Wednesday, February 10, 2010
The Sirens' Song
In Book 12 we learn about the siren's song that is irresistible to men but lures them to their doom. Odysseus orders his men to cover their ears with bee's wax to avoid the deadly voices. He himself wants to hear it, but orders his men to lash him to the mast and refuse any request to free him. Does this episode remind you of anyone else's journey? Can you make connections with other literary characters, historical actors or people you know? Could this incident be a metaphor for the journey of our life?
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This incident is definitely a metaphor for our lives. Actually, this Siren Song incident is a metaphor in more than one way. First, Odysseus does his best to protect his men and crew with the beeswax. He risks his own life by subjecting himself to something that he knows for a fact will make him completely irrational and unreasonable. He also knows that this song will send him straight to his death if he doesn’t do something in advance. Even though he risks his own existence, he does not allow any other crew member to listen because he does not want to jeopardize any of their lives. This is a metaphor for parents, guardians, and others in similar positions. Parents do not allow their children to do anything remotely close to dangerous. For example, parents tell their children to wear their seatbelts, to look both ways when crossing the street, to do their homework, not to watch R rated movies until they are seventeen, and countless other things. In a sense, Odysseus was shielding his crew from a certain death like a parent tends to shield one’s children from bad influences or danger. In addition to the parental metaphor, a second comparison is visible in the way that Odysseus anticipates the eminent state of unreason that he will be in, and he plans accordingly. He could not just use beeswax like his crew, for he wanted to know what was so luring about the Siren Song. So, tying himself down was a good solution to the problem. In our lives, we must realize when we are going to do something that may not necessarily be safe or smart initially, and then we must plan to lessen the danger. An example of this is if a person (over the age of twenty-one) is going to go to an establishment that serves adult alcoholic beverages with a few friends, this person must consider the fact that he may become intoxicated and must make a plan that would keep this person out of danger and trouble. A reasonable solution is to assign one person to be the designated driver. This way, just like Odysseus, the person can experience the dangerous event with the least negative consequences. The Siren Song incident tells us that we very often shield those that we care about from dangers and that we must make plans in advance to help ourselves when we are not able to make a coherent decision.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, I want to say that I agree with Andrew completely and I think he makes some good comparisons between the Sirens and the real world today. I like his examples to drinking and driving and I definitely can see the connection. I believe that when Odysseus ordered his men to tie himself to the mast and to plug their ears with beeswax he was thinking ahead and taking responsibility for his life and also the life of every man in his crew. By giving these orders he saved the lives of every person on the ship because if they had heard the Siren's song they would be pulled into the island and killed. I believe that this is a life metaphor to always take heed to warnings and not to take big risks, as they can end up badly. In life, there are many warnings such as “caution slippery when wet” or “caution wide left turns.” These may seem like minor warnings but if you do not take heed to these warnings you have to face to consequences which can be becoming injured or possibly dieing. This is shown in the Siren's song because Odysseus was blatantly warning more than once not to be drawn in by the Siren's song, as he most surely would die, and when he follows this warning he survives along with the rest of his crew. Another metaphor to life shown by this incident is that as a leader or guardian you need to take responsibility and control to ensure the safety of the ones you are watching over. This is shown in the incident with the Siren's song because Odysseus takes the matters into his own hands and eventually ends up saving the lives of his crew. This can be paralleled to a parent and his or her children as Andrew mentioned. As a parent you must guide and control almost every aspect of a young child's life to ensure their safety, and this is what Odysseus did when he told his crew to put the beeswax into their ears. I also want to pose a question, do you think that what Odysseus did when he strapped himself to the mast instead of just putting the beeswax into his ear was selfish on his part or not?
ReplyDeleteI do agree with both comments from Andrew and Will about the comparison between Odysseus to our parents but I find it more of a heroic feat Odysseus was trying to accomplish to get kleos and be selfish by listening to the Sirens’ song himself.
ReplyDeleteAnswering Will’s question, I think that Odysseus wanted to serve as the brave captain and be the first to go past the Sirens to gain kleos once again. Circe, in book 12, tells Odysseus to not listen to the Sirens but to “Race straight past that coast!” ( 12.53) But knowing Odysseus’ nature of wanting to know and hear the Siren’s song even if it cost his life and maybe the lives of his shipmates Circe told him how to carry out the task of listening to the Siren’s song. As you see later on Odysseus decides to listen to the song and binds himself to the mast and put beeswax in the ears of his crewmates but not of his own. I think that is selfish on Odysseus’s part and he should have just not listened to the Siren’s song. Instead should have been more of a responsible adult and care for his crewmates like his own children. Would you go party and drink then drive with your children in your car with you? Or would you not drink and protect your children from an accident?
I feel that Odysseus here just shows how little he cares for the lives of his crewmates when he takes this risk to listen to the Siren’s song knowing the warning from Circe, “ Whoever draws too close, /off guard, and catches the Sirens’ voices in the air--/ no sailing home from him” ( 12.47-49). Odysseus is a irresponsible captain that is selfish.
I would have to partially disagree with Grace’s comment, but my main focus is to elaborate on how the incident of the Sirens is a metaphor for human nature and the everyday occurrences that play out in our lives. Like Andrew said, Odysseus’s act of physically restraining himself in the face of danger was a conscious effort on his part to save him in the future. It was a logical decision that he made so that he could listen to the irresistible song of the Sirens, yet alleviate the danger of the fatal consequences associated with it. In this way, it was a compromise between his lust and desire for amusement and the rational need to protect himself and his crew mates. In my opinion, this is the most logical way to account for these contrasting forces that play out in our lives. The situation with the sirens is a metaphor for all situations involving the contrast between our overbearing lust for enjoyment, and our recognition of a need to protect ourselves. For example take the situation of dangerous sports. When playing football, we hardly restrain ourselves in our physical engagement, but we take steps to protect ourselves by wearing strong protective pads on the vulnerable places of our body. When playing soccer, we wear shin guards; when riding a bike, we wear a helmet; when playing racket ball, we wear protective goggles; and the list goes on and on. Another example of a conscious compromise in this regard is our limitation of the foods we eat. If we know we are prone to heart problems, we feel the need to avoid foods that are high in fats. Although many of us cannot fully revise our unhealthy eating habits as a mere precaution for the possibility of heart disease, we may make a compromise by eating low fat and healthier alternatives to high fat and rich foods. Practically everything we do has a certain danger associated with doing it, and the only way to account for these dangers, yet continue to live our lives in a leisurely way, is to make a conscious compromise. Now, for situations as risky as the one with the Sirens in the Odyssey, one may say that the obvious solution would be to avoid the situation completely by inserting bees wax into one’s own ears. Others would disagree and say ‘why not go for it’ and ‘live life to the fullest’. Despite a given persons personal philosophy, the only way to account for both these motives at once would be to make the compromise that Odysseus did.
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