The Power of Circe in Absolute Wonder Woman

In Absolute Wonder Woman, Kelly Thompson redeploys the figure of Circe to realign DC’s iconic Amazon Princess with a changing world. Through the tutelage of Circe (traditionally a DC villain), Absolute Diana becomes capable of embodying love and wrath without contradiction. #absolutewonderwoman 1/15

Circe is a figure of tremendous cultural fascination spanning millennia. In order to simplify my approach here a little bit, I’m going to isolate the Homeric version of Circe through the lens of Judith Yarnall’s landmark reading of the character. 2/15

In “Transformations of Circe: The History of an Enchantress,” Judith Yarnall argues that Circe’s transformation of men into swine can “be interpreted as the primordial feminine’s acting according to its own nature and making manifest the comparative inferiority of individual male being.” 3/15

While clearly villainous on the surface, Yarnall articulates that a “major problem with many later interpretations of Circe is that they sever rather than honor the wholeness of her myth.” This selective reading of the character is what has made Circe one of the most famous (and maligned) witches in history. 4/15

As Yarnall notes, however, Circe also “uses her formidable powers beneficently” and even sets the course for Odysseus and his men after developing pity for Odysseus. Circe occupies the halfway point of the Odyssey and transitions the story from one of lacking direction to one of finding it. 5/15

This plays quite well with the Circe that we see in AWW, a character who is both powerful and vengeful, but justly so, righteously so, in consequence of the treatment that she has received at the hands of men. 6/15

Far from Christian-era portrayals of the character as an evil witch (a portrayal frequently recapitulated in other Wonder Woman comics that cast Circe as a malevolent villain), Thompson’s Circe is equally capable of love and compassion – so long as she’s treated with love and compassion. 7/15

Thompson, a self-professed Greek Mythology nerd, identifies poignant potential in Circe, arguing: “Circe is just a terrific character — both in a lot of Wonder Woman mythos and in Greek Mythology more generally. 8/15

When you read her mythology, “Circe almost feels like a character pulled out of time to me – she’s so uncompromisingly self-made and feminist. Utterly her own person.” Thompson further describes how it was Circe who helped her to unlock the core of her new Wonder Woman mythology: 9/15

“But the Circe of it all was what made it work. Realizing that Diana’s love is a transformative thing and that once it transformed Circe, Circe would begin feeding it back to Diana, and even though they were in hell, it would be home for them. It would still be love and kindness and finding a better way…” 10/15

“…And in fact, it would shine all the more brightly as it was contrasted against their surroundings. It’s the most I’ve ever known that a story just worked and “was right.” It was a great feeling.”” 11/15

Circe’s influence on the reimagining of Wonder Woman can also provide an important update to Wonder Woman’s feminist politics. Where previous iterations of Wonder Woman were instilled with a Christ-like capacity to turn the other cheek, this Wonder Woman has a different (larger) edge. 12/15

Thompson makes it clear that this edge comes from Circe: “Diana, not every thing you meet will decide to be your best friend. Many will try to kill you even before shoving away your hand of friendship.” Circe isn’t cynical in Thompson’s take – just practical; and willing to set the hardest boundaries. 13/15

The ultimate manifestation of Circe’s influence is the weapon she creates/is for Diana, one that allows her to embrace, for lack of a better term, monstrosity. Diana transforms into a giant Medusa (another maligned feminine creature) in order to defeat a giant monster threatening a city. 14/15

Thompson’s Wonder Woman is still a figure of love, and in a distinctly feminist context, but, through Circe, that feminist context comes with a righteous fury that need not contradict the love, but rather protect and advance it through an active and aggressive will. 15/15