Ian van Steen
10/6/14
English 11 B block Circe starts out as a powerful authority, but when she loses her magic, she turns weak and loses all the authority she once had. When Odysseus’ crew first enters the house of Circe, she welcomes them in with an extravagant feast. While “ they...dr[a]nk she turned them into pigs by a stroke of her wand, and shut them up in her pigsties”(10). Within the first few lines about Circe, Homer puts her on the level of the gods. She immediately seems to be one of the most powerful and dangerous characters in the book, since she can turn you into a helpless pig with the flick of her wand. However, we see that once she loses her magic, she becomes much less powerful. When Odysseus goes to get his men back, Hermes comes and gives him a magic herb that will prevent him from being turned into a pig by Circe. While he eats at her table, she tries to turn him into a pig like his crew, however when she sees that her spell has no effect on Odysseus “she fell with a loud scream, clasped [his] knees, and spoke piteously” (10). As soon as her magic was nullified, Circe changes from an all-powerful goddess, to weak and defenseless women. She no longer holds the same confidence and force she once did, instead she is feeble and powerless, doing whatever Odysseus commands. Once Odysseus removed her power, he uses sex with him as a bargaining tool. He tells Circe that “’He shall certainly not consent to go to bed with [her] unless [she] will first take
