Sirens: the dangerous, yet beautiful majestic creatures of the sea, who led nearby sailors to shipwreck with their enchanting voices. Some say voices can’t entice people enough to lead them overboard to their death, but those people have not had the dreadful pleasure of coming in contact with the dangerously, scary sirens. Those who have read Homer’s text, “The Odyssey,” know how dangerous these creatures can be. As evidenced from Homer’s text, sirens have many strengths, they do many things to show strengths also, and finally, as shown in the text, it's obvious they play the role as antagonists.
First the sirens have many great strengths, one including their voices. These monstrous beings can sing beautiful songs that inveigle people to get off of ships and lead them straight to sudden death. Another great strength sirens have is the power of life and death for all crew members passing through their territory. “The song that is irresistible: the song that forces men to leap overboard in squadrons even though they see the beached skulls.” This quote from Homer’s text proves how powerful the captivating strengths of sirens really are.
…show more content…
Even though people can see the remains of humans who were once killed, the siren’s voices control the men's minds so much that despite what they see, they still head overboard to see the enticing beings who called for them. “This song is a cry for help: Help me! Only you, only you can help me, you are unique.” By stating this quote from Homer’s text, it demonstrates precisely how alluring the sirens can be, because the song isn't a cry for help, the siren is only saying that to lure people
The story of Odysseus' encounter with the Sirens and their enchanting but deadly song appears in Greek epic poetry in Homer's Odyssey. The Sirens in the ‘Siren Song’ by Margaret Atwood are portrayed in a variety of ways. The Sirens are lethal,underprivileged and deluding. The Sirens are personated as lethal and menacing. In the Sirens’ song it says “..the song that forces men to leap overboard in squadrons.”
The Sirens are familiar literary characters from Greek mythology; they are most recognized as one of the many perils Odysseus encounters in Homer's Odyssey. As Circe explains to Odysseus before he sets out for home, "You will come first of all to the Sirens, who are enchanters / of all mankind and whoever comes their way…/ They sit in their meadow, but the beach before it is piled with boneheaps / of men now rotted away, and the skins shrivel upon them" (Homer 12.39-50). Odysseus chooses to listen to their sweet song as his boat passes their island, and, were it not that he were bound fast to the mast, would have jumped overboard to seek his death upon their shores. Acc...
In Homer's Odyssey and Margaret Atwood's "Sirens Song" the Sirens are portrayed as dangerous and devious creatures through the use of tone and point of view.
The poem “Siren Song” is able to depict the sirens using a persuasive and taunting tone. The first six stanzas of the poem have a taunting tone. The siren is explaining to the reader that “anyone who has heard it [the song] is dead, and the others can’t remember.” The sirens are attempting to persuade the reader to do as they say, but at the same time telling them that they will end up dead. This is taunting the reader by telling them the negative things to come. A shift of tone occurs for the seventh stanza. The siren is addressing the reader and saying, “I will tell the secret to you, to you, and only to you… you are unique.” This changes the poem from being taunting to persuasive because it makes it personal. It now becomes about “you,”
In Greek mythology, Sirens are half-bird and women that reside in Islands and lure men through flattery. Just as how in the Greek mythology, Homer’s The Odyssey, men are warned to plug their ears so that they could resist hearing the singing sirens. Men have to do this in order to prevent them from jumping overboard, because no man has ever ever returned as they are lured to their death by the Sirens(Atsma). “Siren Song” is included in Margaret Atwood’s 1974 poetry collection, You Are Happy (High Beam Research). The reference to The Odyssey, is relevant because the poem is intended to be between a Siren and a man hearing her speak, just like in the Greek myth. The poem opens with a Siren explaining what happens to men that hear her song. In
In the Odyssey, Homer takes a bristly approach towards the portrayal of the men. On line 4, Odysseus describes that he “kneaded them in my two strong hands”. Homers choice is these words communicates the men’s power and creates the stereotype that men are all able bodied. He uses Odysseus to portray the strong characteristics that all men have and show his viewpoint of the capabilities of men. Throughout the excerpt, Homer exhibits the able-bodiness of men and shows that men should be put in a higher regard in society. Homer chose to include words such as ‘steadfast’ and ‘comrades’ to describe his men (8,27). The words that he used are showing that his men are loyal to him and they can get through any obstacle that comes to them. Homer is attempting to glorify the strength that men are capable of. In “Siren Song” by Margaret Atwood, she apathetically depicts that men are less intelligent than the average women and do not deserve to be higher in society. Atwood describes the song as “the song that forces men to leap overboard in squadrons even though they see the beached skull” (4,5,6). The excerpt conveys that the men’s stupidity blinds them from seeing their obvious death. She attempts to put down the stereotypes put on women and offer a new viewpoint of the sirens. She is countering Homer’s viewpoint by showing that men aren’t as intelligent as shown in the
For many centuries,The "Sirens have been describe as inhuman supernatural creatures 'whose wicked song can overtake you and thrown you overboard.But the question is how do they know all those tales are true if "Dead Men Tell No Tales" and yet those that indeed survive to them is just a hopeless memory.Nobody really knows,BUT luckly we have two point of views with different perspetive that can probably helps us find out the "Sirens" origin and real purpose. The first point of view we going to analyze is "The Odyssey"by Homer.The "odyssey" describe
Sirens were described as monstrous creatures that lured sailors to death with a beautiful song, most known for their depiction in the Odyssey. Contrary to popular belief and modern works, they were birds in ancient sources. Circe warns Odysseus of them:
In Homer's Odyssey and Margaret Atwood's Siren Song, Sirens are portrayed as creatures that trick men. Homer and Atwood use imagery, point of view, and diction to convey the image of the deceitful Sirens.
Lillian Doherty, Siren Songs: Gender, Audiences, and Narrators in the Odyssey (Ann Arbor 1995), esp. chapter 1.
The Odyssey: Portrayal of Women How does Homer portray women in the epic, The Odyssey? In order to answer this question you must look at woman and goddesses as two separate groups of people who are "people". This is because they are portrayed in two separate ways. You see, a regular woman like Penelope is looked at as beautiful but has.
the inhospitable manner of the Cyclops, the attractiveness of the Sirens, and the viciousness of
Greek mythology may have been created thousands of years ago, but the lessons learned from the legends are still pertinent today. While there may not be gods and goddesses walking among mortals, the same conflicts that existed in the myths still exist now. One of the more popular myths in Greek mythology is about the three Sirens. As half-woman, half-bird hybrids, they were ugly creatures who had to overcompensate with the sounds of their voices. Whenever a ship or boat of sailors would pass by the island they lived on, they would sing a hypnotically beautiful song which lured the sailors to their death by jumping into the water and swimming towards the voices. Sailors that swam up to shore were greeted by the deadly Sirens. Greek literature
The image of seductresses is a recurring motif in The Odyssey. These women are a temptation to Odysseus. They attempt to keep Odysseus from accomplishing his goal: his homecoming. Circe is a bewitching goddess. She entices Odysseus’ crew into her palace with her enchanting voice. However, after she feeds them, she promptly turns them into pigs. Circe also succeeds in enticing Odysseus; he stays with her one year as her lover. It is so long that his crew declares that it is “madness” (326). They say that it is “high time” that Odysseus thinks of his homeland (326). Later on, Odysseus and his crew encounter the sirens. Knowing the danger they pose, Odysseus has all his men’s ears stopped up with wax. However, Odysseus wishes to hear their song; so he asks his crew to tie him to the mast. The song of the sirens is so sweet and enticing. Their “ravishing voices” almost make Odysseus forget his desire to return home (349). His heart “throbbed” to listen longer; he signals for his men to let him go free. The grea...
The sirens are a significant factor in Homer’s Epic poem ‘The Odyssey”, they have been reinterpreted throughout the years in many different mediums such as TV, movies, and other works of literature. One of the most notable manifestations is the poem The Sirens Song by Margaret Atwood. Ms. Atwood's portrayal of the mythical creatures is similar to Homer's but at the same time it is quite different.