Have you ever thought about who would be the best mother of the five books we have covered thus far? I think it is Circe from "Circe" by Madeline Miller. My reasons are she did everything she could to make Telegonus happy, she did everything she could to keep him safe, and end the end let him make his. Clytemnestra, from Colm Tóibín’s "House of Names," chose revenge for Agamemnon over her children; she did not speak to Electra when she came back from Agamemnon's camp. My first reason is that Circe put Telegonus’ happiness over her own. On page 244 of "Circe," “He smiled for the first time and began to sleep in his cradle. He went a whole morning without screaming, and I could work in my garden. Clever child, I said. You were testing me, weren’t you? He looked up from the grass at the sound of my voice and smiled again” (Miller). This tells the reader she stopped doing what she loved to care for him. Clytemnestra dropped everything for her own needs. On page 40 of "House of Names," “I should not have brushed her aside, however, of that I am sure. I was dreaming of fresh clothes, my old bed, a bath, food, a pitcher of sweet water from the palace well” (Tóibín). Electra needed answers to what happened, and she wanted to give herself what she wanted: clothes, a bed, a bath, etc., though she did regret not telling her, but why? Because she felt bad? Or because Electra formed a resentment against her that led to her death. The second reason is that Circe did everything she could to protect Telegonus. Clytemnestra put the care of her children to a man she did not trust. She put a spell over her island, Aiaia, and a second spell for the island where if Athena got past the first spell the island’s animals would protect her son. She also went to the bottom of the sea to Trygon, for his venom to protect him from Athena on his journey to Odysseus, his father. In Miller’s "Circe" it says, “‘Athena would kill my child, and so I defend him,’ I cried. ‘Be witness to the power of Circe, witch of Aiaia.’... White smoke billowed into the air, rising, spreading. It massed, forming a great arc over the island, closing us in” (254). On the same page it says, “If ever she did break through that smoke, the island would rise up in his defense, the beasts and birds, the branches and rocks, the roots of the earth” (Miller 254). Circe went to the bottom of the ocean to protect her son. On pages 278-279 of Miller’s "Circe" says, “Deeper I went, falling into the fathoms of blackness. That water was not my element and it knew it. The chill dug at my bones, the salt scoured my face. The ocean's weight piled like mountains on my shoulders. But endurance had always been my virtue and I kept on... At last, I landed upon the sea’s lowest floor... I cried out: ‘Great Lord of the deep, I come from the world to challenge you.’” On page 280 of "Circe" it says, “‘Still, I said. ‘I must try. For my son.’” Clytemnestra put the care of her children to a man she did not trust. On page 60 of "House of Names," “I knew that Aegisthus’ men would be waiting for her (Electra). And I knew also that Orestes would be taken from the palace by two of the guards (Tóibín). The third reason that Circe is the best mother is that she lets Telegonus go to his father. On page 273 it says, “‘I come to say that you may go, and I will help you.’” She put her need to keep him safe on the island and adapted that need to protect him so he could go and meet his father and become his own man. Clytemnestra sent her kids away by choice. In conclusion, I think Circe is a better mother than Clytemnestra. I think this because she puts her child’s needs above her own, she protects him to the fullest extent of her power, and she let him go to become his own man. If you have any questions write a comment.
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