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“But my father did not mind his daughters, who were sweet-tempered and golden as the first press of olives. Men and gods paid dearly for the chance to breed from their blood […].”
Circe explains the position of women in Helios’s court at the beginning of Chapter 1 and reveals that they are essentially valued only for breeding purposes. Helios uses his daughters for their potential to enrich him through marriage arrangements with the Olympians, and Circe is no different. Her mother does not respect or value her because there is little hope for Circe to make a “good” match that can enrich the family or strengthen their power. Circe’s relationship with her parents, especially her father, sets up a primary conflict that she struggles with for her entire life. Circe must determine her own identity and self-worth apart from what she has to offer her father or any other man and learn to love herself and offer love to others freely.
“Maybe the true surprise, I thought, was that it had not happened before. My uncles’ eyes used to crawl over me as I poured their wine. Their hands found their way to my flesh. […] One of them would have come for me in the end and paid my father well. Honor on all sides.”
As Circe recovers from being raped in the beginning of Chapter 15, she reflects on her vulnerability as a woman, and says that the threat of violation always existed in her father’s palace—she wasn’t even safe from own family members. For the first time, Circe understands the depth of the misogyny at her father’s court and the general inevitability of men abusing women. She didn’t fully comprehend this when her sister told her how there was no love or loyalty in their father’s palace or when Pasiphaë intimated the things she had to do to keep their brother Perses aligned with her, but once Circe herself is assaulted and forced to come to terms with being completely helpless, she fully understands her vulnerable position as a woman in a world of immoral, powerful men.
“The men watched with bright eyes. They wanted the freeze, the flinch, the begging that would come.
It was my favorite moment, seeing them frown and try to understand why I wasn’t afraid. In their bodies I could feel my herbs like strings waiting to be plucked.”
In Chapter 15, in the aftermath of being raped by the captain in front of his crew, Circe embraces her transformative powers to turn the men into pigs. After years and years of being judged and found weak, Circe uses her witchcraft not only in retaliation against all men for her assault, but as a way of finally taking back control. She lets her lions and wolves stay and doesn’t try to hide her divinity, but with very few exceptions, men prove again and again that she is right not to trust them. She is justified in using her power to protect herself. She enjoys wielding her witchcraft in order to have power over men after being at the mercy of her father and all the other men who have visited Aiaia. After her conversation with her sister in Crete, she understands that even strong and ruthless women are ultimately powerless against men.
