Odysseus was justified in the killing of the suitors because they were devouring the resources of his household, attempted to wed his wife, and concocted a plan to kill his son. In addition, he thought he was justified in the killing of the maids because they had slept with his enemies, were rude to guests, and they were his property.
Odysseus believed he was in the right when killing the suitors “You dogs! You never imagined I'd return from Troy- so cocksure that you bled my house to death, ravished my serving-women- wooed my wife behind my back while I was still alive!” (Homer 22: 37-40). Odysseus was dead set on killing the suitors since the beginning. He even told them “. . . all your necks are in the noose-your doom is sealed” (22: 43), illustrating how he would kill them as to avenge his wife and his honor. In doing so he was perceived as a hero by the most prevalent male figures in Ithaca, displaying an excellent example of Kleos, “fame through having great honor and virtue. Earned pride.”
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The way he had tortured the suitors was appalling, there are a multitude of graphic examples in the Penelopiad. “ Odysseus and Telemachus hacked off the ears and nose and hands and feet and genitals of Melanthius the evil goatherd and threw them to the dogs, paying no attention to the poor man’s agonized screams.” (23). This exemplifies bie, a Greek value that means “violent might or brute
Odysseus has no reason to save his men’s lives but for his own convenience. Finally, Odysseus is home and after a long journey in which he shows no heroic actions and yet proves to be nothing but a villain, he once again proves throughout his actions that he is a villain. Odysseus is finally home, on Ithaca, and is then helped by Athena and disguises himself as an old beggar. He proves then to be a villain by seeking his revenge for the suitors and maidservants that once betray him (696, summary). Another way in which Odysseus shows he is a villain is when he finally reunites with his wife Penelope and reacts with rage when she tests him. This reveals Odysseus is a villain because he reacts as if he was innocent and some way being betrayed by his own wife. Of course, though, he never tells his loyal wife Penelope about his love affairs with Calypso and Circe. In conclusion, Odysseus throughout his actions proves to be not only veil but a villain. He leads his men into trouble, kills the suitors and maidservants without mercy, and betrays loyal wife. This allows readers to truly see Odysseus other side. He was a villain and there is no doubt about it. However, think about his so called heroic actions and the way he made everything work out for his own benefits. He knew he was a villain and somehow still got away with
One of the opposing sides reasons for Odysseus being a hero might be that he killed the suitors for Penelope. This is not a good reason because the suitors were not guilty enough to be killed. The only thing they did wrong was steal from him and try to marry his wife. How were the suitors supposed to know Odysseus wasn’t dead? Imagine what Penelope would feel like if she did not have the suitors constantly bothering her, which kept her from thinking about Odysseus all the time. Odysseus had no good reasons to kill all of the suitors. He let his rage consume him which turned him into a
Near the end of this chapter when he has finished off all of the suitors, (mostly with the aid of Athena), Odysseus feels he has prevailed as the winner, righted the wrong. At one point he exclaims "these men the doom of the gods has brought low, and their own indecent acts. They'd no regard for any man who chanced come their way. And so thanks to their reckless work, they met their shameful fate."(435-438). The irony of this quote is the fact that he is
Odysseus’s actions may seem selfless and/or heroic however they are actually being mistaken for acts of selfishness. “They tied me up, then, plumb amidships, back to the mast, lashed to the mast and took themselves again to rowing” (Homer 1134). Homer is describing the crew lashing Odysseus to the mast so that he may hear the sirens sing. Odysseus thinks he is being heroic and manly, but he is actually placing his life and that of the crews in danger all because he wants to hear the song of the sirens. Odysseus knows how loyal his crew is to him so, if one of them was to untie him they could have all ended up dead. Odysseus might think he was performing a heroic action but in actuality he was performing an act of selfishness. When Circe captured Odysseus’s men he was advised not to save them by his best man, Eurylochus, however “Against this advice, Odysseus rushes to save his men from the enchantress” (Homer 1125). Odysseus appears to be heroic but looking closer this rash decision was selfish. He rushed to save his men for honor. He cares more about honor than the safety of his crew. The rest of his crew that wasn’t under Circes spell would have been lost if Odysseus died because they rely so heavily on him. When a leader mistakes his selfish decisions as heroic it can place him and the people around him in danger. Odysseus’s inability to think through his rash decisions and recognize the right choice over the honorable and selfish one makes him unfit to be a
I think that Odysseus' actions were justified because of the actions of the wooers. Without any conformation of him being dead, they first tried to woo his wife. That is very disrespectful and angered Odysseus greatly. Also, the suitors show no respect for his house and belongings. They overtake his house without even thinking about the man of the house, which is disrespectful.
Odysseus had many reason to make revenge on all the wooers who had tried to steal his thrown from him. Not only did they try to steal his throw, but also they disrespected his wife and son on multiple occasions. Although, that did not make any of his actions justified. In a few instances the punishment was too severe, and they did not deserve it.
There are many times in The Odyssey where Odysseus’ actions are questionable whether they were justified or unjustified. When Odysseus’ saw the way the suitors were treating the women, how they were stealing Odysseus’ things, and eating all of his food which made him mad. Odysseus’ proceeds to get the cowherder and swineherder to help him and Telemachus to take the suitors down. After Odysseus’ returns his actions towards those in his palace were justified when, especially when he killed Antinous and Melanthius.
In the time of the so-called Heroic Age (roughly the Mycenaean Age, the time of the Trojan War, 1200-1100 BCE or thereabouts) standards were much, much different, and some of them, at least, for very good reasons. Probably by those standards (or the standards of Homer’s time, some 400 years later) Odysseus was considerably closer to a hero than he would be in our eyes today. Perhaps, what might now be seen as grotesquely excessive blood letting, would then have been seen as an understandable or even necessary act of retribution
Sometimes there are reason for doing the things people do. They feel that it is right and necessary. All people handle their own situations differently. In Homer’s Odyssey Odysseus should have killed the suitors because of forcing Penelope to marry, sleeping with maids, and destroying his home. The suitors were forcing Penelope to marry one of them.
What kind of human kills for their own good? In the bloody journey of the Odyssey many men were killed by the hands of Odysseus himself. A lot of the men that died were killed by Odysseus but there was a good number of them that were killed by the actions Odysseus made. When it comes down to it Odysseus was wrong for killing the suitors. Odysseus killed the suitors out of his own insecurity, selfishness, and of course out of rage for what was done to him. But what was Odysseus expecting after being gone for 10 years? For everyone to just hold off on their lives just to wait to see if he will be coming back? Odysseus’ actions were not justified.
When Odysseus returned home to his wife and son, he took a very brutal approach to rid his home of the suitors who had invaded his household. This revenge was also taken out upon the servants and maids who had been unfaithful to Penelope and had slept with the suitors. Some may say this punishment was too harsh, and made Odysseus less than an honorable man. However, Odysseus’s actions were justifiable.
Not only the suitor treat her as an object but her son as well. He feels she does not know what she doing or lack of knowledge about how to run the kingdom. Odysseus still treat her as a innocent child and know she could not harm the maids.
In Homer’s The Odyssey, Odysseus is away from his home, Ithaca, for twenty years. Despite the low odds of Odysseus ever returning home after such a time, those in Ithaca were expected to remain loyal to Odysseus as they awaited his return. While this was a daunting task, those who accomplished it were heavily rewarded, while those who didn’t were met with death. Upon his return, Odysseus promised Eumaeus, the loyal swineherd, that he would find him a wife, grant him property next to his own, and that he would become one of the “comrades to Telemachus, brothers from then on” (21.243). His own wife Penelope remained loyal for all of the twenty years of Odysseus’ absence, never once giving in to the many suitors who invited themselves into her home and spent years vying for her hand. While she probably would have been killed by Odysseus if she had been unfaithful to him, perhaps her greatest reward was just being able to be with her husband again and being able to live. The suitors, however, were not so lucky. Odysseus, along with the help of the goddess Athena, carefully plotted and executed the death of every suitor that entered his home and gone after his wife. With the help of his son, the swineherd, and the goddess, Odysseus took down every suitor, until “the suitors lay in heaps, corpse covering corpse” (22.414). The resulting death of every disloyal character in the epic
In The Odyssey, towards the end of the story Odysseus finally reveals his identity to everyone. After doing so he proceeds by punishing and kill all the wooers that were trying to take his wife's hand in marriage. Despite all that Odysseus has gone through, and all the stress that his wife had to deal with was this really the right thing to do? Was this the correct way to serve justice? Odysseus went overboard with how he treated the wooers, it was immoral, unnecessary and a waste of human life.
I believe that everyone that received punishment did not deserve it. It was only the cruel wooers’ that tried to take away what he had earned. The main one that should’ve been killed was Antinous. I like how he gives him a razor sharp arrow to the neck. Antinous wasn’t only the first suitor to die but he was also the leader of the suitors. Meaning that all the suitors followed after what he did. When he tried to steal Penelope from Odysseus for the wealth and power, they tried to do the same. Some suitors such as Eurymachus did not deserve it. I think that Odysseus should’ve killed all the disrespectful suitors and the others ones made slaves or set them free. I wouldn’t have killed Eurymachus because he begged for mercy so I would’ve just made him a slave.