Jean-Pierre Vernant's The Odyssey
In Jean-Pierre Vernant’s, The Universe, The Gods, and Men, women are primarily portrayed as seductresses. These women create problems for Odysseus in Homer’s story, The Odyssey. Some examples of this would be through women like Calypso, who held men against their will, Circe, a dangerous woman who practiced sorcery and the Sirens, who lure men to their death. All together these women caused many problems to Odysseus and other men.
Throughout the Odyssey, women are used as a symbol of temptation and seduction. Odysseus finds himself trapped on an island Ogygia by the nymph, Calypso. Life on Calypso’s island is paradise to Odysseus but, after seven years of Odysseus being caught in Calypso’s seductive ways, the gods began to pity Odysseus. …show more content…
The Sirens attract the sailors who sail by their island with their voices in hopes that they will crash onto their island. Before Odysseus and his crew sail by the island, he gives everyone ear wax to put into their ears so that they will not be tortured by the Sirens’ songs. His men had tied him to the ship so that he would not jump overboard to hear what these seductive women were saying. When Odysseus’s ship sails past the Siren’s island, his naked ears are tortured by the sweet song of the Sirens. This song drives Odysseus mad with the temptation and the desire of what the sirens are singing. Moreover, if it were not for his men, the Sirens would have caused Odysseus to crash his ship on the rocks and perish. “…on the island of Sirens there are bodies of men who heard the Sirens’ voice and crashed on their island” (Vernant 104). Countless men sail past the Sirens Island but when they sailed they heard the Sirens’ voice causing them to crash. “The Sirens are both the appeal of the yearning for knowledge, erotic attraction-they are the essence of seduction-and death” (Vernant 104). When men sail past their island, this is what they would sing of, driving men to go crazy to hear more of what they were saying. Although the Sirens cannot move, their seductive voices amplified all over the oceans and cause men to crash on their
Throughout the Odyssey, women are used as a symbol of temptation and seduction. Odysseus finds himself trapped on an island Ogygia by the nymph, Calypso. Life on Calypso’s island is paradise to Odysseus but, after seven years of Odysseus being caught in Calypso’s seductive ways, the gods began to pity Odysseus. …show more content…
The Sirens attract the sailors who sail by their island with their voices in hopes that they will crash onto their island. Before Odysseus and his crew sail by the island, he gives everyone ear wax to put into their ears so that they will not be tortured by the Sirens’ songs. His men had tied him to the ship so that he would not jump overboard to hear what these seductive women were saying. When Odysseus’s ship sails past the Siren’s island, his naked ears are tortured by the sweet song of the Sirens. This song drives Odysseus mad with the temptation and the desire of what the sirens are singing. Moreover, if it were not for his men, the Sirens would have caused Odysseus to crash his ship on the rocks and perish. “…on the island of Sirens there are bodies of men who heard the Sirens’ voice and crashed on their island” (Vernant 104). Countless men sail past the Sirens Island but when they sailed they heard the Sirens’ voice causing them to crash. “The Sirens are both the appeal of the yearning for knowledge, erotic attraction-they are the essence of seduction-and death” (Vernant 104). When men sail past their island, this is what they would sing of, driving men to go crazy to hear more of what they were saying. Although the Sirens cannot move, their seductive voices amplified all over the oceans and cause men to crash on their