Similarities Between Circe And Medea

Witches have always fascinated people, even as they feared them. This fascination extends as far back as ancient times, where the witches Medea and Circe make their debut. Both are depicted as dark creatures, redeemed only by their assistance of a male hero. Upon further inspection, though, these two are separate in both how they approach magic, and in the very source of their magic. The practical aspects of magic may remain relatively unchanged, the way the magic is used can be as different as day and night, as Circe and Medea. Circe and Medea both first appear in epic stories and poems. Each has her own way of servicing the hero. They use their dark arts and magic to help their respective heroes overcome obstacles and complete tasks. During
Medea starts off innocent, or as innocent as someone as naive as her could be, and eventually descends into the darkest recesses of magic. She starts with small things, helping Jason complete impossible tasks, and eventually leads to homicide. Circe, on the other hand, starts as a witch famed for her cruelty and power. Her reputation was enough to make even Odysseus fear her, and seek advice on how to temper her harshness. As the story continues, Circe becomes less of an evil witch, and more of a benevolent goddess, no longer cursing men, but curing them. The transition from light to dark and dark to light, respectively, demonstrates how witches were not quite human, yet still retained a great capacity for both evil and
Again, this seems to depend on the witch. When Circe eventually restores the men she had turned into animals to their original state, they appear younger and healthier (Ogden 68-72). While Circe did not use her magic for altruistic purposes, the men were none the worse by the end of their magical imprisonment. When Medea uses magic, it is not to heal or improve, but to harm and destroy. Besides rejuvenating the lamb (Ogden 68-72), which in the end was used to kill someone, Medea does not practice restorative magic, displaying how far down the dark path she had