Sin, Sirens, and the irresistible allure of sound
In Homer’s The Odyssey, the protagonist Odysseus faces a constant stream of challenges—from a cyclops and six-headed monsters to whirlpool-ridden seas and sorceresses—on his journey home from fighting in the Trojan War.
One of these obstacles is the Sirens—beautiful, deadly creatures who sing to sailors from shore, luring them to their shipwrecked deaths:
“Square in your ship’s path are Sirens, crying beauty to bewitch men coasting by; woe to the innocent who hears that sound! He will not see his lady nor his children in joy, crowding about him, home from sea; the Sirens will sing his mind away on their sweet meadow lolling. There are bones of dead men rotting in a pile beside them and flayed skins shrivel around the spot.” — The Odyssey
The story raises interesting questions about the nature of temptation and how to respond to it.
The irresistible allure of sound
Why are the Sirens so irresistible? Men are lured to the Sirens not because of their beauty but because of their voices: “Square in your ship’s path are Sirens, crying beauty to bewitch men coasting by; woe to the innocent who hears that sound.”
The most irresistible temptation takes the form of sound. Physiologically, sound is more impactful to humans than other stimuli (like sights or smells) because our brains and nervous systems evolved to prioritize and process auditory stimuli faster than other stimuli. Ironically, detecting sounds helped humans react to potential predators in the early days, but in the case of the Sirens, it’s what kills people.
The Sirens’ songs are also compelling because they’re ambiguous (at least in some translations of the Odyssey)—we don’t know what they’re singing about. I like to imagine that their songs change depending on the listener, with each song appealing to the listener’s greatest desires and insecurities.
The sweet temptation of sin
The Sirens remind me of a story in the New Testament where Satan tempts Jesus to relinquish God in exchange for power over the earthly kingdoms:
“Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, ‘All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.’” – Matthew 4:8
But like the Sirens, Satan’s temptation is a mirage. Giving in wouldn’t mean receiving power over all of the kingdoms of the world. In the Christian faith, only God has that power. And similar to the Sirens, conceding would also be a form of death, but in this case, a spiritual death or a death of faith.
In this story, Jesus’ unwavering faith provided restraint against temptation, but neither faith and restraint aren’t available to Odysseus or his men in this instance.
Ultimate temptation
15th-century manuscript of Book I of the Odyssey written by scribe John Rhosos
Although resisting the Sirens means returning home safely to their families who they haven’t seen in almost 20 years, when a man hears their songs, everything rational and good disappears from his mind: “He will not see his lady nor his children in joy, crowing about him, home from sea; the Sirens will sing his mind away on their sweet meadow lolling.”
Reason and restraint are useless against the Sirens. The Sirens represent the ultimate temptation because resisting them is beyond human will, and the consequence of indulging is death.
To save his crew, the only option is to avoid the temptation altogether. Odysseus (who was warned about the Sirens) has his men fill their ears with wax so they physically can’t hear them:
“I carved a massive cake of beeswax into bits and rolled them in my hand until they softened—no long task, for a burning heat came down from Helios, lord of high noon. Going forward I carried wax along the line, and laid it thick on their ears.” — The Odyssey
Tricking the devil
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But the message of the Sirens isn’t that temptation is inherently bad or that the consequence of giving into temptation is a physical or metaphorical death.
Odysseus, known for his cunning, finds a way to indulge without the negative consequences. Instead of filling his ears with wax, he has his crew tie him to the mast of his ship so he can hear the Sirens:
"Then all at once the wind fell, and a calm came over all the sea, as though some power lulled the swell […] The lovely voices in ardo appealing over the water made me crave to listen, and I tried to say ‘Untie me!’ to the crew, jerking my brows; but they bent steady to the oars.” — The Odyssey
Odysseus finagles a way to indulge and survive. It’s like tricking the devil. The moral compass here isn’t black and white, and the story suggests that temptations aren’t bad in and of themselves, but because of their consequences. If you remove the negative consequences, is the temptation still bad?
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