Decolonising the Feminine: A Critique of the Christianised Arc of Circe in Madeline Miller’s Circe

Abstract

Madeline Miller’s Circe (2018) presents itself as a feminist retelling of the Odyssey, reimagining Circe as an empowered protagonist. However, beneath this retelling lies a deeper ideological structure shaped by Christianised epistemology, particularly the Christian redemptive arc. Circe’s transformation from a feared witch to a self-sacrificing mother mirrors the moral trajectory imposed by Christianised narratives, where pagan figures are either tamed or redeemed through suffering (Spacciante 405). This paper also examines Circe through Barbara Creed’s monstrous-feminine theory, which critiques the patriarchal construction of female monstrosity (Creed 19). However, Creed’s framework itself is bound within dominant Western literary tradition, which upholds binaries of the monstrous and the divine feminine, reinforcing the moralistic categorisation of femininity imposed by Christian doctrines rather than dismantling it. This paper argues that Circe, despite its feminist aspirations, participates in the same historical process that reshaped pagan myths to align with Christian morality—where powerful female figures are reimagined through a lens of sin, redemption, and domestication (Dhareshwar 121). The shift from Circe’s non-moralistic portrayal in The Odyssey (Lattimore 151) to a self-sacrificing motherly figure in Miller’s novel exemplifies the erasure of non-dualistic, pagan femininity (McClymont 24). In contrast, Greek philosophical traditions such as Neoplatonism and Heraclitus’ unity of opposites offer alternative conceptualisations of feminine power. Neoplatonism, particularly in the works of Plotinus, suggests an indivisible reality where opposites like creation and destruction, monstrous and divine, exist within a unified one, resisting rigid moral categorisation (Corrigan 26). Similarly, Heraclitus’ philosophy challenges static binaries, asserting that opposing forces exist in perpetual flux and interdependence rather than as moral absolutes (Emelyn-Jones 92). This paper critiques the ideological constraints of Circe and argues for a retelling that resists the Christianised transformation of pagan myths. By engaging with both Western feminist theory and its constraints; and pre-Christian epistemology, this study highlights the limitations of Miller’s Circe in its attempt to reclaim a lost voice while remaining within the confines of a deeply Christianised literary tradition.