To anyone who is a singer, the sirens - as portrayed in The Odyssey, have an undeniable appeal; there's a certain attraction in the power of their song. Therefore, it's unsurprising that their scene in Homer's epic poem is one that is frequently adapted. Though each portrayal of the song of the sirens is unique, the appeal to memory and inflation of the listener's ego that makes their ballad so enchantingly lethal resounds throughout. Two contemporary versions of this deadly song are "Go to Sleep You Little Baby" from the Coen brothers' Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? and Margaret Atwood's poem, "Siren Song." While Atwood focuses more on a siren's ability to make her victims feel special, the Coens capture the songstresses ability to create irresistible nostalgia, thus these two adaptions effectively demonstrate the dualism in the sirens' seduction.
             Though the beautiful women who beguile Everett, Pete, and Delmar look nothing like the fierce half-bird, half-woman creatures from The Odyssey, it's clear that they correspond with each other. Their actions and their song serve to underline their role in the Coen brothers' adaption; the eerie effect of their communication only through their lullaby effectively dehumanizes them and
             furthers their similarity to the mythical creatures. While these women only literally and figuratively intoxicate the men and supposedly turn Pete into a horny-pun intented-toad, rather than leading them to a watery grave, they still are dangerous in their own hypnotic manner. On the contrary, in "Siren Song" the sirens are clearly monsters in the physical sense, described to be "feathery maniacs" in "bird suits," but they think and feel like human beings. "Siren Song" illustrates their power in a different manner than The Odyssey itself though the use of a narrative from the perspective of one of the ...