payment page
“Brides, nymphs were called, but that is not really how the world saw us. We were an endless feast laid out upon a table, beautiful and renewing. And so very bad at getting away.”
Circe returns to the idea of women as brides in Chapter 15 as she reckons with the fact that as powerful as she is, she still lives in a world ruled by men. Despite being able to transform gods and mortals, tame wild animals, and create spells of protection, Circe must reckon with her weakness as a woman. The men in her family emotionally tormented and belittled her, and she was cast aside by Glaucos and underestimated by Hermes. As a woman she has been put into competition with other women, including Scylla and other family members. It is Pasiphaë who chides Circe and tells her that every woman must see one another as a rival in order to gain some kind of power for herself. Circe’s life serves as evidence of the physical danger of being a woman as well. The first time she asserts herself to her father, Helios burns her with his power. When she embraces a chance to be helpful to a crew of men who land on Aiaia, they rape her. Her encounters with sexism serve to emphasize how no one, not even a goddess, is safe in a man’s world.
