Plot Twist Book Club: Circe by Madeleine Miller
Three ways to enhance your plot twists
The plot twist is one of my favorite conventions in fiction. In fact, more than one professional review has highlighted the “mind-bending twists” (Booklist, Shelf Awarness) in my own novels. Readers and writers often think of plot twists as tricks meant only to shock—but the best plot twists do much more.
Today I’m taking a look at a plot twist in Circe by Madeleine Miller (beware: this discussion contains spoilers for Chapters 5 and 6 of the novel). While you might say that a retelling of a familiar myth can’t contain any real plot twists, I’ll argue that Miller finds a way to make well-known elements of Greek mythology shocking. Her plot twists do three things that many great twists do:
Elevate plot.
Reveal character.
Enhance theme.
First, let’s take a look at a surprising turn in Chapter 5 of Circe, and then let’s analyze a plot twist that follows in Chapter 6.
The Turn
In Chapter 5, Circe first experiments with witchcraft. She uses the sap of a special flower to transform her mortal lover, Glaucos, into a sea god. Glaucos is one of maybe two people who has ever treated Circe with affection. Only his mortality seems to stand in the way of their love, so Circe’s ability to grant him immortality is exciting.
But once Glaucos becomes a marvelous sea god, he starts to pay attention to creatures more beautiful than Circe. This turns of events is heartbreaking, if not exactly shocking. The reader has already been clued into the fact that Glaucos’ love might not be as steadfast as Circe’s. Still, it’s painful to watch Circe slowly realize that the gift she has given Glaucos is the very thing that will take him away from her. The irony makes for a poignant turn in the plot.
The Twist
Soon, Glaucos’ affections settle on the beautiful nymph Scylla, who uses his attention to be cruel to Circe. In turn, Circe decides she will use the magical flower sap once again, this time to transform Scylla. The way the sap works is by revealing a being’s true nature, or so Circe believes. It turned her lover, someone she knew to be inwardly lovely, into something beautiful; by the same token, it should turn horrible Scylla ugly. Then comes the twist: the magic doesn’t just turn Scylla ugly…
It transforms her into a grisly, six-headed monster.
How The Twist Elevates The Plot
Even readers already familiar with Greek mythology can enjoy Scylla’s shocking transformation. Glaucos’ earlier transformation into a sea god invokes wonder that contrasts with the later horror of Scylla’s monstrification, which makes Scylla’s degradation all the more apparent. And because the two plot points are linked by Circe’s experimentation with “pharmaka” and her initiation into witchcraft, the reader realizes a deeper horror: Circe holds a power that she can’t predict or control. Such chaos promises more plot twists to come.
How The Twist Reveals Circe’s Character
How can Circe be so naive about the effects of the magical sap? She takes a passive role in her first attempt at witchcraft: she assumes the sap holds all the power and she, none. When her lover transforms into something glorious, she takes this as confirmation that the sap only reveals a being’s true nature. She misses the signs that Glaucos is not wholly nice (he earlier recoiled at the idea that she, a seemingly youthful nymph, is hundreds of years old).
But the plot twist reveals more than her naïveté: it suggests that cruelty is hidden within Circe’s kind nature. It would be just for Circe to use the sap to transform Scylla into something ugly, but Circe must have suspected that something far worse might happen. Whether Circe intended to turn Scylla into a monster is left unresolved, but this moment is a signal that her character is more than naïve, victimized, powerless. Yes, she’s generous (to those she loves, like Glaucos) but she’s also bitter (to those who wrong her). These warring sides to Circe’s character provide the most tension throughout the story.
How The Twist Enhances The Book’s Themes
As with most books about magic, Circe proves that we often have less control than we think. We’d like to believe that pharmaka will finally give our heroine the power she’s missing as a lesser nymph, but Circe’s curse on Scylla will lead to further frustrations. Scylla is installed at a narrow channel of water, where she will torment and devour sailors, including those Circe wants to keep safe. Circe’s struggle to predict and control the outcomes of her witchcraft brings up questions about whether we have power over our lives or whether we are bound to fate.
Your Turn
If you’re planning a plot twist in your own story, try asking yourself these questions:
How can I use a contrasting moment before the twist to make the twist even more shocking?
How can I increase the consequences my character will face as a result of the twist?
How might those consequences test my character or bring out larger ideas I want to express?
In a future newsletter, I’ll explore another plot twist in Circe. If you need more help building meaningful plot twists, check out my self-paced, online course, The Surprising Plot.