Circe Summary and Analysis

Section Four Summary Telegonus, Penelope, and Telemachus (Chapters 21–26)

Circe expects Telegonus to be gone through the winter, and with his leaving, the familiar feelings of loneliness return. Still, little time passes before one night when Telegonus’s pet wolf begins to howl. Telegonus has returned, with Penelope and Telemachus and the horrific news that Odysseus is dead, killed by Telegonus with the Trygon’s tail. It is an accident, which Telemachus confirms, yet Telegonus is heartbroken and racked with guilt.

Circe anticipates the worst: from Telemachus, to avenge his father’s death; from Penelope, for Odyssyus’ time with her; and most fearsome, from Athena. What evolves is unexpected. Circe discovers a divide between Penelope and Telemachus, who do not speak, and Telemachus is very different from his father. Telemachus shares what transpired when Odysseus returned to Ithaca. It is a blood-soaked history in which, on his father’s orders, Telemachus played a part, much to his overwhelming guilt. Penelope too admits that Odysseus was changed by the war, his exploits, and the continuing influence of Athena, who returns to Ithaca again and again to draw Odysseus away to other battles. It is Odysseus’s suspicion and brutality that results in the tragic confrontation with Telegonus, whom he never learns is his son.

When Athena arrives as expected, she brings more surprises for Circe. Athena no longer cares about harming Telegonus. She has come to offer Telemachus a great kingdom in Italy. She wants to make him another Odysseus. But Telemachus knows he is neither a warrior nor a king and refuses her. In turn, Athena offers the same to Telegonus, who still longs to leave Aiaia. In a supreme sacrifice, Circe lets Telegonus go, knowing she must.

Circe and Telemachus fall in love, although they are cautious in their declarations. Circe resolves that she too will be free. She confronts Helios and threatens to reveal her long-ago kindness to Prometheus, sure to provoke Zeus’s vengeance, unless Helios secures her freedom. He does, and Circe and Telemachus leave, first to sail to Scylla, to destroy her, and then to plan their shared vision of travel and service.

Penelope takes Circe’s place on Aiaia, where Circe and Telemachus return. They will have two mortal daughters. They will visit Telegonus, who is happy in his new world and a respected ruler. All this is revealed as Circe prepares her final act of transformation. She makes herself mortal, so she can grow old with those she loves and not live on without them.

Section Four Analysis Telegonus, Penelope, and Telemachus (Chapters 21–26)

The theme of mortality versus immortality emerges most prominently as Circe contemplates the inevitable: as mortal, sooner or later, Telegonus will die; immortal, Circe will remain, forever young. The influence of Prometheus and his sacrifice for mortals has stayed with Circe always. She senses the mixed blessing of immortality and the greater purpose that mortality gives to many human lives. These insights, along with her own mortal-sounding voice, have foreshadowed her ultimate decision.

Telemachus relates the bloody events of Odysseus’s return to Ithaca. Odysseus is not the epic hero in this rendering, and his brutality and lack of humility are quite literally his fatal flaws. A far more heroic man is Telemachus. He has achieved the Socratic dictum to know thyself. In her struggle with her nature as an immortal, Circe too has worked toward that same goal. In the final pages, all three major themes of Circe intersect. With Telemachus beside her, Circe completes her epic journey. She challenges and defeats the monstrous Scylla and then travels a vast distance, eventually returning to Aiaia. There she confronts the fundamental conflict of mortality versus immortality by drinking her own potion that transforms her. In completing her character arc, Circe uses her power to willingly return to powerlessness.