Essay On The Sirens In Homer's Odyssey

In the Odyssey, after being warned by the Goddess Circe, “First of all, you’ll run into the Sirens. They seduce all men who come across them. Whoever unwittingly goes past them and hears the Sirens’ call never gets back.” (Line 47-50) Odysseus and his men took heed to her advice and set out to sea. As they neared the rocks of Scylla, Odysseus ordered his men to tie him tightly to the mast, and to roll bee’s wax into their ears, and in the next few moments the sweet sounding song was heard, but it only reached Odysseus’s ears. The sirens used flattery to try and win over Odysseus, but when he called to his men, they refused and tied him down with more ropes. Their song was lovely, and legend had it that the song was so sweet that no man ever heard it and lived to tell the tale, but Odysseus came out successful. He had heard the song, and all thanks to the goddess Circe’s advice and warning. The sirens played a onetime part in this event, but two artists, Margaret Atwood and John William Waterhouse have given a perspective from their point of view. Both retain

Atwood and Waterhouse have made extraordinary additions to the endless variations of the Sirens. Waterhouse’s approach was more exaggerated as he added more sirens, and exaggerated their actions as the sirens were painted swarming and inspecting the men close up. Atwood showed her variation by making her poem from the point of view of a siren, and making them appear to be less curious and more cunning. Atwood’s sirens appeared to have more common sense and used it to their advantage. The two artists used their prior knowledge of the Odyssey to further illustrate the poem with their own ideas and imaginations, Atwood and Waterhouse have helped with further analyzation of the sirens by giving more detail on the personalities of the