Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
The journey of Dante in literature
Summary of the sirens in the Odyssey
Summary of the sirens in the Odyssey
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: The journey of Dante in literature
The Sweet Song of Dante Alighieri's Siren
Among the various tools Dante Alighieri employs in the Commedia, his grand imaginative interpretation of life after death, scenes involving figures and beasts from classical mythology provide the reader with allegories and exempla effectively linking universal human themes with Christian thought and ideology. Among these, the figure of the Siren, found in Canto 19 of the Purgatorio, exists as a particularly sinister and moribund image. Visiting Dante in a dream upon the heights of Mount Purgatory, the Siren attempts to seduce the sleeping traveler with her sweet song. Dante finds himself on the brink of giving in to her deadly charms when Virgil, through the intercession of a heavenly lady, wakes him from this troubled slumber (Purgatorio 19.7-36). A complex image, Dante's Siren demonstrates the deadly peril of inordinate earthly pleasure masked by a self-fabricated visage of beauty and goodness, concurrently incorporating themes of unqualified repentance and realization of the true goodness of things divine.
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...
... middle of paper ...
...New York: Penguin Books
USA Inc., 1995.
Homer. The Odyssey of Homer. Trans. Richmond Lattimore. New York: Harper
Perennial, 1991.
Mazzotta, Giuseppe. Dante's Vision and the Circle of Knowledge. Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 1993.
Musa, Mark. Introduction. The Portable Dante. By Dante Alighieri. New York:
Penguin Books USA Inc., 1995. ix-xxxvi.
The New American Bible. St. Joseph Edition. New York: Catholic Book Publishing
Co., 1986.
Toynbee, Paget. Concise Dicitonary of Proper Names and Notable Matters in the Works
of Dante. New York: Phaeton Press, 1968.
Tozer, Rev. H.F., MA. An English Commentary on Dante's Divina Commedia. New
York: Cooper Square Publishers, Inc., 1975.
Vernant, Jean-Pierre. Mortals and Immortals: Collected Essays. Ed. Froma I. Zeitlin.
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1991.
In the epic poem the "Odyssey" by Homer, there are creatures known as sirens. These creatures lure people to their death by singing a song in which they make a person follow what the sirens say. In the "Siren Song" by Margret Atwood, she writes the song and how she interprets it using modern English. The two literary works portray the Sirens similarly in tone and differently in point of view. The Sirens in the "Odyssey" seem dark and evil due to the author's choice of words or diction.
Descending from the first to the second level of Hell, Dante witnesses the transition to greater agony and greater punishment for the damned. Overwhelmed by the sinner’s harrowing cries and the extensive list of seemingly innocent souls given to him by Virgil, Dante beckons for two lovers to approach him, desperate for some sense of comfort. The souls are known to be the historical figures Francesca de Rimini and her lover Paolo, forever trapped in the circle of lust due to their sinful adultery. Through her words spoken to Dante, Francesca shows how she feels she has been unjustly punished and is deserving of others’ sorrow, and Dante, despite his awareness that she is a sinner, pities her. A close reading of this passage is necessary to better understand Dante’s internal battle with showing compassion where it is not deserved and Francesca’s incessant denial of her sins.
Dante’s works Vita Nuova and Purgatorio includes his own experiences with many dreams throughout the course of his journey. These dreams are not simply just extensions of his experiences, but rather they pose important symbolism of his works. Although the content and the actual symbolism of each dream are different, there are parallel allegorical aspects between them. The main symbolic similarity of each dream is that they foreshadows and bridges Dante’s current situation and upcoming undertakings.
basically lead you to your death. The sirens can be described as strange unnatraul and weired. In book 12 he sets sail. They approach the island of the Sirens and Odysseus does what circe says he plugs his men's ears with beeswax and has them bind him to the pole of the ship. He ordered his men to leave him tied tightly to the pole of the ship no matter how much he would beg. Oddyseues was curiose to hear thier song. The Sirens song is so seductive that Odysseus begs to be released from his shackels that are placed on his feet but his faithful men only tie him tighter. In the poem siren song it says
Homer depicts the Sirens as intriguing and desirable because he considers Odysseus as valiant. Homer describes Odysseus’ “'heart inside [him is throbbing] to listen longer,'” suggesting the seductive power of the Sirens (20). The effect of his heart throbbing verifies that Odysseus longs to be with the Sirens, forging an image of a man struggling against his will in order to be near a beautiful temptress. This implies that the Sirens are irresistible and cunning because they are able to deceive the men into falling for them with just one song. Odysseus craves to hear the Siren’s magical song and stay alive, so he has his men physically “bind [him] faster with rope on chafing rope” (24). The immense effect that the Sirens have on him is great, and the fact that the rope is irritating his skin illustrates the effort Odysseus is making to be with the Sirens. Throughout this particular scene, Odysseus attempts to join the Sirens, without realizing the terrible consequences. The temptresses are so “ravishing” and no man can resist their beauty (19). They are so attractive that they have the ability to lure in innocent men and watch them ...
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.
...y sirens represent half-women, half-bird creatures who lived on an island. They used to sing in beautiful voices to lure sailors off their course. When Odysseus was sailing by the siren's island, he made the rest of his men plug up their ears and ties him to the mainmast. This way, he got to hear the beautiful sound of their voice without being driven to suicide. In this story the women weeping over Lautaro were compared to the sirens, and some sailors going to tie themselves to the mainmast in an attempt to mimic Odysseus. There is a contrast of these stories with the quotes from the villagers.
You have heard stories about the Sirens. Mythical creatures that lure sailor in with their beautiful song, leading them to their death. But is this all there is to them? Are they really the merciless killers stories make them out to be, or are they simply misunderstood? The Sirens are creatures greatly misunderstood. Singing this melody of death is their punishment for not fulfilling their job, they do not actually want to sing it, and by singing this, they do not want to kill anyone, but rather kill themselves to free themselves.
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:
...ards monstrous figures and sympathy towards those who seem to be tortured unjustly. In his perverse education, with instruction from Virgil and the shades, Dante learns to replace mercy with brutality, because sympathy in Hell condones sin and denies divine justice. The ancient philosopher Plato, present in the first level of Hell, argues in The Allegory of the Cave that truth is possible via knowledge of the Form of the Good. Similarly, Dante acquires truth through a gradual understanding of contrapasso and the recognition of divine justice in the afterlife. Ultimately, Dante recognizes that the actions of the earthly fresh are important because the soul lives on afterwards to face the ramifications. By expressing his ideas on morality and righteousness, Dante writes a work worth reading, immortalizes his name, and exalts the beliefs of his Christian audience.
Moreover, Dante, the narrator of the Inferno, has succeeded in not only telling the frightening story of the Inferno, but also pointing out the importance of the relationship between human’s sins and God’s retribution, using the monsters as the symbols for each kind of sin and its punishment throughout the progress of the story, which teaches his readers to be well aware of their sins through the literature – a part of humanities; the disciplines that teach a man to be a human.
The Divine Comedy could be read from many different angles. One could take in everything at face value, judging the book as just another piece of fine poetry. On the other hand, there is more to what the lines actually say. Underneath the story, one finds a richness of symbolism and metaphors which reflects each and everyone’s spiritual lives. This paper is divided into four parts. The first part is the literal sense of the Inferno, the second, the allegorical, the third is the literal meaning of the Purgatorio, and finally followed by its allegorical sense.
Dante’s Inferno presents the reader with many questions and thought provoking dialogue to interpret. These crossroads provide points of contemplation and thought. Dante’s graphic depiction of hell and its eternal punishment is filled with imagery and allegorical meanings. Examining one of these cruxes of why there is a rift in the pits of hell, can lead the reader to interpret why Dante used the language he did to relate the Idea of a Just and perfect punishment by God.
even jump overboard (Alexander 233). In One Thousand and One Nights, it states, “mermaids’ songs rendered sailors helpless and lured them to their doom” (Alexander 233). Skye Alexander reiterates this idea that mermaids are dangerous to sailors at sea through the epic Odyssey. Odysseus is cautioned about sirens. Sirens in Greek mythology are something that is compelling yet dangerous. In this instance, sirens are portrayed as mermaids. The sirens hypnotized the sailors through their luring voices. They had the ability to make sailors crash into the rocky coast. Odysseus has his sailors strap him down to his ship and plug his ears with wax so he would not take in the alluring songs. Consequently, Odysseus hears the songs and begs his sailors to untie him (Alexander). Given these points, we see that mermaids are dangerous creatures who possess deadly voices to lure sailors to their deaths.
In conclusion, a great deal of tension and contrast between “dark” and “light” in The Inferno helps us to explore Dante’s self portrait—he fears dangerous desires and sinful darkness, but shows much courage and hope towards life since he nevertheless follows his guide Virgil to dive into horrible Hell. As shown in Canto I, such emotional reaction to dark and light symbols lays a great foundation for developing Dante’s broad and universal traits as his journey progresses.