The Sirens In The Odyssey And Atwood's Siren Song

Sirens, greek mythological creatures, make a notable appearance as one of Odyseuss's many obstacles obstructing his journey home in "The Odyssey". Though that might be the trilling seductress' most memorable cameo, they are expanded upon further in Margaret Atwood's poem, " The Siren Song." In both the epic and the poem Sirens are portrayed in a cunning, ruthless light through their different tones and point of view. The principle contrast between the two literary work's portrayals of the sirens is the point of view. The narrator in the "Siren Song" is an actual siren, lending insight on herself, a rare point of view for a reader since most commonly siren encounters are written through the eyes of the sailors.

The Sirens Would you choose to listen to a beautiful song if you knew the consequence resulted in death? In Greek mythology, the Sirens lured sailors with their enchanting music, but then killed them. Homer’s “Book 12”, Margaret Atwood’s poem, titled “Siren Song”, and Romare Bearden’s artwork, “The Sirens’ Song”, convey the Sirens both similarly and different. Throughout the three Siren pieces, they all show the Sirens as seductive, they have the same outcome, and they have similar moods. All of these pieces display the Sirens as seductive.

Despite this, the idea of the Demon being of bad nature is just the surface description of the character since he “sowed evil without enjoyment”. This creates a new depth to the character and begins to highlight the idea that he isn 't content with the way he is “living” and seeks something deeper. As the story develops, we begin to see that the Demon is motivated to cause terror by very real, human characteristics and begins to project them. The Demon has the desire to break free of his isolation and sees the chance to do so when he is captivated by his love interest

The painting depicts a sort of bird creature with the attractive face of a female, swarming Odysseus’ ship in droves while staring down its occupants with a seductive look, while in the text it is quoted “Square in your ship's path are Sirens crying beauty to bewitch sailors coasting by” ( 678.661-662). This shows similarity in the aspect that both sources described the Sirens as luring their prey with beauty. Both the Sirens from the painting and the Odyssey are mythological creatures that attempt to lure their prey. “So you may hear those harpies’ thrilling voices” (678.675), a quote from the odyssey compares to the appearance to the Sirens in the painting. While in the quote the Sirens are described as harpies, birdlike creatures, rather than the common sea dwelling mermaids.

Since Odysseus was so intimidated by the Sirens causing his hubris to disappear. In the painting Ulysses and the Sirens, John William Waterhouse use the image of the sirens all in Ulysses and his men faces to show that no matter how intimidating a person feels about others bad intentions, people should just push through it and ignore it, while in her poem “Siren Song”’ Margaret Atwood uses the same scene to show how sometimes people make another person feel special for they can hoax someone into doing something. In the poem “Siren Song”, Margaret Atwood uses the tone of bitterness and scornfulness which demonstrates the idea that humans will do things if they feel special even if the task is dangerous. The poem displays a group of women with bird bodies, singing a beautiful song to a group of men on a boat to that “forces men to leap overboard in squadrons even though they see the beached skulls” but it is also “the song nobody knows because anyone who has heard it is dead, and the

Pearl is seen as a devil child by the Puritan community, even making her own mother question her humanity. “...sometimes so malicious… that Hester could not help questioning, at such moments, whether Pearl was a human child” (Hawthorne 101). In the novel she is shown scaring away other children by throwing rocks at them. Described as, “An imp of evil, emblem and product of sin,” Pearl represents the scarlet A in a negative way (Hawthorne 102). Being the legitimate symbol of the scarlet letter herself, Pearl’s biggest symbolic representation is Hester’s sin.

To support the claim that beneath her evil demeanor Steinbeck depicts Cathy as a woman with innocence, the exploration of the source of evil within Lucifer is required. There is much significance to Steinbeck’s portrayal of Cathy as a serpent, as such a reference applies to the biblical character of Lucifer. That is, Lucifer – the devil, takes the form of a serpent likewise to Cathy who is illustrated by Steinbeck as a snake as well, which infers the link between the two characters. In The Book of Revelations, one can trace the source of evil within Lucifer from the phrase, “And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world-he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.”. Lucifer was a fallen angel, meaning he was once God’s right hand man.

1518). The line is power provoking because it paints Grendel’s mother to be a satanic creature which represents all that is evil. “Swamp-thing” also gives the reader a picture of an alligator-like monster. Grendel’s mother’s actual appearance is never described in poem. Instead, an image must be created based on interpretations and drawing from some of the reader’s worst fears.

In her novel Mary Shelley explores the central ideas of rejection and abandonment, human nature, good and evil and revenge to support the conviction of Frankenstein’s responsibility in the novel and Frankenstein is a reflection of this. Shelley shows through positioning of characters within the stories that good and evil is not clear-cut and there are many moral grey areas. The readers are positioned to feel sympathy for the creature, especially since his yearnings for human contact could easily be their own. Which makes it all the more frightening when Victor and others treat him in such vile ways. Shelley uses the novel to explore human nature, Frankenstein wants the readers to see the creature as a monster however they don’t.

It symbolizes the horrible violence and deeds executed by Macbeth that Lady Macbeth is suffering from. ​ Throughout Macbeth, the symbol of the supernatural plays an important role to the development of the plot. At the end of the sleepwalking scene the doctor says, "Foul whisp'rings are abroad. Unnatural deeds Do breed unnatural troubles" (V. i. 49-50).