NOVEMBER 2024 T.C. ISTANBUL KÜLTÜR UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE OF GRADUATE STUDIES UNLEASHING THE FEMALE VOICE: MADELINE MILLER’S CIRCE AND LAURA SHEPPERSON’S PHAEDRA: A NOVEL Master of Arts Thesis by Tuğçenur ŞAHİN 1502020006 Department: English Language and Literature Program: English Language and Literature Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Gillian M. E. ALBAN NOVEMBER 2024 T.C. ISTANBUL KÜLTÜR UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE OF GRADUATE STUDIES UNLEASHING THE FEMALE VOICE: MADELINE MILLER’S CIRCE AND LAURA SHEPPERSON’S PHAEDRA: A NOVEL Master of Arts Thesis by Tuğçenur ŞAHİN 1502020006 Department: English Language and Literature Program: English Language and Literature Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Gillian M. E. ALBAN Members of Examining Committee: Prof. Dr. Gillian M. E. ALBAN Dr. Defne DEMİR Assoc. Prof. Özlem GÖREY ERDOĞDU (Boğaziçi Üniv.) i PLAGIARISM I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all material and results that are not original to this work. Tuğçenur Şahin 30.10.2024 ii University : Istanbul Kültür University Institute : Institute Of Graduate Studies Department : English Language and Literature Program : English Language and Literature Supervisor : Prof. Dr. Gillian M. E. Alban Degree Awarded and Date : MA- November 2024 ABSTRACT UNLEASHING THE FEMALE VOICE: MADELINE MILLER’S CIRCE AND LAURA SHEPPERSON’S PHAEDRA: A NOVEL Tuğçenur Şahin This thesis examines the portrayal of mythological female figures in the classical Greek texts written within the patriarchal discourses and explores how these portrayals show differences in the contemporary retellings of women writers. The perception of women in ancient Greek society, imposed gender roles and the condemnation of female sexuality and their body prevent women to live as individuals who have voice, agency and freedom. This oppression on women is reflected on ancient Greek literature, dominated by male authors, as stereotypical female characters and thus patriarchal ideology othering women establishes a presence in culture through writing. Increasing number of women writers in literature enable the production of feminist works that demolish the artificial gender roles and also enable the narration of women by women. In this regard, women writers’ retellings in which they revise mythological female figures, carry an enormous significance as they indicate how deeply the patriarchal ideology is grounded in literature and how women writers’ struggle to overturn this partial way of thinking that still continues in this present day. This thesis aims to shed light on the patriarchal discourses in the classical works presenting two mythological female characters, Circe and Phaedra and to illustrate the contemporary women writers’ attempt to shatter these discourses through their retellings written from a feminist point of view. Through the selected two novels; Madeline Miller’s Circe and Laura Shepperson’s Phaedra: A Novel, I intend to point out the role of feminist retellings, focusing on female experience, voice and autonomy, in challenging the literary works written within the androcentric viewpoint. iii Key Words: Patriarchal discourse, Feminism, Retelling, Greek Mythology, Madeline Miller, Circe, Laura Shepperson, Phaedra: A Novel iv Üniversite : İstanbul Kültür Üniversitesi Enstitüsü : Lisansüstü Eğitim Enstitüsü Dalı : İngiliz Dili ve Edebiyatı Programı : İngiliz Dili ve Edebiyatı Tez Danışmanı : Prof. Dr. Gillian M. E. Alban Tez Türü ve Tarihi : Yüksek Lisans- Kasım 2024 ÖZET KADIN SESİNİN SALIVERİLİŞİ: MADELINE MILLER’DAN CİRCE VE LAURA SHEPPERSON’DAN PHAEDRA: A NOVEL Tuğçenur Şahin Bu tez, klasik Yunan metinlerinde patriarkal söylemlerle tasvir edilen mitolojik kadın figürünü inceler ve bu tasvirlerin kadın yazarların modern yeniden anlatımlarında nasıl farklılık gösterdiğini keşfeder. Antik Yunan toplumundaki kadın algısı, baskılanan cinsiyet rolleri ve kadın cinselliğinin ve bedeninin ayıplanması onların toplumda sesleri, benlikleri ve özgürlükleri olan birer birey olarak yaşamasını engellemiştir. Kadınlar üzerindeki bu baskı erkek yazarların hâkimiyetinde olan antik Yunan edebiyatına basmakalıp kadın karakterler olarak yansımış ve böylelikle kadını ötekileştiren ataerkil ideoloji yazı yoluyla kültürde bir yer edinmiştir. Artan kadın yazar sayısı yapay cinsiyet rollerini yıkan feminist eserlerin yazılmasına ve aynı zamanda kadının kadın tarafından anlatılmasına olanak sağlamıştır. Bu hususta kadın yazarların mitolojik kadın figürlerini ele aldığı yeniden anlatımları ataerkil düşüncenin edebiyatta ne kadar derinlere dayandığını ve kadın yazarların günümüzde hala bu taraflı düşünce biçimini yıkmak için mücadele ettiğini gösterdiği için büyük bir önem taşır. Bu tez, iki mitolojik kadın karakter olan Circe ve Phaedra’nın betimlendiği klasik eserlerdeki patriarkal söylemlere ışık tutmayı ve çağdaş kadın yazarların bu söylemleri feminist bakış açışından yazılan yeni anlatımlarındaki yıkma çabasını göstermeyi hedefler. Seçilen iki roman aracılığıyla; Madeline Miller’ın Circe’si ve Laura Shepperson’ın Phaedra: Bir Roman’ı, kadın deneyimine, sesine ve özerkliğine odaklanan feminist yeniden anlatımların andro- merkezli bakış açısıyla yazılmış edebi eserlere meydan okumadaki rolüne işaret etmeyi amaçlıyorum. v Anahtar Kelimeler: Ataerkil söylem, Feminizm, Yeniden Anlatım, Yunan Mitolojisi, Madeline Miller, Circe, Laura Shepperson, Phaedra: A Novel vi To all the women who are silenced, marginalized and ill-treated at the hands of patriarchy. vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Firstly, I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to my supervisor Prof. Gillian M. E. Alban for her insightful guidance, wisdom, and support in this academic journey. Without her invaluable comments and expertise this thesis would not be possible. Also I would like to express my sincere appreciation to my professors Prof. Dr. Işıl Baş De Oliveira, Dr. Esin Akalın, Dr. Ayşegül Turan, Dr. Defne Demir and Dr. Derya Altınmakas for their priceless support and wisdom during my education at İstanbul Kültür University. I would like to individually extend my thanks to Madeline Miller and Laura Shepperson. Their inspiring works, Circe and Phaedra: A Novel, have served as invaluable sources of guidance and have significantly shaped the ideas and perspectives explored in this thesis. Last but not least, I am genuinely thankful to my friends who are always by my side in times of joy and sorrow. Their continuous love, support and encouragement were my source of motivation during this process. Thank you for believing in me and making my life more fulfilling. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS PLAGIARISM ...........................................................................................................i ABSTRACT ..............................................................................................................ii ÖZET .......................................................................................................................iv ACKNOWLEDGMENT ..........................................................................................vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ....................................................................................... viii INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................1 CHAPTER I: SOCIAL AND LITERARY BACKGROUND IN GREECE ..................................................................................................................5 1.1 Women in Ancient Greece and Mythology .................................... 5 1.2 Women in the works of Homer, Hesiod and Euripides ...............12 CHAPTER II: WOMEN’S WRITINGS AND THEIR EMPOWERING RETELLINGS .......................................................................................................21 2.1 Women Writers’ Claim to Agency in Literature ..........................21 2.2 The Purpose of Retelling .................................................................25 CHAPTER III: FROM A MISANDRIST TO A SELF- SUSTAINING WOMAN .................................................................................................................32 3.1 Circe the Wicked Witch ..................................................................32 3.2 Circe the Autonomous Woman ......................................................63 CHAPTER IV: FROM AN EVIL WHORE TO POWERFUL WOMAN .................................................................................................................64 4.1 Phaedra the Wicked Stepmother ...................................................64 4.2 Phaedra the Unyielding Young Woman ......................................103 CONCLUSION .....................................................................................................104 WORKS CITED ..................................................................................................112 1 INTRODUCTION Writing has always been used as a strategic tool for ideologies to be established and encoded in the minds and the lives of people. Even though they are often presented as fictive narratives, the stories, fairy-tales, and myths consist of some cues about the existing ideologies, traditions and socio-cultural systems. One of the most common elements in these narrations is the practice of binary oppositions which are highly reflected through the female-male relationships. Lauri Honko in his essay “The Problem of Defining Myth” provides twelve approaches to describe the concept of myth. In one of them, he explains: “myths give support to accepted patterns of behaviour by placing present-day situations in a meaningful perspective with regard to the precedents of the past. Myths provide a valid justification for obligations and privileges” (Honko, 47). He continues with another definition of myth as: “[they] are considered to reflect certain facets of culture. This reflection is seldom direct or photographic but it may reveal values which would otherwise be difficult to detect” (47). Both of his descriptions are valid in the sense that behavioural or socio-cultural patterns in myths may show parallelism in contemporary life, particularly in human relations. According to the female-male dichotomy, while men are associated with characteristics such as strength, power, logic, aggression, and courage, women are identified with being meek, voiceless, emotional, passive and weak individuals. Since the emergence of both oral and written literature, this biased way of thinking about the sexes is maintained by presenting women with certain labels and negative connotations because of their behaviour, character, or merely because of the way they are, whereas men hardly ever face such dictations, suppressions or constraints either in fictive or in real life. In fact, men have always been the ones who initiate power relations between the sexes and gender roles and they preserve their superiority by all means. Additionally literature has been dominated by male authors for so many years; the discourse that they use almost entirely patriarchal and is based on elevating male supremacy and thus projecting women as the other, inferior or the second sex. By writing stories about fragile, silent, self-sacrificing and passive women and promoting “Eve”, “Penelope” and the “angel-in-the-house” they have made a distorted and false image about women for centuries. Also, this fabricated image about women has become stereotyped and perpetuated by other authors in their works persistently. This 2 discriminatory approach to the sexes can also be seen in Greek mythology where most of the goddesses are usually depicted as jealous, lustful or cunning, yet the gods are demonstrated as powerful, just and mighty figures with strong bodies as authority figures. Since the earliest examples of written works about Greek mythology belong to male authors such as Homer, Hesiod and Euripides; they have plenty of stories which centralise male characters and frequently overlook female ones. These myths also shed light on the female-male relationship in ancient Greek society and illustrate how far back the patriarchal ideologies and cultural representation of both sexes date. Hence, I intended to analyse the misogynistic language and phallocentric discourse in literature along with women writers’ effort to demolish this discourse that prevents female figures from existing as they are without being bestialised or marginalised. Thanks to the emergence of feminism—both as a movement and as a theory, women have begun asserting their agency in literature through their works. They have written stories that glorify and praise the self-discovery, strength, and liberty of women. They show that women—both writers and fictional characters, can be both powerful and womanly at the same time. Thus, whether it is perceived as a mode of writing or a genre, feminist retelling of myths have a significant role in literature. Retellings function as a strong tool for women writers to shatter the stereotypical images of women and the patriarchal discourse which has caused the sexist language to be installed and maintained in culture. In other words, by writing books that empower the victimized and silenced female characters in Greek mythology, women writers have taken the initiative in changing and challenging this biased discourse based on demeaning views of women, and presenting the root of this problem of representation as not related to women but rather in the portrayal of patriarchy. What encourages me in this study is to discover the way a stereotypical image has been socially imposed on women in fiction and in reality. Also, what inspires me is to identify the patriarchal discourse, which is greatly related to the male desire to keep hold of women by restricting their rights, independence and voice, from ancient Greek to contemporary literature. Hence, my interest in writing this thesis lies in exploring the rewritten stories about mythological female figures from a female perspective by comparing the narration of these figures with their primary versions in order to point out the differences in their portrayal, speech, and characterisation. 3 For this particular topic, I will work on Madeline Miller’s novel Circe and Laura Shepperson’s novel Phaedra: A Novel. The main characters of these two books will be the core of my thesis. In Circe, Madeline Miller exhibits more insightful and detailed aspects of Circe’s life, showing her from a different angle than how she is depicted in the ancient sources such as Homer, Ovid, and Apollonius of Rhodes. Giving her the voice and identity she previously lacks, Miller demonstrates that she is far beyond being a witch or seductress. Similarly, in Phaedra: A Novel, Laura Shepperson provides the reader an opportunity to see the inner life of Phaedra. The novel touches upon various crucial issues such as class-based gender roles, power relations and injustice between the sexes which Shepperson interprets by retelling Phaedra’s story from her own point of view. With these novels, I aim to show the distinctions between the narration of Circe and Phaedra in Greek mythology and the nature of both of these writers’ rewritings. Moreover, I intend to point out the misogynistic discourse of the ancient Greek authors, how they contribute to the promotion of patriarchal ideology by presenting fabricated images of women. I also aim to present how the contemporary writers such as Miller and Shepperson, reveal the everlasting battle of women for autonomy, equality and freedom through the revising of the stories of these mythological figures in their works. I will begin by providing an introduction to the ancient Greek world, the way both sexes are pictured by mostly concentrating on the portrayal of woman and how she is identified both in Greek society and in mythology. Then I will proceed with the demonstration of female characters in the works of ancient Greek authors. This part will include examples from Homer, Hesiod and Euripides and how they present female characters and how they show them as epitomizing the constraints of patriarchal discourse. Then I will explain how women writers are asserting their characters in literature, the significance of rewriting for their works and how they are using retelling techniques to fight against phallocentricism in literature. I will provide a comprehensive literary review containing the retellings of other women writers to show the immense studies done in this field. My study of work on Madeline Miller’s novel Circe offers an in-depth analysis of the ancient sources where she is mentioned and depicted so as to compare Miller’s version. I will proceed with Phaedra: A Novel by Laura Shepperson, showing how Phaedra is presented, to what extent she differs from the classical works that she is 4 narrated and why Shepperson revises the story of Phaedra. This thesis will present the depreciative representations of women in literature which go back to the ancient Greek myths and how in twenty-first century women writers are still working on demolishing this ideology that subjugates women’s agency, freedom and identity by providing alternatives through their retellings. 5 CHAPTER I: SOCIAL AND LITERARY BACKGROUND IN GREECE 1.1 Women in Ancient Greece and Mythology As in every period of history, in ancient Greece, women are subject to certain roles and types of behaviour in their social, political, and private lives. The traditional way of perceiving the female sex is restricted to being either good or bad and this is determined according to her sexuality. Sexuality has been—and still is, “regarded as dangerous not because it is physically unclean or polluting…but because of its ability to deceive” (Lefkowitz “Mythology” 591). The relation between sexuality and deception originates from men’s fear of women’s sexuality. The male anxiety which is triggered by “the immense power that the female wields through her sexuality […] did condition Greek attitudes towards women” (Walcot 39). In order to direct this male anxiety, they find ways to control women’s autonomy over their bodies; they make use of religion, marriage, law, politics and morality. Accordingly, the rights and freedom of women are so restricted and oppressed that she is treated as a property, the possession of a male figure in her life. As explained further by Luce Irigaray in her book This Sex Which is Not One: For woman is traditionally a use-value for man, an exchange value among men; in other words, a commodity […] Women are marked phallicly by their fathers, husbands, procurers. And this branding determines their value in sexual commerce. Woman is never anything but the locus of a more or less competitive exchange between two men. (31-32) This clarifies how women have no authority over their bodies, their identities or sexuality. They are identified and valued—or devalued, as much as men grant. Therefore, the polarity which determines what type of women are decent and what type of women are evil is composed of socially constructed ideologies of patriarchy. Importantly, being on the good side means that you are a virtuous daughter, a devoted wife and a mother whose initial duties are taking care of the needs of her husband, the household and her home. So, if you are on the good side, sexuality solely means reproduction for you, and this is only within the boundaries of marriage, which is often an arrangement between two families, not a decision made by women. Thus, this effectively puts women into a form of slavery in the domestic sphere, under the rules of a patriarch and with the duties imposed on her. Therefore, the ideas such as virginity, chastity and obedience are significant virtues regarding a woman. Those notions are so 6 significant that they find their place in Ancient Greek law as well. Sarah Pomeroy in her book Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves exemplifies one of the laws as: In the sixth century B.C. the Athenian lawgiver Solon institutionalized the distinction between good women and whores. He abolished all forms of self-sale and sale of children into slavery except one: the right of the male guardian to sell an unmarried woman who had lost her virginity. (57) This underlines the legitimised inequality between the sexes in ancient Greece such that women are objectified and viewed as property that can be sold. Also, it shows that women do not have autonomy over their bodies thus, their sexuality is not a personal matter in this androcentric society. Additionally, as Lillian Doherty clarifies in her book Gender and the Interpretation of Classical Myth: “in legal transactions, a woman [is] never treated as an adult: throughout her life she [needs] a male 'master' (kyrios, often translated 'guardian'), usually a father, husband, or son, to act on her behalf” (24). This shows that the individuality of women is also discouraged and denied by the laws of patriarchy and women are dehumanised in the sense that they are seen as the extension of men who cannot function on their own. Also, Doherty points out the radically changing views about sexual intimacy as: “a double standard of sexual conduct, which [permits] some kinds of extramarital sex to men but not to women, [leading] to the division of free women into two basic classes, those who [are] 'respectable', i.e., marriageable, and those who [are] not” (26). With this example, the importance of women’s preservation of their virginity is highlighted because according to the male ruler, this is the determinant of their innocence or wickedness, however, the same act is, of course, not applicable for male citizens. By imposing sexuality as a taboo or a sinful act and stamping them with such labels, men appropriate authority over women’s body and their urges. On the other hand, being bad basically means being aware of your own sexuality, being powerful, vocal and disobedient. The women on this side are almost always exposed to names such as whore, adulteress, rebel, witch, or monster. In fact, the names they are attributed are related to their relationships to men. When men are not satisfied with women’s behaviour or the moment they realise that women are getting stronger— physically or status wise, they place these labels on women as a solution to exclude such women from society or to diminish their role. The main purpose of men to take such actions is to maintain their dominion over the female sex. Susan Sellers in her book, Myth 7 and Fairy Tale in Contemporary Women’s Fiction indicates the root of the problem causing women to have negative connotations as follows: Structures of binary opposition, in which one term is defined against what is deemed as its other, have organised our thinking and decreed that woman shall operate as the negative of man. This pattern is transmitted in our culture and language as they create the world for each new generation. (22) Being associated with negativity is connected to the language which privileges the male sex and marginalises the female as well as the socially determined roles that are imposed on women. Herewith, this way of thinking is deeply infused and largely accepted as a norm so much so that its marks can be observed in almost every aspect of life and culture. However, the issue of taking sides is hardly ever an obligation placed on the male sex. They are almost always the ones who hold power; they are the decision-makers, rulers, heroes, and warriors. They are the ones who may decide whether a woman is on the good or on the bad side. The depiction of women and men in Greek mythology naturally mirrors the ancient Greek patriarchal society as well. As their mythology consists of the events and situations that Greeks take seriously, it includes some figures taken as role models and some who are conversely avoided because of their “misleading” behaviour. Penelope, for instance, is among the female figures who are taken as role models. She is frequently mentioned as “wise Penelope” (Odyssey v. 239) by Homer and presented as the ideal wife and mother in myths. What makes her ideal is her characteristics as virtuous, chaste, loyal, patient, and meek. The only thing known about her other than waiting for her husband, Odysseus, to return is her weaving. Since “weaving [is] a task which [is] considered the ideal pursuit for virtuous women. That’s why Penelope is weaving and unweaving a shroud for much of The Odyssey” (Haynes “Pandora”). The reason why it is considered as the ideal pursuit is the fact that it hinders women from speaking because “Greek women do not speak, they weave” (Bergren 71). Thus what Penelope does can also be regarded as a “metaphorical speech,” a silent substitute for (her lack of) verbal art” (72). Additionally the relationship between a husband and a wife in a patriarchal society is shown through Penelope and Odysseus. She is portrayed as such a devoted wife that while her husband is having affairs with other women, Penelope preserves her chastity, reputation and integrity against the persistent suitors by staying inside the domestic 8 sphere, and by weaving. The Amazons and Medusa, on the other hand, belong to the category that men despise and women should refrain from due to their negative associations and actions which are totally against the stereotypical female image. In the article, “Greek Attitudes towards Women: The Mythological Evidence” Peter Walcot discusses the position of the Amazons as: “everything a woman ought not to be and they define the norm and the acceptable by setting that norm on its head; they illustrate the appalling consequence of woman usurping what is properly man's role and emphasize man's fear of any attempt at such a usurpation” (42). The Amazons thus challenge the roles and authority of men in many ways. First and foremost, they are female warriors and this is an attribute that men are assumed to have. They also reject any stereotypical roles of womanhood such as marriage, motherhood, and female beauty. Hence, their very existence poses a threat to patriarchy and its norms. This is probably why they are still known as living as outcasts and alienated from the society. In the light of this, the myth of Penthesileia and Achilles is one of the examples of how patriarchy re-establishes their authority by eliminating a powerful woman. According to the myth, Penthesileia, the queen of the Amazons kills Achilles but Zeus intervenes and resurrects Achilles, upon which he kills Penthesileia. Hélène Cixous in her text “Sorties” comments on Heinrich von Kleist’s tragedy Penthesileia by inferring her character as: “a woman warrior is not a woman; it is a woman who has killed the woman in her. Only through death does she return to femininity. To sexual difference” (Cixous “Sorties” 118). She implies that the presence of a glorious female warrior is not acceptable according to the rules of heteronormativity because one cannot be warrior and woman at the same time, hence she is reassigned to her femininity through death, the ultimate passivity. Additionally Mary Beard highlights the purpose of the myths about the Amazons as: “the Amazons [are] a Greek male myth. The basic message [is] that the only good Amazon [is] a dead one […] one that [has] been mastered, in the bedroom. The underlying point [is] that it [is] the duty of men to save civilisation from the rule of women” (Beard “Women in Power”). The other negative character in Greek mythology, Medusa as the only mortal Gorgon, has been a problematic figure for men with her presence and death. Defined both as beautiful and hideous, Medusa is known for her serpent hair and her ability to petrify 9 people with her gaze. Although she is considered as a monster goddess with her appearance and capabilities, she was not born as a monster but turned into one. According to the myth, she is raped by Poseidon in the temple of Athena, yet instead of punishing Poseidon, the rapist, Athena punishes the victim, Medusa by turning her hair into snakes. She becomes a terrifying and mighty monster whom everyone fears. Medusa as the “victim of the gods while herself goddess, she becomes a ruthless predator against all who attempt to face her down, in possessing the powerfully castrating and debilitating gaze and the sexual threat of the phallic mother or woman” (Alban The Medusa Gaze 3). However, her death is typically at the hands of a man, Perseus, who separates her head from her body, and uses her head as a weapon, subsequently returns to Athena. The violation and humiliation of her body both alive and dead demonstrates the inevitable consequence of a powerful woman in a patriarchal universe since “she [triggers] the unconscious memory of the beautiful, matriarchal goddesses, Medusa [becomes] the emblem for what these men most [fear]: sensual and powerful women” (Bowers 224). In addition to that Bowers also states how the demolition of Medusa’s female gaze prevents the autonomy of all the female kind as follows: Patriarchal males have had to make Medusa—and by extension, all women—the object of the male gaze as a protection against being objectified themselves by Medusa's female gaze. The defense against having their own free subjectivity ignored, their vulnerability and fragility revealed, and their world shared was the destruction of female subjectivity. (220) With her hair and petrifying gaze, “Medusa becomes again what she was once for women, an electrifying force representing the dynamic power of the female gaze” (235) and thus a dangerous threat to the gender expectations and the norms of the society. Additionally Gillian Alban comments on the frightening side of powerful women in myths in her article as: “despite woman’s Othered status used to magnify men in their own flattering looking- glasses, mythic women asserting their gaze or vulvar power have been feared, revered, or desired for their monstrous force and transformative bodies (Alban “The Ferocious Medusa…” 50). In the case of the Medusa myth, the order is restored through Perseus’s slaughter of Medusa—as a symbol of patriarchy’s victory. It may be implied that throughout history and in many literary works, women’s efforts to gain their agency, to prove their power 10 and to assert their personality have been blocked. What is aimed to show through the myth of Medusa is the fact that neither in literature nor in any area of life, women’s claim of identity and potency is granted with the adequate consideration and appreciation. Hence, both Medusa and the Amazons present characteristics that are against the ideologies of patriarchy and consist of almost all the inappropriate qualities a woman can possess. Therefore death is inevitable for them; this is the only way for patriarchy to manage its male anxiety and fear of women’s power and sexuality. Furthermore, the most forceful figures in Greek mythology, the Olympian deities and the way they are portrayed might be used to exemplify the ancient Greek patriarchal society as well. Zeus as the ruler of Olympus creates a male-oriented society where he rules everything, decides on everything and most importantly uses women, mortal or immortal, as he desires. In her book, Pomeroy demonstrates the biases between Olympian gods and goddesses as: The goddesses of Olympus appear in myth never to have had more than narrowly restricted functions, despite the major importance of their cults to Greek cities. On the other hand, gods enjoyed a wider range of activities. Thus Zeus and Apollo are examples of male deities who function as rulers, intellectuals, judges, warriors, fathers, and sexual partners in both homosexual and heterosexual affairs. (8) With reference to this, Mary Lefkowitz emphasizes the sexual dynamics among Greek gods and goddesses as: “although the virgin goddesses [are] worshiped for their power over so many aspects of human life, they [act] only within limits defined by Zeus and with his approval, or with the cooperation of another god” (“Women in Greek Myth” 210). This signifies that even though they are goddesses with multiple spheres of influence, they are active only as far as Zeus defines or approves them. Hence, it can be argued that the presence of sexual hierarchy is clearly seen through the distribution of power among Greek gods and goddesses. Accordingly, Zeus disregards women’s power and insults what is essential to womanhood by appropriating their birth-giving capacity, as in the case of Metis who is swallowed by Zeus while she is pregnant with Athena. As a result, Athena was not born in the regular way but Zeus gives birth to her from his forehead. Emerging from the head of Zeus Athena’s wisdom is believed to be coming from her father. In fact, her wisdom does not come from her father but her mother, Metis who is the symbol of wisdom. As 11 Catherine Keller explains: The wisdom of Zeus is none other than the woman in his belly…He fears what this womanly Wisdom will create, what will come out of her. He is afraid of losing his dominion, his absolute power and therefore himself—“she might bring forth something stronger than his thunderbolt”. (“Of Swallowed” 330) Thus he not only exploits the power of Metis but also manipulates Athena into thinking that she is her father’s child. Yet the essence of her being belongs to her mother. Also, Zeus’s appropriation of this female attribute of womanhood and his influence over Athena is evident in Aeschylus’s third play from his The Oresteia trilogy, The Eumenides as she speaks of herself: “for there is no mother that gave birth to me, and I am for the male in everything —except for marrying—with all my heart, and am most thoroughly the father's child” (Aeschylus 737-740). Accordingly, the traits which are traditionally considered as masculine attributes, such as succession to property, power and authority are also gained at the cost of losing of her femininity and sexuality and identifying herself with these masculine traits. In the case of Athena, one of the three virgin goddesses, who is born out of the god—Zeus, refuses to marry or have a child. Hence, the depiction both of her physical appearance and characteristics show that her reputation as being the goddess of wisdom and warfare is related to her non-feminine traits, thus, this illustrates that gender roles are omnipresent in Greek mythology as well. For these reasons, it can be observed that goddesses or other mortal women in Greek mythology are regarded either as role models or as warnings. With respect to that, Sian Lewis talks about the pre-established gender roles of women as: The women of classical myth are, thus, either victims or monsters, the stories serving to model appropriate and inappropriate female behaviour. This view can easily be supported from a reading of the most familiar ancient myths: stories interpreted as encapsulating gender hostility include the wives and mothers in tragedy who kill their husbands (Klytaimestra, Deianeira) or their children (Medea, Prokne), the female monsters combated by heroes (the Gorgons, Harpies, and Amazons), the many accounts of young women or nymphs abducted by gods (Korone, Semele, Oreithyia, and Persephone), and the tale of the first woman of all, Pandora. (“Women and Myth” 445) This comparison has almost always been present since the beginning of the world. In this 12 two-fold system one decides whether to be on the side of Eve or Lilith, or being ‘femme fatale’ or ‘femme fragile’. Thus, what may be deduced is the fact that in the phallocentric world, women have always been forced or doomed to choose one side while men may sustain their lives without these clear-cut definitions. Nevertheless, as illustrated above, no matter which side women take, those who show a glimpse of personality and willpower are almost always shown as on the wrong side and their power is downsized, degraded and demonised. 1.2 Women in the works of Homer, Hesiod and Euripides The gender roles which people adopt are related to the social and political ideology which is being imposed on people over the ages. In order for an ideology to be accepted and passed through the generations, writing plays an extraordinary role, and this is another area where men are more dominant than women particularly in early period of literature. What is known about women in the ancient Greek world depends heavily on the writings of men; the way they define women, the way they present them and the way they control women with the laws and rules that they themselves enact. Authors such as Homer, Hesiod and Euripides are considered as among the precursors of ancient Greek literature. While their works are about the glories of warriors, lives of the heroes and praising the splendid power of the gods, they also reflect the male- female relationships of that time. In addition to that, they almost always centralise male figures in their poems or tragedies, leaving female figures as side characters or voiceless figures. When women do take part in these texts, they are either presented as ideal role models with silent, obedient, weak and fragile characters, or they are punished or marginalised for their vices. Hence, they never have much chance to be seen, heard, understood or even praised as much as their male counterparts. Moreover, these ‘either- or’ roles of women in these stories are again assigned to them by men because they lack the chance to speak for themselves and tell their side of the story. Thus, the picture male authors create about both sexes is strongly linked to the patriarchal and misogynistic ideology that they reflect on their discourses. As Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar states in their book The Madwoman in the Attic: Not only do these precursors incarnate patriarchal authority […] they attempt to enclose her in definitions of her person and her potential which, by reducing her to extreme stereotypes (angel, monster) drastically conflict with her own sense of her 13 self-that is, of her subjectivity, her autonomy, her creativity. (Gilbert and Gubar 48) Even though the narratives about mythological figures and events cannot be regarded as historical records, they are influential and effective in creating an ideology for the future writers and readers, especially male ones. Therefore the major reason for the exclusion and silencing of women in the writings of male authors is the phallocentric discourse which creates a stereotypical image of women and makes it persuasive over other authors and readers for centuries. Hence, it can be deduced that patriarchal discourse that dominates literature affects and limits the autonomy and the voices of women in literary works. Hence the roots of these discourses can be traced back to the literary works of ancient Greek authors such as Homer, Hesiod and Euripides. As one of the most prominent names in classical Greek literature, Homer (8th BCE) is mainly known for his two epic poems, The Odyssey and The Iliad. In both of his works, Homer efficiently echoes patriarchal gender roles through his characters. Firstly, The Odyssey is about the adventures and journeys of Odysseus who tries to return to his home after the Trojan War. At the beginning of the book in a conversation between Penelope, Odysseus’s wife and her son, Telemachus, Penelope asks the bard to perform something else and Telemachus comes forward and says: So, mother, go back to your quarters. Tend to your own tasks, the distaff and the loom, and keep the women working hard as well. As for giving orders, men will see to that, but I most of all: I hold the reins of power in this house. (Odyssey I. lines 409-414) Homer in this part illustrates the family dynamics in a male-oriented society and through Telemachus, he expresses the duties and the things a woman is able to do. By “giving orders” he refers to speaking and how it is an act preserved for men, and how women are not allowed to speak or share their opinions whether on something trivial or important. Hence they are silenced and oppressed by an authority figure who might be their fathers, husbands and if the husband is not present, their son. Secondly, Homer’s other poem, The Iliad is about the Trojan-War and it focuses on the warriors and the heroes in the war. The women in The Iliad take part as the victims of the war are defined as “prize of war” or booty as in the case of Briseis, whom Achilles 14 claims as his property, and Chryseis who is taken by Agamemnon. Additionally, in most of the poem Briseis is used as a toy between Agamemnon and Achilles and throughout the whole poem she only talks once and only for the purpose of mourning the death of Patroclus. The only part where she is verbal is when she shows her emotion which is regarded as one of the stereotypical features of women. By overlooking the story and the personality of Briseis and Chryseis, the superficial way Homer approaches female characters in his works is revealed. Also, it is important to note that it is the women who are taken as captives at the end of a war; children and men are regarded as future threats, but women are not allowed to take such threatening actions, so they are left alive and subsequently used as slaves or whores. Another character whom Homer both objectifies and sexualises is Helen of Troy. She stands as the reason for the Trojan War, yet Homer portrays her “terrible beauty” (iii. 190) to justify her not being punished or enslaved for her adultery. Helen, who is known as the most beautiful woman in the world, is portrayed as an object of desire by both Paris and Menelaus whom they both wish to achieve in order to boost their ego. Also, she is regarded as a prize just like Briseis, but this time not a prize of war but the winner’s prize in the fight between Menelaus and Paris: Think of it: Paris and Menelaus loved by Ares go to fight it out with their rugged spears— all for you—and the man who wins that duel, you'll be called his wife! (iii. 164-167) Moreover, in the case of Helen, her beauty can also be regarded as an insult because nothing much is known about her apart from her physical beauty, at least Homer did not let her prove that she possesses any more than that. In fact, when Helen attempts to prove that she has a character to assert her own thoughts and desires, she is supressed and reminded that she cannot do that, surprisingly not by a man but by a female divinity— Aphrodite, this time: Don't provoke me—wretched, headstrong girl! Or in my immortal rage I may just toss you over, hate you as I adore you now-with a vengeance. I might make you the butt of hard, withering hate from both sides at once, Trojans and Achaeans— 15 then your fate can tread you down to dust! (Iliad iii. 480-485) She is almost portrayed as a vessel who is equipped with charm and beauty in order to satisfy men’s desire and Aphrodite reminds her that she is a slave for Paris, her only importance is being Paris’ lover. Sue Blundell summarises the role of the women in The Iliad as follows: Women provide causes and rewards, encouragement or restraint; they reflect the sufferings of warfare and represent the social ties which form the background to the battle scenes. Always, they exist only in relation to their menfolk. Although they are implicated in life's most serious transactions, they do not take an active part in them. (Blundell 51) In this regard, it may be claimed that “the Iliad stresses the role of women as the objects over which men fight each other [...] war is something that happens “around” (amphi or peri) women: it is fought either in defense of […] or to conquer […] them” (Franco 57). Consequently, the narrative of Homer shows that the subjectivity and the agency of female characters are ignored or minimized, whereas male characters and their stories fill most of his works. Hence, the way he represents them, and the way he distributes the roles between both sexes as well as the discourse he uses proves him to be phallocentric. The other important name in Greek literature is Hesiod (750-650 BCE) and his most notable works are Theogony and The Works and Days. Theogony is basically a poem about the lineage of the Greek gods and the creation of the cosmos. The world he narrates in the poem is largely male oriented and Hesiod’s word preferences to define a character show huge differences in terms of which sex he is referring to. At the beginning of Theogony, he talks about his first interaction with the Muses, and then he narrates the first things they said to him: “Field-dwelling shepherds, ignoble disgraces, mere bellies: we know how to say many false things similar to genuine ones, but we know, when we wish, how to proclaim true things” (Theogony p. 5). Through the Muses, what Hesiod aims to emphasize is the deceptive nature of women’s speech, and he underlines the unreliability of their words. Regarding that, in her article “Language and the Female in Early Greek Thought” Ann Bergren explains women’s ambiguous speech further as: These two modes of the Muses’ discourse parallel the two kinds of speech attributed to women throughout Greek tradition. Women are both prophets and teacher, voices of truths. Think of the Moirai (Fates) who spin out the future […] Women are also 16 tricky, alluring imitators in words. Re-call the speech in which Aphrodite imitates a 'virgin' in order to seduce Anchises […] But most women are, like the Muses, capable of both modes—indeed, as we have observed, the ability to falsify implies command of the truth. (Bergren 70) Accordingly, Hesiod praises Zeus’s achievements and strength in most parts of his poem, but when it comes to women, he says: “Zeus set up women as an evil for mortal men, as partners in distressful works” (Theogony 51). Also, when he talks about Pandora, he refers to her as: “for from her comes the race of female women: for of her is the deadly race and tribe of women, a great woe for mortals, dwelling with men, no companions of baneful poverty but only of luxury” (50). This shows that Hesiod’s implication and assumptions about women involve misleading and misinterpreting evidence about women. Hence, it may be deduced that his words in Theogony to describe female figures, whether mortal or immortal, are based on denigrating them and creating a negative images of them. Moreover, it is possible to see similar approaches to the female sex in his other writing, The Works and Days. In this didactic poem, Hesiod mainly talks about the life of a peasant, and gives moral teachings as well as making use of mythology. In the poem, he interprets the myth of Prometheus and Pandora and how she is created as a punishment for Prometheus’ fault of stealing fire from the Olympian gods. In both of his works, he mentions Pandora, the way she is created, her beauty, and the aim of her creation as “the sheer, intractable deception” created as “a woe for men who live on bread.” (The Works and Days 93). As a matter of fact, Pandora is designed as a tool for the punishment of Prometheus in this myth; the guilt is on Prometheus but the way Hesiod narrates it places all female kind together with Pandora in a position of deceitful, manipulative and evil creatures. With respect to that, Jane Harrison in her book Mythology explains the alteration in the portrayal of Pandora’s story as follows: In origin there is no doubt that Pandora was simply the Earth-Mother, the All-giver, but an irresponsible patriarchal mythology [changes] her into a fair woman dowered with all manner of gifts, the gift of all the gods […] [thus] the Great Mother has become the Temptress maid. (pp. 65-67) What she means by ‘irresponsible patriarchal mythology’ is the source of Hesiod and the way he pictures Pandora as an enticing woman who is merely created as a curse and punishment for mankind. This highlights the significance of a narration and the way it is 17 used as a powerful weapon to assert certain ideas that still exist today. Along with Pandora, Hesiod gives advice and instructions to men on how to deal with women, and the rest of the poem continue with his generalisations about them. In addition to that, he warns men by stating: “whoever trusts a woman, trusts swindlers” (The Works and Days 119), and this is highly related to his false assumption stemming from the Pandora myth where he pictures every woman as deceiver or seductress who should be silenced or castigated. In addition, he suggests men to “marry a virgin so that [they] can teach her cherished usages” (143), as if women are animals to be tamed. Accordingly, the emphasis on virginity draws attention to the perception that a woman who is sexually active without marriage is not considered as a good woman. Therefore: The archaic picture gives us representations of both good and bad women. [Since] the latter predominate in Hesiod, this has to do both with the poet's view of life, in which evil predominates over good, and with “the nature of things,” rather than with “a contempt for the gender predominating in his time” (241). It is in “the nature of things,” […] that as long as there are two sexes there will be two kinds of women, but praise of the good woman will be remarked less frequently than blame of the bad. (229, 242) (qtd. in Katz 74) It can be deduced that the way Hesiod sees and portrays the female sex—as is illustrated in the case of Pandora, carries examples supporting the phallocentric world order and his misogynistic views manifesting the superiority of males’ power both in Greek society and in mythology. Another significant figure in Greek literature is Euripides (480–406 BCE) who is widely known for his tragedies. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is influenced by the works of Homer and Hesiod. Euripides has plenty of tragedies about mythological figures, both male and female, such as Hippolytus, Andromache, Hecuba, Electra, Herakles and Medea. In one of these plays, Medea, Euripides bases his story on the myth of Jason and Medea. As opposed to Homer and Hesiod’s tradition, Euripides’s story revolves around a woman, Medea, who is an absolutely verbal, active and courageous person. However, as exemplified above, ancient Greece is a patriarchal society and any women who pose a threat to this system with their assertiveness or actions are not welcome or accepted. As Aristotle uttered, the aim of tragedy is to arouse the feeling of catharsis in the 18 audience. Even though Medea seems to be a powerful and an autonomous female character, Euripides aims to present her story to the audience for them to take a lesson and to present her as a warning, not as a role model. This is possibly why he structures her story in the form of a tragedy as oppose to an epic poem. Moreover, she is a foreigner, deceitful, and a murderous mother, hence she “clearly demonstrated to the Athenians what a mother should not be” (O'Neal 119). As the Nurse utters in her conversation with the Tutor: She loathes her children. They bring no pleasure when she sees them. I’m afraid of what she’s thinking— fueled by her vengeful temper to some new plot. She is dangerous. (Medea lines 32-35) She is a woman who murders her children and her relatives, is filled with evil desires to take revenge and has a manipulative side, thus, she is the kind of woman that men mostly avoid and some women are afraid to become. Additionally, Brad Levett in his article entitled “Verbal Autonomy and Verbal Self-Restraint in Euripides’ Medea” illustrates the way she is being deceitful in Euripides’s play as: First, Medea shows personal autonomy in her ability to overcome her so-called feminine susceptibility to persuasion, in particular erotic persuasion. Secondly, Medea learns to restrain and control her own words, hiding her true intentions as she effects her revenge, in particular by suppressing her “feminine” instinct to lament. The result of this combination of verbal autonomy and verbal self-restraint is her victory over Jason and the verbal mastery she evinces in the conclusion of the play. (55) Medea supresses the qualities considered as stereotypical of women such as display of emotion, pretence, and seduction. Yet, her desire to gain revenge blinds her eyes so much that she takes the lives of her children and subsequently lives in banishment from society. Hence, by the end of the play, she does not emerge as the mother everyone would admire, rather she is definitely the outcast monster with an evil mind. Thus, what Euripides reflects in his play is the fact that a woman as a main character in a story cannot end up as a successful, admired role model because these stories are written to promote male misogynistic fantasies. Therefore, Medea as a castaway figure suits the aim of patriarchal society which is projecting women as a negative example. Although Euripides’ portrayal 19 of Medea might be considered as a work centralising a powerful female character, if this was the story of a man who did similar things to Medea, he would probably not be alienated or turned into a monster. The play, for this reason, reflects the biased treatment of female kind. For these reasons, the language Euripides uses, and the way he represents Medea in his tragedy shows once again how deeply the phallocentric language is established in literature. Overall, these three prominent writers in Greek literature as fore-comers have determined and shaped what literature is today with their works. However, they are also the pioneers of the patriarchal discourse which is disseminated and adopted as an ideology both by readers and writers. The way they portray both sexes has an enormous contribution on whether they are accepted as stereotypical traits and whether these traits become widespread in further works. Regarding that, Jess Zimmerman in her book Women and Other Monsters explains the hardship of being accepted as a woman— whether as a real or literary figure, and the influence of the written works on patriarchal discourse as follows: For women, the boundaries of acceptability are strict, and they are many. We must be seductive but pure, quiet but not aloof, fragile but industrious, and always, always small. We must not be too successful, too ambitious, too independent, too self-centered—and when we can’t manage all the contradictory restrictions, we are turned into grotesques. Women have been monsters, and monsters have been women, in centuries’ worth of stories, because stories are a way to encode these expectations and pass them on. (8) Therefore, it may be argued that masculine and feminine characteristics, or the scale that determines how good or bad a woman is, are man-made notions which have gradually been embraced as a norm. This ideology is infused in the discourse of ancient male authors which projects the powerful female characters as warnings, not as heroines. This also has a significant impact on culture that prioritises phallocentricism. In other words, the existence of cultural representations of gender roles and the unequal treatment of the female sex in the ancient Greek world and myths reveal the domination of patriarchy both in society and literature. After having considered the position of women both in ancient Greek society and literature, the following sections will include the discussion of how women come to have 20 agency and assert themselves in literature and strengthen their place with their works will be discussed. In addition to that, how far this gained agency has inspired women writers to go back to the past, to reinterpret the ancient literary works and to reveal the patriarchal discourse in them will be evaluated. 21 CHAPTER II: WOMEN’S WRITINGS AND THEIR EMPOWERING RETELLINGS 2.1 Women Writers’ Claim to Agency in Literature “Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind.” —Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own Patriarchal ideology has a tremendous impact on gender roles and the area of activities, characteristics and attributions that are associated with them. Since this ideology is formed by men and worked in their favour, women have a rather limited freedom and opportunity to be autonomous individuals who can openly speak for themselves or explain themselves. Accordingly literature, as in so many areas, is dominated and controlled by men for centuries. Women, on the other hand, are not allowed to make their voice heard as much as men because they are generally not allowed to do things that are viewed as unsuitable for them, and writing is one of these. Also, the female characters are often not identified as strong, independent and vocal individuals who are easily welcome and accepted in those stories. When there are innumerable legends, myths, stories and tales written to glorify and contribute to the supremacy and the power of the male sex, for the females, this is not the same. Female characters typically take part in a story in two ways; one as marginalised for her misbehaviour and vices under the label of witch, monster or temptress while the other is silenced and oppressed by male authority figures and praised for her prudery, chastity and obedience as a symbol of the ideal woman. The features which determined the vices and the virtues of a woman are among the patriarchy’s constructed norms to overrule and subjugate the female sex. Thus these texts which are written with a phallocentric language deterred women from appearing and becoming strong and independent characters. This false and superficial image of woman is portrayed in the narratives of men and maintained by other male authors. To illustrate this, most of the stories of the women in Greek myths who remain ignored, unfinished, misrepresented and unheard can be given as examples. Accordingly, Hélène Cixous in her article, “The Laugh of Medusa” 22 emphasises the way writing is used to silence and oppress women as: Writing has been run by a libidinal and cultural—hence political, typically masculine-economy; that this is a locus where the repression of women has been perpetuated over and over, more or less consciously, and in a manner that's frightening since it's often hidden or adorned with the mystifying charms of fiction; that this locus has grossly exaggerated all the signs of sexual opposition (and not sexual difference), where woman has never her turn to speak—this being all the more serious and unpardonable in that writing is precisely the very possibility of change, the space that can serve as a springboard for subversive thought, the precursory movement of a transformation of social and cultural structures. (“The Laugh” 879) Hence it can be inferred that writing contributes to the establishment of an ideology, which supports and promotes the androcentric point of view, as this standpoint aims to prevent women from gaining an opportunity to become involved in writing. In other words, it stands as an attempt to block women’s freedom of expression by means of speech and writing. Additionally, the position of women in the field of writing places them in a disadvantageous situation since this action is regarded as inappropriate because of the gender expectations that are grounded on oppressing and controlling women. Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar summarises the factors that hinder women writers effort to assert their character as follows: The loneliness of the female artist, her feelings of alienation from male predecessors coupled with her need for sisterly precursors and successors, her urgent sense of her need for a female audience together with her fear of the antagonism of male readers, her culturally conditioned timidity about self-dramatization, her dread of the patriarchal authority of art, her anxiety about the impropriety of female invention- all these phenomena of "inferiorization" mark the woman writer's struggle for artistic self-definition and differentiate her efforts at self-creation from those of her male counterpart. (The Madwoman 50) Nonetheless, the domination of patriarchy do not stop women who are courageous and determined enough to express themselves in writing. Virginia Woolf briefly summarises women’s attempt to include themselves in literature from ancient Greece to Victorian times as: 23 There was a Sappho and a little group of women all writing poetry on a Greek island six hundred years before the birth of Christ. They fall silent. Then about the year 1000 we find a certain court lady, the Lady Murasaki, writing a very long and beautiful novel in Japan. But in England in the sixteenth century, when the dramatist and poets were most active, the women were dumb. Elizabethan literature is exclusively masculine. Then, at the end of eighteenth century and in the beginning of the nineteenth, we find women again writing—this time in England—with extraordinary frequency and success. (Granite and Rainbow 77) The persistence and ambition of women who determined to write in previous periods encouraged and inspired the following generations and women eventually clawed their way into literature, become authors, started writing stories about themselves and publishing those stories under their own names rather than male pseudonyms. By doing so, they obtain the space to prove that women can be self-governing, free-spirited and powerful without turning into monsters, sorceresses or whores, or the opposite; they can choose to be monsters and embrace their monstrosity and not get punished for that. Regarding that Gillian Alban in her book stresses how contemporary woman writers transform those notorious female figures and distinguish of their power in their works as follows: Whether they are mothers or witches, or perhaps both, unprotected foundlings, femmes fatales, vampires or vamps, these characters deconstruct and defy social roles and expectations. Within their significant differences, such twentieth century writers have reflected both the plight and the powers of the women they present, insightfully involved in their situations, whether overwhelmed, or rising above the obstacles placed in their path. (The Medusa Gaze 10) In addition to that, Helene Cixous underlines the importance and the purpose of women’s writing as: Woman must write her self: must write about women and bring women to writing, from which they have been driven away as violently as from bodies—for the same reasons, by the same law, with the same fatal goal. Woman must put herself into the text—as into the world and into history-by her own movement. (“The Laugh” 875) Hence, it is crucial for women to write about themselves, their bodies and their past in 24 order to demolish the constructed traditional and stereotypical image of women that is created by men. In this regard, the role and power of writing stand as substantial method for women writers to assure their place in literature as individuals who have agency rather than individuals who are bound to be secondary by all means. Luce Irigaray in her book Sexes and Genealogies summarises what women have been deprived of for a long time and what they should demand as follows: We women, sexed according to our gender, lack a God to share, a word to share and to become. Defined as the often dark, even occult mother—substance of the word of men, we are in need of-our subject, our substantive, our word, our predicates: our generic incarnation, our genealogy. (Sexes and Genealogies 72) What she means is that woman needs to write her story by using her own words and her experiences in order to unchain herself from the constricting man-made definitions, roles and stereotypes which have been imposed on women for eras. This writing provides women with the chance to change the existing power dynamics between the sexes and the conventional idea of womanhood as they create female characters who are self-governing and assertive in their works. Thanks to the increasing number of women writers and the emergence of feminism as a movement, such women have found the opportunity to write about themselves, their bodies, their self-discoveries. One of the most powerful ways for women to point out the inequalities they have been experiencing is through writing because “it is in writing, from woman and toward woman, and in accepting the challenge of the discourse controlled by the phallus, that woman will affirm woman somewhere other than in silence, the place reserved for her in and through the Symbolic” (Sorties 93). Therefore, “by challenging patriarchal ideology, by violating conventional practices, by inventing compelling female characters and by representing female lived experience and a feminine perspective […] women authors have successfully created a female literary tradition in contemporary fiction” (Chatraporn 51-52). Even though the traces of patriarchal ideology may still be found in every sphere of life, the women writers have accomplished and continue to demolish the distorted images, ideas and behaviour that have imposed on women by focusing on female autonomy, perspective and experience in their works. 25 2.2 The Purpose of Retelling “We need to know the writing of the past, and know it differently than we have ever known it; not to pass on a tradition but to break its hold over us.”—Adrienne Rich, “When We Dead Awaken: Writing as Re-Vision” With the help of writing, women have been able to show the suppression and discrimination that they have been exposed to for so long and by making use of their story and the way they are presented in the past is one of the ways to demonstrate this oppression. In the light of this, retelling as a writing technique stands as an effective method that is used by women writers to pave the way for changing the traditional ideology and sexist language in literature. By rewriting the stories of those characters who are silenced, secluded and supressed, from their own viewpoint, they attempt to reform and reimagine the established perception of womanhood and to bring back the autonomy which they have lacked for centuries. Thus historical and the ancient literary sources have a crucial role in rewritings since they provide women writers with the basis to expose: “the ideological foundations of a hegemonic discourse that has dominated the discussion of ancient women, and that continues to make its powerful influence felt in the discussion of women generally as part of civil society at the present moment in history” (Katz 97). In this respect, Sarah Iles Johnston in her article further emphasises how literature is used to create and sustain certain ideologies and how fictional narratives can also impact the way people perceive world as: Some types of fictional narratives, when they are well designed and well executed, not only teach their audiences certain facts […] or certain values […] but also teach them new modes of thinking or new ways of looking at the world that they subsequently apply, consciously or unconsciously, to other narratives and to situations in real life. (Johnston pp. 190-191) For this reason, it can be implied that from its first examples, literature is used as a tool to spread patriarchal ideology positioning women as inferior in almost every aspect of life. Women writers, therefore, aim to shatter this partial way of thinking by producing books in which they revisit and reconstitute female characters who are despised and 26 misrepresented in literature for a long time. In her article “What Do Feminist Critics Want? Or a Postcard from the Volcano”, Sandra Gilbert stresses the importance of rewriting the past as: “When I say we must redo our history, therefore, I mean we must review, reimagine, rethink, rewrite, revise, and reinterpret the events and documents that constitute it.” (17). The past must be examined because it enables us to see the core of our on-going problems concerning the representation of men and women which is exceedingly controlled and shaped by patriarchy and its ideology encoded both in society and in literature. In order to overturn such ideology, women writers revise and retell the past events and their history from their own perspective. With that, they seek to transform the misogynistic language in literature and the misinterpreted images of women. Adrienne Rich touches upon the significance of revisioning for women as follows: Re-vision—the act of looking back, of seeing with fresh eyes, of entering an old text from a new critical direction-is for us more than a chapter in cultural history: it is an act of survival. Until we can understand the assumptions in which we are drenched we cannot know ourselves. And this drive to self-knowledge, for woman, is more than a search for identity: it is part of her refusal of the self-destructiveness of male-dominated society. (Rich 18) What Rich signifies by ‘the act of looking back’ is looking back at the history, the myths, and patriarchal tradition in literature from a new critical point of view in order to break the stereotypical portrayal of woman. Besides giving voice to those who are silenced, the purpose of retelling is also to resist the patriarchal discourse and to reveal the secondary position of women in historical and mythical texts. For this reason, it might be argued that: Rewriting myth is not only a matter of weaving in new images and situations but also involves the task of excavation, sifting through the layerings of adverse patriarchal renderings from which women were excluded, marginalised or depicted negatively to salvage and reinterpret as well as discard. (Sellers 22) Likewise, retelling enables us to uncover the misrepresentations of women and rebuild our own image by ourselves by changing the old assumptions. In other words, the reason why looking back at history or the classical literary works is important in rewriting is the fact that it is the best possible method for pointing out the roots of a problem, its on-going effects in the present time and its possible impact in the future. In this case, women 27 writers’ aim is to analyse and reveal the examples of misrepresented and mistreated female figures in old texts, particularly in myths, and to answer the question of “what if that was not exactly the way the story originally took shape?” and to provide alternative perspective through their rewritings. Alicia Ostriker in her article draws attention to the hardship of revising and reinterpreting the established norms and gender roles in areas such as mythology as follows: At first thought, mythology seems an inhospitable terrain for a woman writer. There we find the conquering gods and heroes, the deities of pure thought and spirituality so superior to Mother Nature; there we find the sexually wicked Venus, Circe, Pandora, Helen, Medea, Eve, and the virtuously passive Iphigenia, Alcestis, Mary, Cinderella. It is thanks to myth we believe that woman must be either “angel” or “monster”. (Ostriker 71) Since all the information, ideologies and gender expectations are coded in us through these tales and become our truth, the task women writers aim to accomplish carries a significance since “the core of revisionist mythmaking for women poets lies in the challenge to and correction of gender stereotypes embodied in myth, revisionism in its simplest form consists of hit-and-run attacks on familiar images and the social and literary conventions supporting them” (Ostriker pp. 73-74) and there are many female characters who are overlooked, victimised and marginalised in the epics, legends and poems of ancient authors. The women in these stories are exposed to labelling, having certain gender roles imposed on them to gain social acceptance, and frequently objectified and silenced. Additionally, in her essay Diane Purkiss highlights the possible outcome of rewriting of myths as: By rewriting the myth—changing the narrative, changing the position of the speaker, changing the spaces available for identification—you are held to be at once making a dramatic break with the myths as told by the fathers, and also to be recovering the dark, secret, always unconscious truths which the fathers have struggled to repress. (Purkiss 444) This shows that revising of myths enables women writers to find the opportunity to breach the phallocentric discourse by providing these characters with the voice and the liberty they lack and with the chance to be who they truly are or may be. Along with that, they also reveal the truth that most of the myths narrated by male authors assume the purpose 28 of restricting and limiting women’s sense of self, autonomy and dignity. Accordingly, women writers display the patriarchy’s misrepresentation of the female sex as monster, witches or seductress by providing the background of their story and by resolving the negative connotations associated with them as well as correcting the false assumptions made about women. Starting approximately from late nineteenth century and continuing to the present- day, literature consists of countless novels of mythological retellings such as Christa Wolf’s Cassandra (1983) and Medea (1996), Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad (2005), Ursula K. Le Guin’s Lavinia (2008), Katharine Beutner’s Alcestis (2010), Natalie Haynes’, A Thousand Ships (2019) and Stone Blind (2022), Pat Barker’s The Silence of the Girls (2018), and The Women of Troy (2021), Claire M. Andrews’ Daughter of Sparta (2021), Costanza Casati’s Clytemnestra (2023) and many more. The sources Wolf, Atwood, Haynes, Parker and Casati use in their retellings belong to Homer’s epic poems The Iliad and The Odyssey. They reinterpret the female— both major and minor, characters in these two works. While Wolf, Atwood and Casati focus on a single character—Cassandra, Medea, Penelope and Clytemnestra, Natalie Haynes in A Thousand Ships and Pet Barker in The Silence of the Girls and The Women of Troy centralise many women in the Trojan War. The common traits of all these authors in their works is to highlight female experience, giving them the chance to be heard and taken seriously. Also, Haynes’ other novel, Stone Blind concentrates on Medusa and delves into the question of who decides what a monster is throughout her novel. She provides the reader with a different Medusa than she is presented in the older sources. Additionally, Le Guin, Beutner and Andrews separately make use of Virgil and Euripides’ plays and Ovid’s narrative poem. Le Guin’s work presents Aeneas’ wife Lavinia who in this rewritten version confronts her creator, Virgil. Beutner focuses on Alcestis who, according to Greek mythology, is an example of a self-sacrificing wife. In his revision, Beutner gives her a voice to tell her story from her own side and thus she is given the chance to acquire the autonomy she lacked. Lastly, Andrews’ novel takes its origin from Ovid’s story of Daphne and Apollo from his Metamorphoses. Daphne is the representative of the chaste maiden who protects her virginity at the cost of turning into a laurel tree. In the retelling of Andrew, she signifies Daphne’s empowerment and proposes to the reader an adventure conducted by a woman. Therefore, through the 29 retellings of Greek mythological figures, women writers aim to indicate the patriarchal discourse embedded in literature and give a chance to those deprived of their own agency, sexuality, and voice to express the full range of their own experience. More recently, the two particular retellings of Madeline Miller’s Circe and Laura Shepperson’s Phaedra shed light on the lives of two mythological figures who have been misunderstood and misinterpreted in many aspects. Firstly, Madeline Miller in her novel Circe, presents the mythological character Circe from her own perspective and with her own voice. In the novel, Miller takes the original story of Circe from many sources such as Homer, Ovid, and Eugammon and shows the reader many insightful and detailed aspects of her life and her personality from a considerably different angle. Miller uncovers various untouched subjects about her past, inner-self and the portrayal of Circe and thus enables the reader to see a different version of her than the one they already know. In addition to that Miller puts Circe at the centre of her book, gives her a voice and a chance to tell her story from her own perspective. Also, Miller enables the reader to see her life stages, from childhood, motherhood, to her maturity. What Miller accomplishes in her book is to show the other sides of Circe who is not merely a sorceress or an enchantress turning men into animals. While presenting her story, Miller interrogates certain issues such as violence, power, identity and womanhood. Looking from a feminist perspective, the book can be summarised as the story of a woman struggling with the patriarchal and the misogynistic society throughout her life. For example, when she finds out that she has supernatural powers like transforming anyone she prefers into various forms of creatures, nobody believes that she is capable of such things, even her father. And when they are finally convinced, she is punished for this and sent to exile on an island. This shows that the society she lives in does not accept women’s power, unlike men’s, for when women use it they are punished. In Phaedra: A Novel Laura Shepperson reinterprets the myth of Phaedra and Hippolytus and relates to many issues regarding the perception of woman in ancient Greek, the relationship between women and men, thus permitting the reader to see a more detailed and layered version of Phaedra as well as the ancient Greek society. According to the classical accounts, Phaedra is the daughter of Minos and Pasiphaë. She is married to Theseus but falls in love with Theseus’s son Hippolytus. Hippolytus rejects her and after that she accuses Hippolytus of raping her. When Theseus learns of this he asks his 30 father Poseidon to kill Hippolytus, which he does. The ending of the story changes depending on the source, whether Sophocles, Euripides, Seneca or Ovid. On the other hand, in Laura Shepperson’s retelling of the story, Phaedra: A Novel, Shepperson takes the reader on a journey to Phaedra’s inner life. The author depicts her as an unfortunate character; after Theseus kills her brother Minotaur, she is married to Theseus whom she scarcely knows and goes to Athens from Crete. Phaedra’s life in Athens has a major part in depicting women’s misery and sexual harassment, including herself. It is a dangerous city for women as they have no values or rights as human beings. Phaedra who is presented as afraid and weak, a passive and silent woman, after Hippolytus rapes her, does not remain silent but demands justice by accusing Hippolytus of the crime he committed. Additionally, Shepperson’s preference of writing her novel in the form of a tragedy tells a lot about the plot and the life of Phaedra. The book touches upon various crucial issues such as gender roles, class differences, power relations and injustice between the sexes through various characters along with Phaedra. In contrast to the ancient Greek authors’ representation of women in their poems and tragedies, both of these women writers do not aim to write these novels to show the superiority of one sex over the other or to create prejudiced assumptions about the male sex. In fact, what they intend to emphasise is how the myths of Circe and Phaedra are narrated within phallocentric discourses that limit them and prevent them from having the opportunity to speak for themselves, or to be assertive without being castigated. For this reason, both authors empower these characters as they overpower biased discourses regarding women via their writings. For all these reasons, the phallocentric discourse, which has dominated literature since the earliest examples of written works, blocks the autonomy and the freedom of women by assigning them certain rules and roles, restricting their voices, their sexuality and defining them as monsters, witches or enchantresses. With the introduction of retelling, women writers strive to overcome the patriarchal language by revising the legends and myths of the past and rewriting novels that centralise women characters. By writing these novels “from a female point of view [women writers challenge a long- standing misconception by emphasising that] the monster woman is simply a woman who seeks the power of self-articulation” (Gilbert and Gubar 79). Accordingly, Paul Cartledge 31 in his book The Greeks: A Portrait of Self and Others emphasises what women writers aim to remind the reader through their retellings as follows: Even where a female character in an Athenian tragedy speaks with almost violently feminine authenticity […] the words were written by a male playwright and the character impersonated by a male actor before a largely or wholly male audience. In a predominantly sex-segregated society, as the world of Classical Greece was, it remains a question whether and how far a man can experience or sympathetically represent the reality of women’s lives, particularly when his ‘addressee’ is also male. (65) Thus the characters such as Medusa, Pandora, Circe, Medea and Phaedra are portrayed as monstrous, evil and violent characters because their male authors prefer them to be known as such. Therefore, Madeline Miller’s Circe and Laura Shepperson’s Phaedra are two examples of retellings that reveal women writers’ ongoing battle with the male- oriented world order by illustrating the hardship of being a woman, their personal suffering and their relationship with the opposite sex and how they can rise above their subjugation and oppression by exploring their bodies, and strength as well as by embracing who they are. In the light of what has been discussed in these chapters, the following section will analyse Circe from Greek mythology compare how she is pictured in the myths she is included and how Madeline Miller interprets and retells her story. Hence, the differences in the discourses of male authors and Miller’s will be evaluated. 32 CHAPTER III: FROM A MISANDRIST TO A SELF-SUSTAINING WOMAN 3.1 Circe the Wicked Witch Born as the daughter of the Titan god of the sun, Helios and Oceanid nymph, Perse, Circe of Greek mythology and literature has a significant place with her personality and her powers. She is a well-known witch, an enchantress, and a sorceress in Greek mythology. The goddess has an outstanding knowledge and talent regarding herbs and plants and also she has the ability to transform people into animals. Marica Felici in her article, “Circe: The Odyssey’s Warning for Femininity” provides a more detailed description of her area of expertise as follows: Circe is without a doubt a pharmakis, someone who uses magical potions (pharmakoi) made by herbs and plants. Hence, a pharmakis is extremely knowledgeable about the natural world. Circe is connected with nature: her palace is surrounded by lush vegetation and guarded by wild animals. However, the sorceress is also perfectly in control of the natural world; she uses plants and flowers to create her potions, and she tames those feral animals. (Felici) Although the power she holds is immense and it often leads her to malignancy, Circe essentially possesses skills that work for healing purposes. Her connection and knowledge about nature advances her mastery over plants and animals. Nevertheless the emphasis has never been on the benevolent side of her in her myths, in fact Circe is mostly notorious for her witchcraft, her dangerous nature and her ability to seduce and trick men into her trap. Hence it may be argued that the labels she is associated with are not purely related to what she has done in those stories but also highly influenced by how she is narrated in them because in these stories the authors do not provide a logical explanation for Circe’s “wickedness” nor do they provide a background to her character. This reduces her to a superficial character who uses her magical powers for her womanly desires or just for her sinister aims—in this case both of which are highly related to her being a woman. She takes part in the stories written during the Homeric, ancient Greek and ancient Roman periods by many authors and poets such as Homer, Hesiod, Apollonius, Virgil and Ovid. On account of all these stories about her written by male authors, those stories were written in accordance with their perception of both sexes, particularly the image of a stereotypical woman during those times. Even though each of these stories does not follow a single myth about Circe and they show some differences in her portrayal, there 33 is a common trait that is associated with her; her sexuality and the way she uses magic for her evil desires, which places her in the category of a stereotypical dangerous woman. The first and well-known literary work she takes part in is Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey, particularly in books 9 and 10. In the narration of Homer, Circe’s distinguishing features are not her divine powers, her abilities or her outstanding relationship with nature but rather her seductive, manipulative and sexual urges and actions along with her witchcraft. In other words, her powers, her body, and her character are used against her to picture her as an evil woman by Homer. Thereby she poses a threat to the norms and rules of the patriarchy because she uses her body and her bewitchery on men. In the beginning of book 9, Odysseus briefly summarises what has happened to him before giving details about his adventures and he says: Calypso the lustrous goddess tried to hold me back, deep in her arching caverns, craving me for a husband. So did Circe, holding me just as warmly in her halls, the bewitching queen of Aeaea keen to have me too. But they never won the heart inside me, never. So nothing is as sweet as a man’s own country, His own parents, even though he’s settled down In some luxurious house, off in a foreign land And far from those who bore him. (ix. Lines 33-41) Homer’s different preferences in portraying both sexes is clearly seen here. He presents Odysseus as a virtuous and respectable man who is loyal to his wife and his homeland. On the other hand, the women whom he interacts with are pictured as seductresses that use either physical force—in the case of Calypso, or magic—Circe, in order to take advantage of him. He refers to Circe as “the bewitching queen of Aeaea”—which is also the title of book 10, and it directly puts Circe in the category of evil women, whom men should keep their distance from. It is because she is both sexually and capacity wise powerful and in patriarchal societies like ancient Greece, women were not allowed to be both powerful and sexual, hence her skills are not regarded as something to admire or praise but rather as something to denigrate her and place her as an outcast character in those myths. 34 Book 10 is about Odysseus’ arrival at Circe’s island, Aeaea and the time he spends with Circe until his departure. Throughout the book she is frequently referred to as “the lustrous one” (x. 501) or “lustrous goddess” (x. 536), indicating that her physical charm and beauty are adequate features for Homer to identify her. The first appearance of Circe occurs when she turns Odysseus’ whole crew—except Eurylochus, into swine. With this action she proves herself a dangerous woman. Since she is a goddess and Odysseus a mortal, he does not have much chance against her. That is why Hermes becomes involved in the story by giving Odysseus a magic herb called moly to protect him from Circe’s sorcery as well as “[to protect] Odysseus from Circe’s seductive hospitality and potentially emasculating offer of sex” (Ager 20). Hermes’ interference can be considered as a move to demean Circe’s skills and also to demonstrate which sex is more powerful. Accordingly, Charles Segal interprets the connection between Hermes’ help to Odysseus and the power relations between the sexes as: He meets the goddess on her own terms: the counter-magic of Hermes against her potions, his sword against her wand. This sword also matches her sexual seduction, for it is not only a mark of his heroic identity [...] it is also a symbol of his male sexuality. The hero's encounter with the goddess is played out on the level of an archetypal conflict between the sexes. (Segal pp. 425-426) She might also be regarded as an example of the possible outcome a strong women may encounter in patriarchal societies; they are reassigned to their womanhood by diminishing their power, voice and assertiveness. Her relationship with Odysseus can be considered as evidence of her first being seen as a threatening, enticing, and a mighty witch who is gradually assigned as a “proper woman” by complying with her traditional womanly duties. Respecting that, after the magic does not work, her frightening glory fades away and she begins enticing him to her bed, helping him to bath and asking her maids to serve him. These happen because Odysseus proves that he is more powerful than her and her magic. Thus after she is defeated by Odysseus' indifference to her magic, she almost turns into a damsel-in-distress who has just found her prince charming. Other than her pure submission, the change in her actions can also be analysed as her deception that make him think that she obeys him. Furthermore, in book 9 Odysseus talks about how neither Calypso nor Circe has “won the heart inside” him, however, he spends a year with Circe as her lover on her 35 island in book 10. Additionally, as stated in Hesiod’s work, Theogony, they have three children: “Circe, the daughter of Hyperion's son Helius, in love with patient-minded Odysseus, gave birth to Agrius and Latinus, excellent and strong; and she bore Telegonus because of golden Aphrodite” (Theogony 85). Also Odysseus does not make any plan to proceed with his journey home until his men remind him: “High time you thought of your own home at last, / if it really is your fate to make it back alive/ and reach your well-built house and native land” (x. lines 521-523). Nonetheless this is not portrayed as something that shows Odysseus contradicting himself but rather it is projected onto Circe, the femme fatale, as one enticing Odysseus and making him forget everything by offering him her body and her services. Laura Aresi in her article “Hidden Seduction” draws attention to Circe’s double nature as follows: “in the Odyssey Circe serves the double function of antagonist and helper: on the one hand, she hinders and stops the voyagers, seducing and then imprisoning them; on the other, after her alliance with Odysseus, she becomes for him a lover, a friend, and a prophetess” (Aresi 171). Circe’s double function thus creates an ambiguity and the male authors preceding Homer find themselves in an advantageous position where they can shape and project her the way they prefer; depending on their narrative she might be a curing sorceress, a guide or she might be an evil witch, or a lustrous monster. Therefore, in the Odyssey, Homer ignores the details about Circe’s life or her character such as her childhood or what brings her to her island, Aeaea. He just picks up the myth from where it is relevant to his story and he demonstrates Circe as an evil sorceress who needs to be put in her place by the “hero” of this myth. In this story, Circe is only relevant through her sexual relationship with Odysseus and the way she turns his men into swine with her potion. Hence Odysseus’ indifference to her magic and the retransformation scene afterwards are crucial in the sense that it demonstrates who is in charge of the power and also who is the hero of the story. In other words, this is the story of a skilful goddess who is reminded that she is just a woman after all by a mortal man because whether mortal or not, the superiority of the male sex is what is mostly underlined in these patriarchal works. As Miriam Robbins Dexter explains in her book Whence the Goddesses: In patriarchal cultures, energy [is] regarded as the property of the male. Woman [is] useful, in this male-centered view, in proportion to the quantity of energy which she 36 [bestows] upon the males of her culture. With this load of energy, the males of these societies [are] then enabled to carry on the functions of society, as rulers or […] as warriors. (152) Circe, thus, becomes an energising tool for Odysseus towards the end of book 10 with all the help she provides to him on his journey home as a hero. She lets him use her body, her service and her knowledge, yet she is left alone in her island after he is done with her. Hence, such a powerful goddess with many talents, Circe is not praised for who she is but for what she can offer the hero of the story. This also indicates that the description and portrayal of female figures who are regarded as evil or femme fatales by authors like Homer, depends heavily on their gender expectations and reflects the norms of the patriarchal ideology of that time. The other writer who includes Circe in his story is Apollonius of Rhodes (3rd c. BCE). He is the author of The Argonautica, an epic poem focusing on Jason’s journey to Colchis for the purpose of reclaiming the Golden Fleece with his men, Argonauts, as well as his relationship with Medea. The significance of Circe for Apollonius’ story is the fact that she helps the hero of The Argonautica on his quest. In book 4, Zeus orders Jason and Medea to go to Aeaea for Circe to “cleanse themselves from the terrible stain of blood and suffer countless woes before their return” (iv. 333)—Medea helped Jason to kill her brother Apsyrtus. In a similar pattern with the Odyssey, another quest is taken to her island and she offers her help. As it is illustrated in Jason and Medea’s first encounter with her, Apollonius’ Circe is pictured as more humane than in Homer’s The Odyssey: They found Circe bathing her head in the salt sea-spray, for sorely had she been scared by visions of the night. With blood her chambers and all the walls of her palace seemed to be running, and flame was devouring all the magic herbs with which she used to bewitch strangers whoever came ; and she herself with murderous blood quenched the glowing flame, drawing it up in her hands; and she ceased from deadly fear. (The Odyssey iv. 339) Contrary to her divinity, the vision she had scares her, and this makes her seem harmless and weak. The fact that Circe’s magic to entice the stranger is vanishing in her dream also foreshadows her interaction, particularly with Jason, as she does not bewitch him as she did to Odysseus’ men. Additionally, in the case of Medea, Circe is blood-related with 37 her—the killer, and also with the victim— her brother, Apsyrtus, so Circe’s speech also illustrates that she is not the right person for the purification: Poor wretch, an evil and shameful return hast thou planned. Not for long, I ween, wilt thou escape the heavy wrath of Aeetes; but soon will he go even to the dwellings of Hellas to avenge the blood of his son, for intolerable are the deeds thou hast done. But since thou art my suppliant and my kinswoman, no further ill shall I devise against thee at thy coming; but begone from my halls, companioning the stranger, whosoever he be, this unknown one that thou hast taken in thy father’s despite; and kneel not to me at my hearth, for never will I approve thy counsels and thy shameful flight. (The Odyssey ıv. 345) Although she refuses to help them any further and dismisses them from her palace, she is not necessarily acting against them. This leaves the situation in an ambiguous state and also places Circe as an emotional decision-maker rather than being impartial in such situation where she is assigned as an authority figure. Accordingly, Mirjam Plantinga in her article “Hospitality and Rhetoric: The Circe Episode in Apollonius Rhodius' “Argonautica”” comments on Circe’s reaction as follows: “it is usually expected that the supplicated will either actively help or hinder the suppliant. Circe, on the other hand, states her passivity: she will do nothing for them, but neither will she do anything against them. It is very interesting that Circe is able to adopt this position” (561). Even though the reason why Circe is chosen to absolve Jason and Medea from their crime is not explained, it might be regarded as Apollonius’ attempt to depict a mighty goddess like Circe as a sentimental woman wh