Sirens: The Temptation

Although women occupied an entirely different position in ancient Grecian society compared to men, they too held a certain sphere of influence and power. By examining the character of the Sirens, one can see how women exerted their power and influence in The Odyssey and in ancient Greece. Margaret Atwood’s “Siren Song” symbolizes the sirens as mythical depiction of women, given an intoxicating voice that lures sailors to their deaths. Atwood illuminates the relationship between temptation and the price of fulfilling it.

In her poem, Atwood conceives the Sirens to draw a comparison between the myths and modern life. Atwood attempts to highlight the nature of the female, determined to encompass all who face temptation. She questions the irrationality of men who fall solely for women's external beauty and end up hurting themselves. By examining her usage of punctuation and word choice, readers can easily recognize and relate with her conveyed thoughts.

Atwood begins her poem with the speaker mysteriously referring to a secretive song, "This is the one song everyone / would like to learn: the song / that is irresistible" (1-3). By "everyone," the narrator means women who are physically attractive and men who are charismatically trapped by desires. While the sirens attract audiences with their illustrious singing, Atwood applies several mechanics including colons as tools for pulling readers into her story. Her colons hint at the revelation of this great secret; readers must read on to discover.

Atwood alludes to the story of Odysseus with the phrase "others can't remember" (9), Odysseus being the only man who escaped the enchanting voices of the Sirens. In his encounter with the sirens, Odysseus who was curious as to what the Sirens sounded like, had himself securely bound to the mast of his ship while his companions row on with their ears stopped with bees-wax, thus unable to hear the sirens' song. When their melodious voices reached aboard, Odysseus longed to venture off.

There is a strong feminist subtext to this poem. Atwood takes on the stereotypes that men remark about women, stereotypes that are represented by the myth of the Sirens. Women are helpless, passive, and feeble; and yet at the same time dangerous to men, wanting to trap men into devotion. However the poem takes this familiar perception and turns it around, posing it from the Siren's (that is, women's) point of view. It is actually men's compulsion to be the hero and "save" women that cause their own destruction, because of excessive pride--the desire to be unique and heroic. But to some extent, she also discussed the roles that women play. The deliberate attempt to appear weak in order to entrap men, the predatory nature of women can be very politically incorrect.

Atwood shows us the inner thoughts of her Siren in several ways. As she speaks to her readers, her word choice conveys deep meaning. For example, "I don't enjoy it here…" in line 13, the Siren does not say she hates being abandoned on the island; instead she uses words that communicate aggravation, suggesting that she does not really want to leave. Word choice is particularly significant in these stanzas, as the Siren hides the truth. Rather than lying to her victims, she provides clues to her masked identity. Atwood uses the words and phrases to indicate the mendaciousness.

Atwood carries her reflection to the second stanza by beginning it with a lower case letter. However the speaker does not continue telling the secret right away as the reader would expect. Rather Atwood gives the speaker a seductive voice through her description of the mysterious power of the Siren song. The speaker taunts readers with evidence of its strength that "forces men / to leap overboard" (4-5), plunging to their deaths. She paints a picture of these men as completely under the control of the Siren enchantresses. Atwood's description of "beached skulls" in line thirteen proves to readers that the Sirens' victims know their fate. Readers know they are being pulled into a vortex of illusive poetry--but the song is so "irresistible" (3).

Atwood begins the third stanza with "the song" (7), again using lower case letters to lead readers towards the surprise. Her repetition of “the song” in the first three stanzas elucidates a theme of attention-grabbing phrases that runs its course through the poem. Ironically readers fall into the "irresistible" (3) trance by listening to the tales of its destructive nature: "anyone who has heard it / is dead…" (8).

The speaker's outlook significantly changes in the fourth stanza. Unlike the first three stanzas, in which she simply explained the Siren Song, Atwood allows the speaker