Circe

Reading Check questions are designed for in-class review on key plot points or for quick verbal or written assessments. Multiple Choice and Short Answer Quizzes create ideal summative assessments, and collectively function to convey a sense of the work’s tone and themes.

Chapters 1-6

Reading Check

1. What kind of goddess is Circe?

2. Name one of Circe’s siblings.

3. What does “Circe” mean?

4. What is Aeëtes’s first word?

Multiple Choice

1. What determines who Circe will marry, based on Helios’s estimation?

A) her usefulness as part of a political strategy

B) her physical features

C) her language skills

D) her godly powers

2. Why might Circe be particularly sympathetic toward mortals?

A) The gods treat them poorly, just as she has been treated poorly.

B) She has no one else to relate to.

C) She is honored by their offerings to her.

D) The gods have designated her the goddess of mortals.

3. What is the most likely reason that Circe goes to see Prometheus after he’s been whipped? 

A) She wants to take care of him.

B) She wants to show how she is different from her parents and siblings.

C) She wants him to take her away.

D) She wants to know more about humans.

4. What does Aeëtes mean to Circe?

A) He is the only one in her family who has shown her love.

B) He is her ticket to escaping from their family.

C) He is the one person who shares her power.

D) He is her best student in witchcraft.

5. What might be an additional reason that Circe is exiled, beyond Helios’s reasoning that she poisoned Scylla?

A) He has been looking for an excuse to get rid of her.

B) He hopes that she will finally leave him alone.

C) He is afraid of her power.

D) He wants to punish Aeëtes for teaching her about pharmakeia.

Short-Answer Response

Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why is Prometheus’s statement that about how humans “are each different. The only thing they share is death” (Chapter 2) interesting to Circe?

2. What does Aeëtes point out about Prometheus, and what lesson is provided by his actions for Circe?

3. Why does Circe leave for her island?

4. What does Glaucos do once he becomes a god?

Chapters 7-13

Reading Check

1. Why won’t the gods engage in the work of sorceresses?

2. Who does Hermes say will come to Circe’s island one day?

3. Why is Circe’s exile lifted?

4. Who gives Circe her loom?

Multiple Choice

1. Why is Circe’s house significant?

A) It is a statement of her father’s desire to show that the Titans are better than the gods.

B) It is the only good thing her father has given her.

C) It is the first thing that Circe builds with her magic.

D) It is a testimony to her strength.

2. Why does Circe feel guilty for the sailors’ deaths?

A) She feels she would be able to prevent their deaths if she could just leave Aiaia.

B) She longs to fight alongside the Titans to build a better world.

C) She created Scylla, who is killing them.

D) She hoped to have been freed from her exile by now.

3. Why does Circe engage in a casual relationship with Hermes?

A) She wants to take care of him.

B) She seeks a connection with another person.

C) She sees him as a “balm” to her pain of isolation.

D) She believes that they are both “poison snake[s]” (Chapter 8).

4. Why won’t Pasiphaë be punished for having a child with a bull?

A) She made a deal with Minos to keep it a secret.

B) She believes that Daedalus will be punished instead.

C) She knows that the gods love monsters.

D) She intends to use her magic to change the child into a human.

5. What does Circe do when Aeëtes threatens to punish her?

A) She begs him to spare her.

B) She tells him that this is her island and therefore it bends to her will.

C) She tells him where Jason and Medea went.

D) She makes him forget her.

Short-Answer Response

Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What does Circe discover while living alone and practicing magic?

2. Why does Circe shake off the mortals’ “imbecile gratitude” (Chapter 9) after they safely escape Scylla?

3. Why did Pasiphaë have the child with the bull?

4. Why does King Minos name the Minotaur after himself?

Chapters 14-17

Reading Check

1. Into what creature does Circe begin to transform men?

2. What does Odysseus have to prevent Circe from harming him?

3. Who appears with a prophecy about Odysseus?

Multiple Choice

1. Why are more young women sent to Aiaia after Alke?

A) The gods believe that Circe is a strict caretaker who will keep them in line.

B) The gods wish to torment Circe.

C) The magic of the island makes women more pliable.

D) They want to go train with her in witchcraft.

2. Why does Circe periodically sleep with the men who come to her island?

A) She feels guilty for turning so many into pigs.

B) She sees it as their reward for not trying to harm her.

C) She wants to reclaim her body after being assaulted.

D) She hopes it will teach them to respect women.

3. Why does Circe enjoy being with Odysseus?

A) She appreciates his cleverness and his desire to stay with her.

B) She sees him as having experienced difficult trials, just as she has.

C) She views him as a “balm” to her pain of isolation.

D) She appreciates that he is honest about his desire to leave.

Short-Answer Response

Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. After being raped, why is Circe disappointed when she does not hear anything from her father?

2. How does Odysseus use Circe?

3. Why does the prophecy frustrate Circe?

Chapters 18-22

Reading Check

1. Who is Telegonus’s father?

2. Who wants Telegonus dead?

3. Where does Telegonus wish to sail?

Multiple Choice

1. Why doesn’t Eileithyia, the goddess of childbirth, come when Circe prays to her?

A) Gods can’t pray to one another.

B) She knows that Circe got pregnant on purpose and didn’t tell the father.

C) The gods don’t wish to help Circe and intend to leave her alone through childbirth.

D) Circe changes her mind and sends her away.

2. What would it mean if Athena were to bless Circe’s next child?

A) The child would be protected and would live a blessed life.

B) The child would be personally cared for by Athena.

C) The child would be immortal.

D) The child would have special powers like Circe’s.

3. How has Circe’s decision to protect Telegonus increased his desire to leave the island?

A) He is dying to be away from his mother, believing that she has lied to him.

B) He wishes to be fearless like Odysseus based on the stories she has told him.

C) He believes that her spells will travel with him off the island.

D) He views the world as entirely good without being aware of the threats it poses to his safety.

Short-Answer Response

Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why is Circe so worried about Telegonus?

2. Why does Trygon allow Circe to leave without feeling the pain of his tail’s spine?

3. How are Circe and Penelope able to bond?

Chapters 23-27

Reading Check

1. What does Athena offer to convince Circe to allow her on the island?

2. What does Telemachus give to Telegonus?

3. What does Circe hope will happen when she drinks the flower sap?

Multiple Choice

1. Why is Athena surprised when Telemachus turns down her offer?

A) She is surprised that the son of Odysseus would be comfortable living in obscurity.

B) She is surprised that he does not want to be a leader.

C) She is surprised that he wishes to found a country instead.

D) She is surprised that he says no to a god.

2. Why does Circe threaten to tell Zeus about how she helped Prometheus?

A) She uses it as a bargaining chip against her father, since he would be blamed for her disobedience.

B) She wants her life to end, so she hopes Zeus would smite her.

C) She hopes that it will show how strong she is.

D) She wants him to see that she is stronger than her father.

3. Why is it important that Circe tell Telemachus about her role in Scylla’s becoming a monster?

A) He needs to know if he is going to sail with her.

B) She needs to free herself from the shame of her past.

C) She needs to fix her mistake.

D) He will be protected from Scylla’s wrath if he knows her true form.

Short-Answer Response

Answer each of the following questions in a complete sentence or sentences. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What does Circe regret not telling Odysseus?

2. Why does Telegonus accept Athena’s offer to found his own city when Telemachus declines it?

3. How does Circe know that Helios will not kill her?