The Women I Grew Up With

By Angela

The witch and the wife in Homer’s The Odyssey

Perhaps one of the most famous literary epics, Homer’s The Odyssey tells the tale of Odysseus’s journey home following the Greeks’ victory in the Trojan War. Hailed as a great and wise King, Odysseus’ decade-long journey to Ithaca was as long as the war itself, and has been considered a heroic tale of one man’s perseverance to return to his beloved wife and kingdom.

An archetypical Greek character, Odysseus was a rational and imperfect heroic figure to inspire male redemption stories for time immemorial. His tale has endured millennia, but his meandering journey home was never the most compelling story for a 16-year-old girl on the brink of womanhood. Rather, it was the stories of Circe, the witch who entrapped Odysseus on her island for a year, and Penelope, his beloved and committed wife, who were more compelling.

These characters, created and conceptualized by men, were nevertheless far more sympathetic and relatable for a young woman. Though they represent two archetypes of woman—the witch and the wife—what follows is how a fellow woman chooses to view these characters, mere supporting figures in a man’s tale, to highlight how they are, at the very least, just as capable and heroic as a King who gets lots at sea for ten years.

Circe, the witch

In The Odyssey, we first encounter Circe on her island of Aeaea. Known as a sorceress with a gift for turning men into animals, she tricks Odysseus’ men into consuming her potions, transforming all but the King into pigs. Initially intending to subject Odysseus to the same fate, he is able to trick Circe (with the help of the god Hermes) to let him retain his human form. Swiftly becoming Circe’s lover, Odysseus spends a year on her island drinking, feasting, and making love; forgetting that his initial reason for coming to Aeaea was to acquire Circe’s knowledge of the route back to Ithaca.

In literary discourse, Circe has been described as a sorceress whose beauty and magical wiles are able to trick the noble Odysseus; prompting him to forget his responsibilities as a king, as a husband, and as a father. Odysseus’ year of excess on Aeaea is seen as a warning of the consequences of succumbing to temptation, and a cautionary tale of what happens to a man who forgets—or foregoes—his power at the hands of a woman (or witch, the terms seem to be used interchangeably in this context).

Yet, Circe is also the one who releases Odysseus from the haze of her “spell". Reminding him of the wife and country he left behind, she ultimately snaps Odysseus out of his reverie and is the impetus who enables his journey back home. By giving the men her permission to leave Aeaea, and by providing guidance on the route to Ithaca, Odysseus and his men, having been transformed back to their human form before leaving the island, are only able to successfully set their sails towards Ithaca because of Circe.

In the few chapters Circe occupies in Homer’s epic, she establishes herself as a heroic figure in her own right. A woman capable of bending the wills of the noblest of men, Circe is clearly a figure of authority; characterized as an equal to Odysseus throughout their yearlong affair. She may have adopted a more traditionally feminine role in that time, providing the wayward King with shelter, food, and affection. But she just as easily gives him up after a year of his companionship. Homer implies it was Circe’s love for Odysseus that prompted her to release him from Aeaea, but such a cliché seems beneath Helios’ daughter. I like to think she simply had enough of him. After all, 365 days caring for a literal lost man can be tiring, even for a witch.

Penelope, the wife

In stark contrast to the wicked witch Circe, the character of Penelope embodies the archetype of a devoted and submissive wife. Despite not seeing her husband for 20 years, and with no knowledge of his whereabouts and if he’ll ever come back, Penelope remains devoted to Odysseus until his return—or so we are led to believe.

It’s true that Penelope remains committed to her marriage to Odysseus throughout his absence. But throughout her story arc, Penelope is characterized as clever and capable; not merely a wife twiddling her thumbs as she waits for her husband to come back from war. She is able to hold her own, retaining her independence and status as queen despite many attempts by other men to take Odysseus’ throne.

A conductor who carefully steers those around her towards her ultimate goal, Penelope cleverly bypasses multiple proposals from suitors; promising to choose a new husband after finishing tasks she has no intentions of doing, or by pitting suitors against one another in futile competitions where only she wins. Throughout these events she maintains an aura of gentle femininity, convincing her suitors they have a chance of persuading her to marry even if she is steadfast in her commitment to Odysseus.

She is the North Star on Odysseus’ journey home, and the final challenge he must overcome in order to take back his place as King of Ithaca. When he returns, it is Penelope who must judge whether the man in front of her is her husband. She even stages an archery contest amongst all her suitors and Odysseus, knowing that only the man she married would be capable of winning the challenge.

And it is this little detail which convinced 16-year-old me that Penelope was already aware that the man who claimed to be Odysseus was indeed her husband. But after 20 years of waiting, and knowing that he was unfaithful to her with Circe in Aeaea, Penelope once again schemed to ensure Odysseus’ homecoming was delayed just a little longer. The archery contest was not just a way for Odysseus to prove to her—and the people of Ithaca—that he was who he said he was. It was also a way for her to prove to him that she was not one to fall to her knees the moment he returned to her. Her actions are those of an independent woman with a mind of her own, how unfortunate she had to be married to a King with a horrible sense of direction.

Image: Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons