Humanizing the Witch: Madeline Miller’s Retelling of Circe. Written by Ruby Mitchell

This summer, I read Circe by Madeline Miller. I didn’t quite know what to expect when I started it; I didn’t know and frankly didn’t care much about Greek mythology, but this book did more than pleasantly surprise me. Immediately after I started Circe, I couldn't put it down. I was so immersed in the unique narration and captivating plotline spanning over hundreds of years. This novel is narrated by Circe, the immortal Greek nymph, daughter of the sun god Helios, who is famously written about in The Odyssey, where she takes Odysseus captive on her island and turns his men into pigs. Miller’s Circe adds depth and empathy to this immortal witch. 

At the start of the book, we get a glimpse into Circe's childhood. Circe is born to Helios, the sun god, and Perse, a nymph. Circe is treated as an outcast by everyone around her; she describes herself as having “a hawkish nose and yellow eyes''. Her voice is high pitched and squeaky, unlike the booming and beautiful voices of the gods around her. We find out later that this is because she has a human voice. All of these traits make her valueless to the people around her. Not only is she a Nymph, one of the lowest statuses in the world of the gods, she is also ugly compared to other nymphs and gods. Circe is constantly repeating how the only valuable trait a Nymph can have is beauty, and since Circe doesn’t have that, she is seen as obsolete to everyone around her. She is hidden by her father, who is embarrassed by her, and struggles to find anyone who is willing to marry her.

While spending time in the mortal world, Circe falls in love with a mortal man, Glaucos. This is probably the first time that someone gives her any attention or affection, but, being a mortal, he is destined to die and leave her alone again, forever. She is so desperate to keep the one person who has ever loved her alive, she turns him into a god. This is the first time that Circe is able to harness her powers as a witch. She successfully transforms Glaucos into the god of the sea, and he becomes much more powerful than she is. Circe still loves Glaucos, but with this newfound status, he stops paying any attention to her. She finds out that he plans on asking a different, more beautiful nymph, Scylla, to marry him. Circe gets jealous and tries to cast a spell to make Scylla as ugly on the outside as she is on the inside. This spell goes wrong, and Scylla becomes a flesh-hungry monster with six heads and twelve legs, who resides in the ocean. It is soon discovered that Circe caused, she confesses to being a witch, and is sentenced to an eternity trapped on a remote island, Aiaia.

Once Circe is banished to Aiaia, she spends all of her days working on her witchcraft and taking care of her animals. Once in a while, lost sailors come to her island in search of food and shelter. At first, Circe likes this company; she hasn’t been able to see anyone in years and enjoys the conversations she has with these men, but she soon finds that they don’t care about conversation, or even the food she prepares for them--they’re only there to rape her. This was a revelation to her because for the most part, mortals had treated her with kindness and respect. But here she is, being taken advantage of by a poor mortal fisherman, with no way to defend herself. She decides to fight back against these men, and she gives the next group of sailors a potion to turn them into pigs. In The Odyssey, Circe is seen as a who turns Oddyseus’s men into pigs, and keeps Oddyseus captive on her island, but in Miller’s retelling, she only does these bad things she does to keep herself safe.

From a glance, most of Circe’s actions point to her being a bad person. She is the witch who is responsible for creating Scylla, the man-eating monster in the ocean, turning men into pigs, and keeping Odysseus from his wife and son. Miller’s Circe does a fantastic job of taking a once hated character and humanizing her. Throughout the book, Circe feels terrible for what she did to Scylla and tries to turn her back to her original form multiple times. She never keeps Odysseus captive on her island, and it’s obvious throughout the book that he stays there willingly, but lies to his wife about it to save face, and she only turns men into pigs because they try to take advantage of her. Miller adds so much depth to Circe’s story, and instead of everything being black and white, good and evil, she depicts Circe’s story as gray. Circe isn’t the hero of her story; she does a lot of bad things and hurts a lot of people. She is depicted as imperfect, which in my opinion, is one of the best traits a main character can have. While you might not agree with what Circe does all of the time, you can empathize with it and understand it. Circe is immortal and a powerful witch, but in every other way that matters she is very human; she is imperfect and flawed, which is what makes her such a compelling character, who you want to spend more time with and see more of her world.