In Circe’s
instructions to Odysseus concerning the Sirens she says:
You must drive straight on past,
but melt down sweet wax of honey
and with it stop your companions’ ears, so
none can listen;
the rest, that is, but if you
yourself are wanting to hear them,
then have them tie you hand and
foot on the fast ship,
standing upright against the mast
with the ropes’ ends lashed around it,
so that you can have joy in hearing the song of the Sirens. (XII.46-54)
She lets Odysseus know he has a choice, “if you yourself are
wanting”. But when Odysseus relays her instructions to his crew he says “but
only I, she said, was to listen to them, but you must tie me hard in hurtful
bonds.” (XII.159-161) The divine imperative may serve as an easier explanation
than the self-subjection to the subtle joy of enchantment. Though Odysseus
presumes his men would not understand his choice, Circe understands that this peculiar
joy would be attractive to Odysseus.
It is this small lie of omission that
caught my attention, because of how progressively elaborate Odysseus’ tales
become. This is Odysseus’ second speech after descent to the land of the dead.
Though this small omission does not compare to the great deception of his
homecoming, it does strike me as an acute sign of change. With the exception of
Odysseus’ deception of Polyphemos—“Nobody is killing me by force and
treachery”—this is the first explicit example I have caught of Odysseus lying
(I am speaking chronologically, not with regards to the sequence of the
Odyssey)(If anyone knows of a previous one, please tell me, either from the
Iliad or Odyssey!).
The majority of Odysseus’ crew has
already been subjected to enchantment, either by escapism of the lotus-eaters
or Circe’s forgetful swine-potion. Though
Odysseus appears immune to enchantments. Circe is unable to turn him into a
pig. He does not succumb to the temptation of the lotus. Kalypso cannot “win
over the heart within [him]”, even with the promise of immortality. What is the
enchantment of the Sirens? Why does Odysseus subject himself to it?
This is their song according to
Homer:
Come this way, honored Odysseus,
great glory of the Achaians,
And stay you ship, so that you can
listen here to our singing;
For no one else has ever sailed past this place in his black ship
For no one else has ever sailed past this place in his black ship
Until he has listened to the
honey-sweet voice that issues
From our lips; then goes on, well
pleased, knowing more than ever
He did; for we know everything that
the Argives and Trojans
Did and suffered in wide Troy
through the gods’ despite.
Over all the generous earth we know
everything that happens. (184-191)
We know that the Sirens have sung to other men and those men
have perished upon the rocks. This is what gives the Sirens their notoriety. That
does not mean that their song is the same for all men.
The Sirens must have access to the soul of the sailors. It
is by this power that they draw men near to their island. The Sirens mix the
honey of melody with an individual’s desire. The proportion is correct and
Odysseus is enchanted. “I signaled for my companions to set me free, nodding
with my brows”(193-194) presumably either to order the men to sail towards the
island or jump off the ship and swim there himself.
on the island, a listening
of communion. (I am reminded of the dual sense we use the word “see”, when a
friend asks me if she could see my book. She does not ask for permission to
gave upon the book in front of me from where she sits, but to have it herself
for her own disposal. Maybe that would make for a whole post on its own, why do
we ask if we could see an object when I want to use, examine, and/or possess
it?) The song is only a promise of the knowledge of the Argives, Trojans, and
everything that happens. Odysseus is enchanted by the promise of absolute
earthly knowledge.
Listening is used in two distinct ways here. There is the
listening Odysseus suffers as he is tied to the mast and the listening he could
partake in
Odysseus
returned from the land of the dead a few days prior. He has already been
privilege to hear the homecoming stories of his friends— Achilles, Agamemnon,
and a great procession of Danaan queens. Perhaps this is why the Sirens proceed
to promise the knowledge of the Trojans, which Odysseus does not know of, and then
total earthly knowledge.
Circe said
there would be a joy in hearing this song. Homer does not give us Odysseus’
reaction. Odysseus does not have time to reflect, as he must swiftly prepare
for the passage by Skylla. So why did Odysseus choose to listen? Why does he
conceal it from his men? He must appear to his crew as mad. He thrashes in his
bond like a dog. The crew thinks, no man would subject his heart to such painful
desire. Poor suffering Odysseus, the gods bring all the more suffering upon
him. But Circe understands that Odysseus derives a pleasure from the joy in
enchantment, and that he will choose to listen. For a moment, Odysseus forgets
his sorrows, forgets his homecoming, forgets Penelope, and listens to the song
of knowledge. How similar to a philosopher, when given the taste of knowledge,
or merely the promise, they must travel to the source. Here, the path to this
source is the path to death.
Ultimately, he does not fall prey
to the enchantment of the Sirens. If they do sing truly, that “he then goes on,
well pleased, knowing more than ever he did”, what does Odysseus know after
hearing the song? He does not learn the acts of the Argives or Trojans, nor of
all that has happened on earth. Odysseus does know the song the Sirens sang for
him. I am reminded of Tarkovsky’s film Stalker. In the film, there is a place
called the Zone in which a man’s greatest desire in fulfilled. The film follows
three men to the door of the Zone. None of them are able to enter. The three
suffer a two-fold terror, the terror of the revelation of one’s greatest desire
and the terror of the fulfillment of that desire. The Sirens serve that first
role. They can reveal our greatest desire. For Odysseus, it is knowledge. The
Sirens cannot offer the gratification. In this moment, enchantment serves as
revelation. To seek the knowledge of one’s greatest desire may appear as
madness or pain to the world, but for a man like Odysseus, it is a joy to
discover himself.
