Representation

 

    The novel I chose to make an analysis about representation on is Circe by Madeline Miller. This is the story of one of the daughters of Helios, God of the sun in Greek mythology. She was never accepted by her family, and this led her to go through transformative change and get a kind of power forbidden by Gods: witchcraft. This book not only retells the story of a very famous character in Greek mythology whose story is associated with heroes like Odysseus and other relevant mythological figures, but it represents the struggles of being a woman in a society as discriminative as ancient Greece and stays relevant to issues women face today. 

 The story begins by describing the horrible treatment Circe endures when she lived in her father's court. She was looked down upon because of her rough voice, uncommon among Gods, and was considered "ugly" by the rest of the court, this made her feel like her divinity was indeed inferior and that she wasn't worthy of love. The fact that she is made to seem like everyone else in her surroundings shines brighter, according to the descriptions the book gives about her brother's and sister's golden skin inherited from their father, and that her voice isn't even loud enough to be heard by anyone represents the struggle that woman have historically faced to be listened to. Years of discrimination and countless efforts to be heard aren't only an experience that Circe lived at her home, but it has been the universal experience of many women for centuries now. This isolation within her own home causes Circe to be desperate for any type of love, so she tries to please her father and gives everything for a fisherman she fell in love with, both ending in disappointment when her father exiles her and the fisherman betrays her. This could somehow represent how society's expectations that are impossible to meet force women to please the people who place these standards on them. For example, beauty standards that dictate woman have to be thin, hairless, etc.

    One of the most important aspects of the book's plot is the assault Circe suffered when she was exiled. Some fishermen came onto her island and in her naivety, she decided to help them and provide shelter for them. After her rape she reflects on her situation and expresses her feelings of emptiness and vulnerability and even recalls how she was treated in the palace. How she recalled seeing her uncle's stares on her and even the way she was sometimes inappropriately touched by them. This aspect of the story paints woman's vulnerability in real life and the aggression woman have faced since the start of time. She is represented  as a victim and her struggles are recognized instead of blaming the assault on her, like society sometimes does with other victims. 

    From this experience, Circe started to feel a deep resentment for men in general, combining her father's treatment, the fisherman's betrayal, and the assault, she felt she could never trust a man again. After this incident, Circe began using her magic to seek vengeance. From then on every time a group of sailors came upon her island thinking they could take advantage of her, she would then transform them into pigs with her powers. The choice of making them pigs wasn't a random one, it is actually pretty common for men to be associated with the imagery of pigs in society. Men, specially, who have been associated with any kind of misogyny or aggression toward woman, so Circe turning men into pigs in this models represents them as this filthy, inmoral creature. 

    When it comes to representation, even the  angle chosen by Madeline Miller to tell this story is representative of how women are usually portrayed by media. In the famous book "The Odyssey", the heroic story of Odysseus and his journey home are told from an extremely male-focused lens. The only women who really have any part in his story are either antagonized or are made to be the usual submissive wife. But in Circe, the story focused entirely in the experience of women and how they are treated by this world, but specifically how they can be empowered by their individuality. By choosing this angle, Madeline Miller steered away from villainizing Circe as a cunning witch who is only present for a fraction of Odysseus story, but gives her a life of her own and in turn reflects how skewed the original story was toward the male point of view. The novel chooses to highlight these aspects and shows Odysseus as this side character who actually has many flaws, which was not really addressed by the heroic telling of his character in The Odyssey.