationships influence the world of the young nymph Circe, for Zeus’s power and wrath are the Titans’ ever-present concern.

Of greatest impact on her life and future is her lack of conventional goddess beauty. Her father declares her marriage prospects to be limited to only a mortal prince. Her mother rejects her, and Circe is mocked by the other nymphs. Despite being divine, she has no power. Yet in a dramatic scene with Prometheus, Circe gains insight about the nature of mortals and gods. At Zeus’s orders, Prometheus is savagely whipped by a Fury in Helios’s palace, before the divine assembly. Circe alone remains after and brings Prometheus a cup of nectar. It is a dangerous act that violates the will of Zeus, but it allows Circe the brief conversation in which Prometheus shares wisdom that blossoms for her in time.

The events that shape Circe’s life accelerate with the birth of her youngest brother Aeëtes. Circe cares for him, and they form a deep bond, which includes finding a secluded shore by the sea. Aeëtes grows up and leaves to assume his own seat of power. Sister Pasiphaë is married to King Minos of Crete, mortal son of Zeus; brother Perses goes off to faraway Persia. Only Circe remains, dismissed as the least of Helios’s children.

In her loneliness, Circe seeks solace in her special stretch of beach. There she befriends Glaucos, a mortal fisherman much abused by his father. With Circe’s help (primarily through her grandmother, for Circe still has no powers), Glaucos’s catch and his lot improve. He is grateful to Circe; she relishes his attention and devises a plan to make him a god so they might marry. Her scheme involves a patch of flowers growing in soil drenched by gods’ blood. She works sap from the flowers, touches it to Glaucos’ lips, and he becomes a mighty fish god. Glaucos is thrilled, but he desires Scylla, who is especially cruel to Circe. Seeking revenge, Circe drops sap from the same “flowers of true being” in the cove where Scylla bathes. Circe expects Scylla’s beauty to fade as her “viper’s heart” shows forth. Instead, Scylla becomes a hideous monster.

Soon after, Aeëtes visits and announces to Helios that Glaucos’s and Scylla’s transformations are Circe’s work; all of Helios’s children by Perse have the power of pharmakeia, or witchcraft, which cannot be controlled by gods, including Olympians. In crisis, to avoid a confrontation with Zeus, Helios declares that Circe’s witchcraft has done the most damage. She must be exiled alone on an island, where her pharmakeia will be contained.

Section One Analysis Childhood, Discovery of Pharmakia, and Condemned to Exile (Chapters 1–6)

Although the mythological Circe is depicted as beautiful, in this novel, Helios declares Circe’s features too sharp, her hair not pleasing, and, notably, her voice unpleasant. (As later explained, it sounds mortal.) These physical qualities define her, relegating her to a lower rung among her siblings and to ill-treatment in her divine world. This conflict is central to the plot and creates the initial catalyst for decisive events. Had Circe been beautiful like the other nymphs, she too might have been essentially useless. As an example, witness Aeëtes’s cynical insistence that Circe has done Scylla a favor by distinguishing her as a monster.

Circe’s outsider status directly leads to the discovery of her power of pharmakeia. This discovery, and the earlier scene with Prometheus, reveal Circe’s character traits; she is intelligent and ingenious, and she draws from deep wells of emotion. She is also driven and can be reckless, as when she contradicts Helios and insists that she worked the transformations of Glaucos and Scylla. These qualities make uncertain how she will use her power as a pharmakis—witch—and whether she will benefit from her own power.

Circe’s character arc begins in a place of powerlessness as she is forced to leave home in the tradition of the epic hero. Yet as she packs for exile, she chooses to leave a tapestry of family behind, a symbolic act of self-reliance.