Summary

Chapter 1 

Circe grows up in the dark palace of her father, the Titan sun god Helios. The palace has obsidian walls because Helios selfishly enjoys how his light reflects on them. Circe’s mother is a nymph named Perse who seduced Helios and then refused to have sex with him unless he married her. Perse is horrified when Helios predicts that Circe will marry a mortal because she is not considered beautiful. Circe’s name means hawk, and it was given to her by an aunt because of her golden eyes and rough voice. 

Circe is an outsider in her family. Her sister Pasiphaë and brother Perses gain the favor of their mother and the other gods by mocking and teasing Circe. Even Perse takes part in mocking her oldest daughter. As a result, Circe prefers to stay with her father. At the very least, he does not scorn her and gives her some attention. One day he takes her to visit his sacred herd of white cattle. Circe is honored to ride in her father’s flying chariot and spend time with him. Later, however, Perses and Pasiphaë tell Circe that their father has sex with the cows to create more, and they mock her when she is embarrassed by the information. Circe confesses that as small as her world with her family is, she probably would have stayed in it forever because she didn’t know any better. 

​​​Chapter 2 

Circe continues to spend her days at her father’s feet, trying to get his approval, until her uncle Prometheus is brought to Helios. He’s been sentenced for punishment by the Furies. These goddesses of vengeance have condemned Prometheus for defying Zeus and giving fire to mortals. Circe reflects on the history between the Titans and the Olympian gods and the ongoing conflict between them. The Titans are considered old gods, and the Olympian gods are new gods. The Titan Kronos, Circe’s great-uncle, got a prophecy that a child of his would one day overthrow him, so he started swallowing his children as soon as his wife Rhea gave birth to them. Rhea unknowingly made the prophecy possible by tricking Kronos into swallowing a stone. Henceforth, she kept the baby Zeus and had him raised in secrecy.  

Zeus grew up and took a thunderbolt from the sky. He forced his father to vomit up his brothers and sisters, and they called themselves Olympians after the mountain where they established their realm. The Titans chose sides, some of them fighting to maintain their power, and others aligning with the Olympians. Helios sided with Zeus. The Olympians won the war, but divine blood soaked the earth and caused magical flowers to grow. The Titans who fought against Zeus were chained, and even those who fought alongside the Olympians were stripped of much of their powers. Helios and Circe’s grandfather, Oceanus, were two of the only Titans who did not lose their power or status because Zeus knew they were instrumental in his victory.   

Still, Titans like Helios worry about the powerful Olympian gods continuing their war against them, and they maintain a fragile peace. Prometheus’s punishment is a concession to that peace. Circe watches Prometheus be brutally whipped and then goes to speak with him after everyone else leaves the hall. She takes him nectar, and he speaks to her of mortals, answering her questions and telling her that not all gods are alike. Afterward, Circe cuts her palm with a dagger and watches the wound heal while she ponders her immortality. 

Analysis  

The first chapters of the novel establish Circe’s family structure and her status within it, and they also make it clear that Circe lives in a patriarchal world where women are only valued as objects. In this worlkd, beauty is a commodity, and Circe is not valued because she is not considered to be beautiful. Circe’s father had many children by many different nymphs, demonstrating that the male gods take women at will. Having beautiful children reflects the status and power of the men who fathered them. Circe’s mother, Perse, demonstrates how women are only able to get and maintain power through sex and childbearing. She uses sex and seduction as a tool to bind Helios in marriage. They have four children together, but she learns that her power is an illusion when she is forbidden by the Olympians from having more. When she can no longer have children, she loses what little leverage she had. 

In Chapter 2, Circe’s interaction with her uncle Prometheus is a transformative experience for her. When she reflects on the history of the conflict between the Titans and Olympians, she realizes that Prometheus’s punishment is evidence of Titans' and Olympians' willingness to do anything to achieve and maintain power. When Helios counsels his Titan family to abide by and accept Olympian rule, including the torture of one of their own, the implication is twofold, revealing firstly that Helios acts in his own self-interest above all else, and secondly that the Titans are desparate to reclaim their power and will seize it back the first chance they get. Circe understands that everyone she knows is willing to betray others in order to grab onto and hold their power. Prometheus’s punishment is therefore proof that everyone around her is hungry for power.  

The way Helios’s family gathers to witness the spectacle of Prometheus’s whipping further distinguishes Circe from the other gods. The torture demonstrates the powerful gods’ brutality and how they have no true loyalty, even to each other. Circe is sure that her father will give some words of comfort to Prometheus, but when he stays silent, she understands that everyone in their family is out for themselves. She watches as the Fury whips Prometheus and his golden blood flows, and she realizes that even though her kin cannot be easily killed, they can still be hurt and experience horrifying pain. The fact that the other gods become bored and drift away while Circe stays on reveals that she is different from the others around her. Their indifference reveals that they see the torture as a form of amusement and entertainment while Circe is horrified. She is alone in her empathy for her uncle Prometheus.   

At the end of Chapter 2, Circe’s actions reveal her growing desire for independence and autonomy. When she speaks to Prometheus and brings him nectar, she is aware that she is committing an act of defiance, and this is the first time in her life that she has done anything on her own. It’s likewise the only time she has ever dared to defy the other gods. As they talk, Prometheus tells Circe that she doesn’t have to be like the other immortals in her family. This is a revelation for Circe, who has always wanted to fit in and be like everyone else. By considering her individuality, Circe inches ever closer toward becoming her true self.