The poem “Circe’s Power” by Louise Gluck portrays a tone of contradiction. Circe states, “Then I reversed the spell, showing you my goodness” (Line 12) and “We could be happy here,” (Line 15). But then she immediately says “If I wanted only to hold you/I could hold you prisoner” (Line 25) to Odysseus, contradicting her previous statements. She seems generous at first. However, she changes her attitude towards Odysseus by expressing her feelings with disgust and threats. Circe has mixed emotions about him and doesn’t know how to deal with emotions. Gluck depicts her as confused and unfamiliar with this situation, which helps the overall tone of being contradictory.
