Ariadne gives a point-of-view perspective to pivotal events of Ariadne’s life and does the same with Ariadne’s younger sister Phaedra. Ariadne and Phaedra are shaped and moved by other mythological figures such as Theseus, Minos, Pasiphae, the Minotaur, Daedalus, and Dionysus.
Circe is born into her father’s kingdom, one of the thousands of nymphs – her cousins. They are so numerous and similar that remembering any one as distinct from the others is impossible. Instead, it is what is done to them that is memorable. They are as objects to be acted upon. And so begins Circe’s life.
As a person, Emma Goldman has my respect for the difficulties she lived through and her unwavering pursuit of justice. During her life, she was a leading light for liberty and conscience. Nowadays, I think her ideas are less shocking and more mainstream. Her essay on prison reform and her criticism of prisons would hardly be out of place in a moderately left-wing newspaper today; similarly, her thoughts on love, marriage, birth control, and patriotism.