Shaping of Circe’s identity by Madeline Miller

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Circe by Madeline Miller
Compose an essay which discusses how a theme of your selection has contributed or influenced the shaping of Circe’s identity.
The story of Circe in Madeline Miller’s novel Circe begins with an identity crisis. “When I was born, the name for what I was did not exist. They called me nymph, assuming I would be like my mother and aunts and thousand cousins” (Miller, 7). This introduction sets in motion the identity crisis Circe experienced throughout the book. Her family was her first contact with the world, and throughout the book, Circe is working hard to find herself outside of who she was expected to be because of her background. Born in a family of immortals, Circe was expected to take after her parents and those around her. However, she lived a life of confusion as she tried to carve out her own path and become her own self. The theme of family greatly influenced Circe’s life. The cruelty with which immortals conducted themselves became a norm for the generations that came after. There was a lot of violence among the immortals, and Circe, together with her siblings, is soon caught up in violent acts. Provided herein is an essay that elucidates how the theme of family contributes to the shaping of Circe’s identity, albeit in an unorthodox way, since she eventually disconnects from her family completely.
Throughout the novel, the gods and immortals are characterized by pride, egotism, and an endless thirst for violence. This flaw traverses all the immortals in the book, and like all other immortals, Circe was greatly influenced by this attribute. Circe’s siblings quickly learned the ropes and adopted the same attribute as the parents. Concerning her siblings Perses and Pasiphae, Circe notes that “the two of them were clever and quickly saw how things stood” (12). This was an admission by Circe that her siblings were already taking after their immortal parents and the cruelty that comes with the responsibility of being an immortal. “When my mother went to her sisters, they followed and established dominion over all our pliant cousins, hypnotized like minnows before the pike’s mouth” (12). The siblings, Perses and Pasiphae, were simply doing what their parents did. They saw their parents showcase their power, and therefore, they decided to showcase their power, as the quote above indicates. The pride, egotism, and endless thirst for violence are also showcased in the life of Circe. The immortals wanted everything for themselves, and nothing could stop their quest for more. If something caught their eye, it had to be kept for their use. These words characterize the actions of Circe, whose love for Glaucos made it impossible for her to let go of his desire for Scylla. Circe loved Glaucos and wanted him for herself. Therefore, she decided to turn Scylla into a monster. “I gathered those flowers of true being and brought them to the cove where it was said Scylla bathed each day. I broke their stems and emptied their white sap drop by drop into the waters” (50). She wanted to expose Scylla’s ugliness to a point where she did not care about the punishment she would re...