Great Works Annotation Project

Posted on behalf of Karishma Singh

Kafka’s “The Silence of the Sirens” gives a rare, positive perspective on what can be interpreted as Odysseus’ ignorance. This is reflected greatly when he says:

inadequate… childish measures can rescue one from evil” (Kafka, 1).

This not only deems Odysseus’ actions (putting wax in his ears as to not hear the Sirens) as childish, but labels them necessary. Indeed a degree of “innocent elation” (Kafka, 2) is expressed by Odysseus but as Kafka states earlier, “nothing” should’ve been able to stop the Sirens. Odysseus is saved not by destiny, or fate, but by his own dumb luck. This creates a bit of a paradox considering that “sirens are also, however, associated with the force of Mythos” (Martin, 2), a largely irrational power against which Odysseus employs reason and technology”. Straying from his usual preemptive tactics and problem-solving skills, Odysseus counters an irrational power (the sirens) with his own ignorance.

However brave and heroic Odysseus’ strategy of waxing his ears and chaining himself to the mast may seem, it does not show a true understanding of his foe. His ignorance of the trial ahead of him led to such a poor decision, that the Sirens themselves became dumbstruck. They became “mere creatures” (Kafka, 2) who could only observe Odysseus’ foolishness.

Posted on behalf of Oscar Mendoza.

“A codicil to the foregoing has also been handed down.”

Kafka’s “The Silence of the Sirens” makes the age old claim that the power most overwhelming and uncontrollable is, in fact, the absence thereof. Borrowing from the tomes of lesser known Galasos Esoogntuh’s ”Concordancia” (A study of the Concordancias Biblicas (Strong’s & Greek/Hebrew version)), Kafka writes:

                “…the Sirens have a still more fatal weapon   than their song, namely their silence”

Through the absence of their namesake abilities, Kafka’s sirens become mere creatures, void of “consciousness” (Kafka, p1). This comes because of Odysseus’ godlike properties, which not even “the Gods could pierce”. Throughout Galasos’ research on the phenomena of  losing one’s power after being witness or present before godliness, he references Saulo DeTarso’s New Testament experience. Saulo, a powerful man used by Roman authority to capture believers in Christ, loses his sight, after God amicably speaks to him about his wrong doings. Even without any direct intent to punish, the mere presence of these otherworldly beings, physical or otherwise, seem to tame and punish the villainous. This happens as though justice were enabled without a trigger and implies that the harbingers of chaos are always close to their justice, not because of looming punishment, but the iminent loss of their evil powers. This loss of power leaves them incapable of yielding further harm.

Though Galasos’ work also implies that the idea of justice is the absence of evil power, he is quick to inform the reader that the term “justice” isn’t always associated with man or a vessel. It is “merely the intuition of all things non-living”.

A fathom of chain is used to represent the length of the chain. A fathom is six feet long, and is a popular measurement in the nautical use, mostly for measuring depth and anchor length, or fishing line length. The original German text from Kafka does not use the word fathom, instead he uses the German equivalent of “container chains”, but it still holds the same importance. The origin of fathom, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary is, “Middle English fadme, from Old English fæthm outstretched arms, length of the outstretched arms; akin to Old Norse fathmr fathom, Latin patēre to be open, pandere to spread out, Greek petannynai”.

The origin of the word and what the chains were supposed to represent, or accomplish, are correlated with each other. The fathom of chain was supposed to keep Ulysses hugged against the mast of the boat, and that can be symbolized as outstretched arms holding him against the mask for his life because at the time Ulysses really thought that was the only way he was going to be safe from the Sirens’ singing.

Yet, despite his “innocent elation,” I wonder if Ulysses was not also weary of his ability to sail past the Sirens? Considering that others had failed, it would be a safe assumption that Ulysses was not all that sure he was going to make it through. This is an interesting notion when you think about the length of a fathom, six feet, and the traditional burial ritual to bury the dead six feet under the ground. This correlation was made between each other because Ulysses was not sure if he was going to make it back, so they thought of death was present, which is why Kafka would have specifically chosen the length of a fathom because of the symbolism it has in death and desire. He traveled purposely past the Sirens because of the risk and the desire to be the only one who makes it past them and because of this risk of death; he ties the chain around him to protect him. So although danger was definitely looming, he did not have the same risk for he had the chains protecting him. There is a clear correlation between desire and death; he has the desire to be the only one to get by the Sirens and the risk of death is always present.

• Hirsch, Jr, E.D.; Kett, Joseph F; Trefi, James. The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin. 2002. Print
• Kafka, Franz. Complete Stories. New York: Schocken, 1983. Print.
• Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2015.

In Franz Kafka’s short story, “The Silence of the Sirens” is the embodiment of “love unreciprocated”.  The Sirens have the ability to seduce with their songs with most individuals, but they are aware that Ulysses is immune to that type of seduction, so they do not choose to sing toward him.  Kafka goes on to write, “to protect himself from the Sirens Ulysses stopped his ears with wax and had himself bound to the mast of his ship.” It’s not that Ulysses isn’t interested… he actually wants to hear the song of the Sirens, but he fears that he’ll surrender to it, so he has himself bound, both physically and by the rational command that he’s already given to his crew to ignore his pleadings to be set free.

In Homer’s Odyssey, the Sirens “sang these words most musically, and as I longed to hear them further I made by frowning to my men that they should set me free; but they quickened their stroke, bound me with still stronger bonds till we had got out of hearing of the Sirens’ voices.”
 
In Kafka’s version of the episode, the Sirens do not sing at all, deepening the level of fantasy that is unfilled for Ulysses.  He writes that as Ulysses passes them by, the Sirens “no longer had any desire to allure; all that they wanted was to hold as long as they could the radiance that fell from Ulysses’ great eyes.” The very idea that the seduction actually emerges from Ulysses (merely through his gaze) rather than the usual methods from the typical objects of desire, the Sirens, illustrates that unreciprocated love is truly exists as a one-sided element.

The Sirens, watching the object of their attention (Ulysses) sail by them, are understandably heartbroken. The Sirens themselves want to be heard and acknowledged. This acknowledgement could be done through brute force (which denotes the usual motive of masculinity) but exists not to reveal their vulnerability. Through the subtle persuasion of the female species, which leaves far less collateral damage, still leaves behind the scent of love not reciprocated in full.
 
Homer. The Odyssey of Homer. Trans. Richard Lattimore. New York: Harper & Row, 1967. Print.

In this paragraph, Ulysses is already passing through the Sirens, wax in his ear and all. However, the Sirens don’t possess any intention on hurting Ulysses anymore. After the sirens came to a realization that their singing, let alone their silence (which is even more lethal) wasn’t effecting Ulysses, the Sirens began to just unwind and admire Ulysses’ courage. This part of the story reminds me of a scene in the film “Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery”, in which Austin Powers is on the midst of getting seduced (and killed) by the Fembots, who are deathly robots disguised as highly attractive women.

After realizing that the Fembots are actually trying to kill him, Austin reacts with his use of “radiance,” which no woman can resist. The sirens remind me of the Fembots a lot, because both the Sirens and Fembots possess the characteristic of “femme fatales,” which just translates to seductive women who use their charm to ensnare one into deadly situations. Sure, the sirens weren’t any attractive blonde bombshells, but in the grand scheme of things, the sirens and fembots were intent on seducing and killing Ulysses and Austin, respectivley.

Ultimately, the Fembots end up failing to allure Austin, just as the Sirens fail with Ulysses. Granted, that Ulysses didn’t use any “shag” or dancing to help him escape the sirens, but it was his intuition that got him out safely. And intuition is what got Austin Powers out of the lair of Fembots as well, because at the end of the day, that is all that Austin knows.

Time lap ( 20:40 – 24:23)  this part of the clips talks about how evolution and mixtures of DNA led to more diverse looking creatures.  All the mythical creatures and stories that we all know about came form some origin, therefore I believe that the origin was the Age of The Nephilims.

The ‘fallen angels’ were evil, followers of “Satan”, they rebelled against the will of God.  The Bible mentions how Satan wanted to make his own world with his followers. Mankind had pure genetic blueprints, so Satan contaminate this purity, and became ‘god’ to the ‘New’ creatures.  The ‘fallen angels’ came to earth and took the daughters of men as their wives, and had children from them. “The Nephilim were offspring of the “sons of God” and the “daughters of men” before the Deluge according to Genesis 6:4″
Nephilim were know as giant with great intelligence. They created huge landmark structures still seen today.

The Nephilims then started crossbreeding with different animals as well as humans with animals. Thus bringing to life the mythical creatures, for example (Centaurs half man-half horse; satyr half man-half goat; sirens half women half fish/bird).
All of these monsters, hybrids, mythical creatures,  were the outcome of human genetic being impure, and being mixed with animal genetic.
 
“THE NEPHILIM.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4V6-D7OmaU>

Sirens are Greek mythological creatures, part women, part birds. These mythological creatures lure men by their beautiful appearance and their angelic voices. Their physical attributes help attract sailors and their sweet voices attract the men even more. Once the sirens capture the senses of the helpless sailors, the sailors are annihilated and their ships are destroyed.

The movie Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides illustrates a scene where a sailor interacts with a mermaid, a siren of sorts.  A beautiful mermaid appears to the boat filled with men and immediately grabs the attention of one of the men.  He is amazed and instantly lured by her beauty, and he approaches her. The mermaid then starts to sing in a low and swaying tone: “My heart is pierced by Cupid, I disdain all glittering gold, there is nothing that can console me but my jolly sailor bold…”  As the singing continues the man gets closer and closer to the mermaid and tries to kiss her as she slowly sinks under water. Finally, when her head is completely under water, she stops singing. The short silence then ends with a high-pitched scream while her teeth grow sharp and the other mermaids begin to attack. Although the sirens in the Silence of the Sirens did not sing, the mermaids’ deceitful charm in the movie made it clear to what could have happened to Ulysses. Ulysses knowledge of the destructive power that the sirens possess demonstrates the immense trust he has for the wax and chain. In addition, the movie gives a better understanding to the feeling the sirens have toward Ulysses of disbelief and attraction while Ulysses is in his innocent euphoria.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0R–FtzSx2o

In the film “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” the Coen brothers offer a modern interpretation of Homer’s “Odyssey.” The character Everett, played by George Clooney, is the Coen brothers’ version of the famous Odysseus. In their adaptation, Everett (Odysseus) and his two friends break out of jail and go on a hunt to find 1.2 million dollars, as well as Everett’s wife and family. There is a scene that is a parody of the famous Siren story from Homer’s “Odyssey.” In this scene, Everett and his friends are drawn to a river where they hear the voices of three beautiful girls singing a song in a seductive manner and washing their clothes. When the men approach, the women get them drunk and they all pass out. When Everett awakes, he finds that one of his friends is missing.

Compared to Kafka, the Coen brothers’ interpretation of Homer’s “Odyssey” is a stark contrast. An interesting parallel is that Kafka describes Ulysses as being so smart that not even “the goddess of fate could pierce his armor.” This is interesting because the characters in the Coen brothers’ movie are not very smart and are easily lured into the Siren’s trap. Clooney’s character, who is supposed to be representative of Ulysses, shows none of the “guile” that Ulysses is known for. This plays into the fact that “O Brother, Where Art Though?” is a parody.

“The song of the Sirens could pierce through everything, and the longing of those they seduced would have broken stronger bonds than chains and masts.”

     The Sirens’ song was intended to be beautiful and sad, eternally calling for the return of Persephone.  The Sirens were mostly considered the companions of Persephone, the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. Demeter gave the Sirens wings in order to protect her daughter from enemies, which they failed to do. After Persephone was abducted by Hades, ruler of the dead, Demeter cursed them. Since they couldn’t carry out the job she gave them, they would spend eternity searching for her daughter.

     In order to keep Persephone as his Queen in the Underworld, Hades made her eat food from the Underworld so that she would be bound to him. Since she only ate a handful of pomegranate seeds, she was only bound to him for one third of the year. It was decided that she would spend eight months with her mother on Earth and four months with Hades. The Greek myth says that when her daughter isn’t with her, Demeter lays a curse on the world that causes the plants to die and the land to become barren. The curse, winter, marked the grieving period for her daughter and her return marked the beginning of spring.

     Persephone had two functions, one as a Chthonic goddess and the other as a vegetation goddess. Chthonic literally means subterranean and refers to her role as one of the deities in the underworld. It is also symbolic of her power that withdraws into the Earth, like she does every time she goes back to Hades. Her name as a vegetation goddess is Kore and she is worshipped as the seeds of the fields.
 
(1) Smith, William. “Pers’phone.” A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. N.p., n.d. Web. Apr. 2015. 

(2)       “Demeter.” Demeter. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2015. http://www.greekmythology.com/Other_Gods/Demeter/demeter.html.
 
(3)       “Persephone.” Persephone. N.p., n.d. Web. Apr. 2015. <http://www.greekmythology.com/Other_Gods/Persephone/persephone.html.