The eleventh episode of James Joyce’s Ulysses "The Sirens," finds its Homerian equivalent in the twelfth book of the Odyssey, as Odysseus is leaving Kirke’s island. Kirke takes it upon herself to inform Odysseus of the many sea perils that he will encounter on his way home, specifically warning him of the Sirens, whose beauty has the power to bewitch men. Odysseus then recounts Kirke’s message to his crew.
Odysseus instructs his men to tie him to the mast, telling them to ignore whatever he may say while under the sway of the Siren's song. He stuffs their ears with beeswax to prevent their listening, and then is lashed down tightly to the mast. The song of the sirens notes their irresistible charm and their false promises of prophetic vision, …show more content…
The first instance of music is in the voices of the barmaids, associated with Bloom's book The Sweets of Sin, which is placed alongside their conversation in the text:
"By went his eyes. The sweets of sin. Sweet are the sweets. Of sin. In a giggling peal young goldbronze voices blended, Douce with Kennedy your other eye. They threw young heads back, ...high piercing notes. Ah, panting, sighing, sighing, ah, foredone, their mirth died down." (Joyce 11.156-162)
The first sort of music that Joyce gives us are the "high piercing notes" of the barmaids' laughter. Immediately, the girls are associated with the Sirens' allure, and the structure of their "song" here makes it clear that they are a pair associated with sex. While Bloom with his salacious novel has yet to make his entrance in the bar, the juxtapositioning of "the sweets of sin" with such suggestive descriptions ("threw young heads back," "panting, sighing, sighing, ah, foredone") seems to align their song with sex, and the allure of possible outlets for sexual distraction on the pathway home. This theme is repeated several times throughout the episode, with each reincarnation of temptation becoming less and less attractive to Bloom, ending with the "frowsy whore" (Joyce 11.1252) at the end of the episode. But despite all this temptation, Bloom knows that he is "dear too near to home sweet home" (Joyce 11.1258-9) and is able to resist the sexual allure of the many sirens in this episode, though he will later fall prey to Gerty's visual allure in Episode
Odysseus instructs his men to tie him to the mast, telling them to ignore whatever he may say while under the sway of the Siren's song. He stuffs their ears with beeswax to prevent their listening, and then is lashed down tightly to the mast. The song of the sirens notes their irresistible charm and their false promises of prophetic vision, …show more content…
The first instance of music is in the voices of the barmaids, associated with Bloom's book The Sweets of Sin, which is placed alongside their conversation in the text:
"By went his eyes. The sweets of sin. Sweet are the sweets. Of sin. In a giggling peal young goldbronze voices blended, Douce with Kennedy your other eye. They threw young heads back, ...high piercing notes. Ah, panting, sighing, sighing, ah, foredone, their mirth died down." (Joyce 11.156-162)
The first sort of music that Joyce gives us are the "high piercing notes" of the barmaids' laughter. Immediately, the girls are associated with the Sirens' allure, and the structure of their "song" here makes it clear that they are a pair associated with sex. While Bloom with his salacious novel has yet to make his entrance in the bar, the juxtapositioning of "the sweets of sin" with such suggestive descriptions ("threw young heads back," "panting, sighing, sighing, ah, foredone") seems to align their song with sex, and the allure of possible outlets for sexual distraction on the pathway home. This theme is repeated several times throughout the episode, with each reincarnation of temptation becoming less and less attractive to Bloom, ending with the "frowsy whore" (Joyce 11.1252) at the end of the episode. But despite all this temptation, Bloom knows that he is "dear too near to home sweet home" (Joyce 11.1258-9) and is able to resist the sexual allure of the many sirens in this episode, though he will later fall prey to Gerty's visual allure in Episode