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Madeline Miller: Circe
Oct. 8th, 2018 12:11 amMadeline Miler’s second novel, Circe, is the story of a legend, an iconic image of the eternal and dangerous woman, seductress, sorceress, as she might have been behind the stories men have told of her. This is Circe as she might have seen herself.
As in her first novel, The Song of Achilles, Miller takes the myths and legends of Greece as truth within the world she writes about. And so Circe introduces herself as the child of a naiad, Perse, and the Titan Helios - divine, one of a thousand lesser nature goddesses. Her childhood was not happy. She, like her siblings, and sometimes her mother, lived in the great underground palace of the sun god Helios, where he returns each night after riding across the sky. She was not, like her older full siblings, or her many half-siblings, other children of the sun, a bright and beautiful goddess, nor was she graceful and fluid like her many, many cousins, the daughters of other naiads. She was sharp faced, and asked strange questions, and was taunted by the others, despite the love her father showed her.
But as time after time wears on, Circe and her brothers and sister discover their true nature. They do not have the powers of the gods, but they are all pharmakia, witches - they have the ability to draw power from plants and use it, as the gods use the power that flows through their own bodies, to work miracles. The Olympians are concerned; they forbid Helios and Perse from having any more children.
The four witch children are contained. Pasiphaë is married off to one of Zeus’ demi-divine children, King Minos, and they torment each other bitterly, until eventually Pasiphaë gives birth to the Minotaur and the eventual fate of Minos and his kingdom at the hands of Theseus is sealed. Perses, the oldest brother, takes his exotic tastes and cruelties and settles in far-off Asia, far away from the area the Olympian gods frequent. The youngest, Aeëtes, has his own kingdom, which he rarely keaves - until his rebellious daughter Medea runs away with the hero Jason, her father’s golden fkeece, and the blood of her brother on her hands.
Because she is rebellious, and doesn’t play the game properly, because she has used her gifts, the strongest of which is transformation, to change the nymph Scylla into a monster, Circe is exiled, confined to the small island of Aiaia. Though she may not leave, except on rare occasions granted by Zeus, others may come to her. And here she slowly learns the principles of herbcraft, learning the extent of her magic.
At first the god Hermes visits, mostly from curiosity. He keeps her informed about the things that have happened in the world of gods and men, and he becomes her lover.
Later various demigods and minor immortals send their wayward daughters and other women to her island as a punishment, so that she is no longer alone, but surrounded by angry and frustrated young immortals. And sometimes, humans come to the island. The first, seeing in her only a woman among other women, alone without the protection of a man, rape her, as so many nymphs in Greek legend are raped by men and gods. But in her agony, she transforms them into swine, and thus begins the long train of sailors who cast up on her shores. Some are good men, lost on the sea - these leave unharmed, after comfort, food and rest. But most remain as the animals they are, living and dying on Circe’s island.
And then comes Odysseus, as foretold. His men transgress, but he himself, warned and protected by Hermes, avoids the traps, and wins both the freedom of his men, and the friendship of Circe. He stays for several years, becoming her lover - but he never forgets his wife and family, his beloved Penelope waiting for him.
The story of Circe as it unfolds here is woven together from many myths and sources, but it makes a satisfying whole, a take about the limitations of godhood and the triumphs of becoming human.
As in her first novel, The Song of Achilles, Miller takes the myths and legends of Greece as truth within the world she writes about. And so Circe introduces herself as the child of a naiad, Perse, and the Titan Helios - divine, one of a thousand lesser nature goddesses. Her childhood was not happy. She, like her siblings, and sometimes her mother, lived in the great underground palace of the sun god Helios, where he returns each night after riding across the sky. She was not, like her older full siblings, or her many half-siblings, other children of the sun, a bright and beautiful goddess, nor was she graceful and fluid like her many, many cousins, the daughters of other naiads. She was sharp faced, and asked strange questions, and was taunted by the others, despite the love her father showed her.
But as time after time wears on, Circe and her brothers and sister discover their true nature. They do not have the powers of the gods, but they are all pharmakia, witches - they have the ability to draw power from plants and use it, as the gods use the power that flows through their own bodies, to work miracles. The Olympians are concerned; they forbid Helios and Perse from having any more children.
The four witch children are contained. Pasiphaë is married off to one of Zeus’ demi-divine children, King Minos, and they torment each other bitterly, until eventually Pasiphaë gives birth to the Minotaur and the eventual fate of Minos and his kingdom at the hands of Theseus is sealed. Perses, the oldest brother, takes his exotic tastes and cruelties and settles in far-off Asia, far away from the area the Olympian gods frequent. The youngest, Aeëtes, has his own kingdom, which he rarely keaves - until his rebellious daughter Medea runs away with the hero Jason, her father’s golden fkeece, and the blood of her brother on her hands.
Because she is rebellious, and doesn’t play the game properly, because she has used her gifts, the strongest of which is transformation, to change the nymph Scylla into a monster, Circe is exiled, confined to the small island of Aiaia. Though she may not leave, except on rare occasions granted by Zeus, others may come to her. And here she slowly learns the principles of herbcraft, learning the extent of her magic.
At first the god Hermes visits, mostly from curiosity. He keeps her informed about the things that have happened in the world of gods and men, and he becomes her lover.
Later various demigods and minor immortals send their wayward daughters and other women to her island as a punishment, so that she is no longer alone, but surrounded by angry and frustrated young immortals. And sometimes, humans come to the island. The first, seeing in her only a woman among other women, alone without the protection of a man, rape her, as so many nymphs in Greek legend are raped by men and gods. But in her agony, she transforms them into swine, and thus begins the long train of sailors who cast up on her shores. Some are good men, lost on the sea - these leave unharmed, after comfort, food and rest. But most remain as the animals they are, living and dying on Circe’s island.
And then comes Odysseus, as foretold. His men transgress, but he himself, warned and protected by Hermes, avoids the traps, and wins both the freedom of his men, and the friendship of Circe. He stays for several years, becoming her lover - but he never forgets his wife and family, his beloved Penelope waiting for him.
The story of Circe as it unfolds here is woven together from many myths and sources, but it makes a satisfying whole, a take about the limitations of godhood and the triumphs of becoming human.