...The Odyssey, written in the eighth century BCE, is one of the two main epic poems of Homer. Homer’s writing talent inspires others to create adaptations of the Odyssey. Two examples are: Zachary Mason’s novel, The Lost Books of the Odyssey, and the Cohen Brothers’ film “O Brother, Where Art Thou?.” The scene about the Sirens is a very famous section of both the novel and the film. The novel describes the storyline with vivid details, and the film does the same, but with a different storyline. The scene of the Sirens in the film starts off when the three main characters, Everett, Pete, and Delmar drives along a road with their stolen vehicle, which they have stolen from the previous scene. Pete starts to make such a horrendous noise and yells...
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...In Homer’s Odyssey the Sirens, offering false promises of joy through seductive song, challenge Odysseus’s position of power in the Ithacan hierarchy by attempting to evoke the sense of unrestrained joy. Sealing his crew’s ears with wax, Odysseus mutes the crew’s senses and skews their perception of truth, contributing towards a reinforcement of social stability; Odysseus maintains his dominant status among the crew through his denial of complete submission to pleasure by binding himself to the ship mast; Ultimately, the measures Odysseus takes to sail past the Sirens serve to reinforce his seat of authority. Odysseus, on his quest to restore his throne over the Ithacans, encounters the irresistible call of the Sirens, hoping to plunge Odysseus’s...
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...The portaryal of the Sirens and their luring but destructive song is compared in both Homer's Odyessey and Margaret Atwood's poem Siren Song as being inevitable and trecharous to the Odysseus sailors. The leader of the Odysseus recounts about thier encounter with the Sirens and with an ominous tone addreses his crew to heed of the cataclysmic dangers the Sirens are forcasted to perform. The Siren in the poem narrarates her tragedy of causing such pernicious accidents and through her point of view manipulates the reader to belive Sirens have no desire to hurt those who cross their path. In the Odyssey, the leader of the Odysseus applies his point of view on the Sirens by expressing how the song causes his,"...heart inside..." to throb...
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...In The Odyssey and The Siren Song, both Homer and Margaret Atwood depict women as beautiful yet manipulative creatures. The Sirens are mythical beings that are half human half bird whom are defined as dangerous yet beautiful creatures that no man could resist, except for Odysseus. Odysseus and his men approach the island of the Sirens, and Odysseus, as instructed by Circe, plugs his men's ears with beeswax and has them bind him to the mast of the ship. Although Homer’s The Odyssey connotes the Sirens as vicious and eerie, Margaret Atwood’s Siren Song depicts the creatures as mysterious yet beautiful creatures, which is conveyed through each author’s use of figurative language and diction. In The Odyssey, the Sirens are characterized as irresistible yet evil creatures. No man can resist them, except for Odysseus. He was able to resist the temptation by tying himself down and putting beeswax in his shipmates’ ears, so that they can avoid the women as well. Homer proves how inevitable the Sirens voices are by...
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...Sirens are creatures infamous for their beautifully deceptive song. Homer's "Odyssey" and Margaret Atwood's "Siren Song" portray the sirens as fatal and alluring. The authors' employment of point of view offers both the victims and the perpetrator's perspective, allowing the audience a glimpse into the Sirens' nature. Diction plays a key role in dictating the connotation (and therefore, the representation) of the Sirens' behavior. In addition, Homer's Odyssey is written in the victim's perspective. The victim, Odysseus, describes the compelling force of the Sirens' song, and how they called out to him. They directly addressed him, using flattery to entice him into hearing their song. This demonstrates the Sirens are intentionally seeking...
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...Without will power, temptation and curiosity can cause many to stray from the goal of their journey. In “The Odyssey” by Homer and “Siren Song” by Margaret Atwood, the poets characterize the Sirens as manipulative and powerful through the SIrens flattering diction and captivating voices. The sirens use their alluring words to captivate the sailors into their trap with tempting offers. These creatures are manipulative and do everything in their power to lure these men to their doom. They trick and sing their song to the point where the men are unwillingly pulled to the island by the irresistible song. “The song is a cry for help: Help me!”(21-22) In the poem the sirens know that no man can resist a damsel in distress, a situation like...
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...Sirens are said to be these mythical creatures in Greek mythology whom torment men at sea. Both Margaret Atwood's poem and in Homer's Odyssey, Sirens are portrayed in ways that differentiate the thoughts of them in the past and in the present. Although they do differentiate in various ways, their meaning and image stand the same. In both Homer's Odyssey and Atwood's poem "Sirens Song", Sirens are said to be malicious and bad creatures. They are said to lurk in the ocean tormenting sailors who roam the seas, but despite the harm they can cause, it seems that their deadly melody is a yelp for help. in Homer's Odyssey their song is described as an urgent call, and in the "Sirens Song" it is described as a cry for help. Despite the similarities,...
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...Imagine a world where you are not able to do anything except sing. You are stuck on an island with two other people but can only sing. This is reality for the Sirens in the epic the Odyssey by Homer and the poem Siren's Song by Margaret Atwood. The Sirens are characters that have enchanting voices and makes anyone who hears them never want to go home, even the strongest people. However, these two writings are very different. The poet’s interpretation of the Sirens give us sympathy for the Homer's Sirens. This is because the two works describe two drastically different characteristics, such as how they feel. Homer describes the Odyssey Sirens as being scary and even enticing. Homer uses capturing language to tell of Odysseus’s voyage through...
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...In both of the works sirens are displayed as mystical creatures who lure sailors to hear their songs. The songs are portrayed as captivating, but differ greatly in both of the stories. In Homer’s Odyssey the songs that the sirens sing is directed at Odysseus but does not call him to their shore, only to listen to their song. Through Odysseus’s point of view they want him to draw near to listen to their songs and gain their wisdom. The sirens call out for him to stay a while, listen and continue on his journey a wiser man. He knows that once he goes to them he will not survive but he is so entranced by their song that his crew needs to make sure to secure him to the mast even more than he is already secured. Odysseus hears a captivating, irresistible...
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...The decieving Sirens with their chanting but deadly songs have lived many sailors to their death. In Homer's epic poetry, "Odyssey" the portrayals of the Sirens differ than Margaret Atwood's "Sirens Song." Atwood utilizes first person point of view while Homer incorporates Odyssey's point of view. Thus, this results affecting their diction and mood in which they demonstrate different behaviors from the Sirens. Homer introduces a solution to avoid the calls from the Sirens. He explains the situation his characters will have to endure. Thus, the Sirens would have to take a different approach to lure in the sailors. Homer's application of first person point of view only exhibits the affect it has toward one person. Sirens only approach is to...
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...Perspectives on Sirens Society has proven to be evolving throughout the years, as the problems are being addressed and taken into account. However, many still get distraught when glancing back into the ways of the past, even conveying their opinions in miraculous ways to provide their perspective on how it should be. There are many forms of doing so, and one way is in the form of a poem to express different sides to people or characters. In relation to one of the world-wide conflicts, gender inequality, Homer’s expression of women in the Odyssey, has caused poets, such as Margaret Atwood with Siren Song, to provide depth to their personalities. With the Sirens, Homer uses a more peculiar tone to describe the harpies, a deviant view on the powerful beings; while Margaret provides more human and complicated traits. Margaret purposefully displays the Sirens as more relatable and...
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...Homer's epic The Odyssey and Margaret Atwood's poem "Siren Song" underscore the enchanting but deadly temptations of the alluring mythical sirens. While both poems incorporate first-person points of view, their perspectives, as well as their tones, differ drastically. The former, making use of aggressive diction and the latter, making use of persuasive diction, show difference of objectified and humanized women. While both demonstrate similarities, they also have radical differences. "Siren Song" and The Odyssey both are told from a first-person point of view but their perspectives of male and female is just one of the many differences between the two works.In the former, Margaret writes, "This is the one song that everyone would like...
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...Sirens and their luring songs appear in both Homer's Odyssey and Margaret Atwood's "Siren Song." Nonetheless, the reader's experience greatly differs from reading about sirens in one poem to reading about them in the other. This is greatly due to the difference n point of view in each poem and to the similar tone each author creates. When comparing the portrayal of sirens in each poem, it is evident that each has its own point of view. In the Odyssey, the sirens are described from the viewpoint of Odysseus and the other sailors. Odysseus explains that when the sirens noticed their ship, they approached the vessel and "burst into their high, thrilling song..." Since the sirens are being described by sailors, the sirens' victims, the sirens...
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...peacefully, supported by a strong voice inside her that spoke of gender equality and rights. Similarly, “Siren Song” by Margaret Atwood battles to revise the idea that men are more powerful compared to women through the story of a Siren. In Margaret Atwood’s “Siren Song,” Homer’s portrayal of the Sirens in The Odyssey is critiqued in order to remove the detrimental effects of an androcentric perception. The Odyssey points at an authority in power that men have compared to women. In the epic poem, Odysseus prepares his crew as they sail towards the Sirens’ island, avoiding the tempting songs by blocking their ears with...
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...Jade Zayas Intro to World Mythology Final Paper 05/07/2012 O Brother, Where Art Thou? vs. The Odyssey When it comes to entertainment and box office hit movie making, it is not uncommon to come across films adapted from popular literature. Taking a story that is popular and well-known is a formula for a successful film, as long as it is done the right way. The Coen Brothers, famous for successful films such as “Fargo” and “The Big Lebowski,” made a movie together entitled “O Brother, Where Art Thou.” This film, while unique in its setting and a little bit different in the plot, is clearly an adaptation of the ancient classic poem “The Odyssey” by the poet Homer. Even a review by the renowned film critic Roger Ebert states: “O Brother, Where Art Thou? is a Homeric journey through Mississippi during the Depression (Ebert, Roger 2000).” The film itself depicts the obstacles and fate of a man during the Great Depression who escapes from jail and whose only goal is to make it back home. The struggles he and his fellow escapees meet along the way are strikingly similar to the perils that face Odysseus and his men on their mission to get back to Ithaca. Also, the character references in the film that parallel the characters in the epic poem are abundant. The film is almost a modern homage to the ancient poem in all the different ways it emulates “The Odyssey.” To fully understand all of the different ways the film relates to the poem, it is important to establish the character...
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