AI ToolsNew
Tools to make learning and teaching easier
Definition of Tone
The tone of a piece of writing is its general character or attitude, which might be cheerful or depressive, sarcastic or sincere, comical or mournful, praising or critical, and so on. For instance... read full definition
The tone of a piece of writing is its general character or attitude, which might be cheerful or depressive, sarcastic or sincere, comical or mournful, praising or critical... read full definition
The tone of a piece of writing is its general character or attitude, which might be cheerful or depressive, sarcastic or sincere, comical... read full definition
Chapter 4
Explanation and Analysis:
At first, the tone of the novel seems bitter. Circe clearly harbors righteous anger and judgment toward her family. However, before long it becomes clear that this bitterness is borne out of intense yearning: all Circe has ever wanted is to feel worthy. One moment where both bitterness and yearning come through is in Chapter 4, after Circe meets Glaucos and tells him that she is not important enough for him to bow to her:
“Yet,” he said, “may I return? Will you be here? For I have never known such a wondrous thing in all my life as you.”
I had stood beside my father’s light. I had held Aeëtes in my arms, and my bed was heaped with thick-wooled blankets woven by immortal hands. But it was not until that moment that I think I had ever been warm.
“Yes,” I told him. “I will be here.”
Glaucos is a complete stranger and a mortal, so his opinion should hardly matter to Circe. He has not earned her trust. Sure enough, believing Glaucos in this moment eventually leads to heartbreak, Circe's regrettable curse on Scylla, and both these women's exile from the only life they have ever known. Implicit in the passage is a sense of blame that Circe directs toward her family. She is the daughter of the sun, and yet growing up "beside [her] father's light" has never made her feel as warm as she feels when a new, mortal acquaintance tells her that she is "wondrous." She has spent her life serving, admiring, and raising the men in her life. Her mother and sister have mocked her and pushed her away. Although she has had every material need met, this passage makes it clear that she has suffered intense emotional neglect. If not for her family's mistreatment, she would never have hung so desperately on Glaucos's words. She may never have cursed Scylla.
Even as she takes a bitter tone toward her family, Circe is also tender toward her younger self in this passage. Of course she believed Glaucos, her tone suggests. After all, this was the first time she had ever felt like she mattered. Circe spends most of the novel describing her lifelong quest for self-worth. If one half of her story is about her well-deserved anger toward her family and others who have harmed her, the other half of her story is about how she learns to redefine herself outside the systems that denigrate her. Part of that learning involves forgiving herself for her mistakes and abandoning the expectation that her family will change. By the end of the novel, most of the bitterness and yearning mellow into pragmatism and gratitude for the life Circe has made for herself.
Related Themes:
