Alright, again please review :) I know it's long but reviews will get likes so you can feature your essay and I'll also review your essay.
The Sirens: Seductive Temptresses or Pathetic Fakes?
In the ancient epic The Odyssey, Odysseus encounters the Sirens, who then try to tempt him and his crew with their infamous Siren Song, known for causing men to leap overboard in droves to their deaths. Odysseus survives the encounter by being tied up to the mast, while his crew covers up their ears with beeswax. Later, Atwood wrote her version of the Siren Song from the point of view of one of the Sirens. Homer uses diction, imagery and point of view to show that men are strong by depicting the Sirens as irresistible and a toxic desire, while Atwood depicts men as weak and easily swayed by used the same tools to describe the Sirens as ugly, pathetic and pitiful.
Homer presents males as powerful and strong through his descriptions of the Sirens and their song as irresistible in The Odyssey. The Sirens' voices are described as "honeyed." Honeyed is an adjective describing a voice as soothing, soft and intended to please or flatter. Describing the voices of the Sirens as honeyed shows how powerful and seductive the Sirens are, and that men are not weak-willed for falling for them and jumping off their ships. In addition, Odysseus has to put in hours of preparation just to get past the Sirens alive. Odysseus has to "knead [beeswax] with [his] two strong hands" until "the wax [...] grew soft, worked by [his] strength and Helios' burning rays, the sun at high noon." Odysseus has to work for hours kneading wax and chopping it up to prepare for their meeting with the Sirens. The amount of preparation needed by Odysseus and the crew shows the reader just how powerful and tough the Sirens are. Furthermore, Homer writes that the beeswax was worked by Odysseus and Helios' burning rays. By writing that working the beeswax required both the superhuman strength of "the man skilled in all ways of contending" and the scorching rays of the god of the sun Homer implies that defeating the Sirens requires a level of power not present in most men. When the Sirens begin to sing, Odysseus' heart "[throbs] to listen longer," and he tries to get out so hard that his crewmates have to "bind [him] faster and faster with rope on chafing rope." The crew needs to use incredible amounts of rope to contain him; furthermore he was trying so hard to get free that he is chafing his skin. The effect the Siren Song has on even the greatest of all men is palpable; it shows that the Sirens are extremely powerful and the reaction of jumping to your death is perfectly justified and not something that subtracts from the power of men. Homer writes the scene from Odysseus' point of view, who hears their song as, "come closer, famous Odysseus- Achaea's pride and glory." Their song flatters Odysseus and compliments him, showing why he has to listen to them. Writing from the point of view of Odysseus, who, as we can see from earlier descriptions is going crazy trying to get to the Sirens displays the Sirens in most flattering light possible, making them seem almost like gods in their ability to attract men. In Homer's mind, men are not to blame for dying to the Sirens when they are so powerful and seductive. The fact that even Odysseus, the mightiest of all men has so much trouble getting past the Sirens presents the Sirens as all-powerful; yet, Odysseus and his crew were able to slip past the Sirens unscathed, showing that men are powerful. Even when faced with powerful foe such as the Sirens, men are able to come out on top.
Conversely, Atwood portrays the Sirens as pathetic, weak and ugly through diction, imagery and point of view to prove that men are actually weak, not strong. Atwood's Siren Song describes the Sirens as "maniacs." The word maniac conjures up images of a crazed lunatic, not a powerful entity. By describing them as maniacs, Atwood tells us that they're not the clever, scheming creatures as in Homer's version, but rather just crazy monsters hanging out on a cliff. To fall for said maniacs would be an act of utter idiocy; thus, men are idiotic and not powerful at all. The speaker of Atwood's version of the Siren Song, one of the 3 Sirens says that she wants the men to get her "out of [her] bird suit." A bird suit is not very attractive; it is actually very ugly. The Siren also says that she is tired of "squatting on [the] island, looking picturesque and mythical." By describing the Sirens as squatting in a bird suit, Atwood paints a picture of 3 ugly and hideous monsters who somehow manage to attract men to their deaths, making men look stupid and weak-willed for following the Sirens. Atwood writes her Siren Song from the point of view of one of the Sirens, which is significant because the Sirens are not under the spell of their own song. When Odysseus hears the Siren Song he is captured by it, while the Siren sees it as it is, a "boring song." Writing from the point of view of the Sirens gives an unbiased, unfiltered raw version of their song, one not clouded by desperate thoughts of reaching the Sirens. The actual song of the Sirens is nothing like the version Odysseus hears; rather, it is a pitiful "cry for help," with the Sirens yelling, "Help me! Only you, only you can." The Sirens in Atwood's version aren't really that powerful, crying for help from mere mortals to rescue them from squatting on the island. The change in point of view provides a completely different view of men, who die for a pitiful cry of help. Atwood's version of the Siren Song illustrates men's weak-will and stupidity by describing the Sirens are feeble and pathetic.
Atwood and Homer contrast in their depictions of the Sirens, with Atwood showing men as idiotic and weak through her descriptions of the Sirens as not powerful and ugly and their song as a pitiful cry for help while Homer shows men as strong and powerful through his descriptions of the Sirens as powerful and seductive. Women in Homer's time were usually portrayed as crafty and cunning, their machinations often resulting in men's misfortune. Most women throughout myths and legends such as Eve or Pandora are the causes of humanity's problems, the ones who fall to their inner temptations and desires. By writing from a female perspective in the story of the Sirens, Atwood is able to show that men, instead of women are weak.
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The Odyssey
I think this may need to be in parenthesis, or underlined. I'm not quite sure.
by used
by using
Homer uses diction, imagery and point of view to show that men are strong by depicting the Sirens as irresistible and a toxic desire, while Atwood depicts men as weak and easily swayed by used the same tools to describe the Sirens as ugly, pathetic and pitiful.
seems like a run on.
The crew needs to use incredible amounts of rope to contain him; furthermore he was trying so hard to get free that he is chafing his skin.
Think this should be two sentences.
Other then some of those things, I think the essay is good!
