Preview

The Odyssey: Is Odysseus justified in taking his revenge?

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
479 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Odyssey: Is Odysseus justified in taking his revenge?
The Evil Should Die:

Analysis of Homer The Odyssey

Upon Odysseus' return to Ithaca from his long and dangerous crusade, he discovers suitors raiding his palace. Due to the fact that these suitors are posing a great threat to Ithaca, Odysseus is justified in taking his revenge. Since these suitors try to steal his property, assume his wealth, and threaten the royal family of Ithaca, his right to defend himself is just.

Odysseus was the king, and suitors have invaded his property. These suitors are young nobles from Ithaca and elsewhere who try to take Penelope, Odysseus's wife, in marriage along with the kingdom. The suitors have intruded into Odysseus's palace, announcing that they will not leave the estates until the Queen has picked the best suitor to marry. No one has been able to remove these uncontrollable suitors from the palace while Odysseus is not present. They stay in the palace, unwelcome, and plot the future of Ithaca. They plan to divide the land amongst the suitors and the one the Queen chooses to marry will take over the palace. However, if Odysseus had not taken his revenge and killed these savages they would have seized his life along with his property.

The suitors had been consuming his wealth, feasting on his stock, and drinking his valuable wine. Assuming Odysseus is dead the suitors treat themselves to Odysseus palace. The one hundred and eight suitors stay in the palace demanding the maids to serve them these commodities, which they consume faster than the estate produces. The twelve maids betray Odysseus and are just as guilty as the suitors because they support the suitors in their actions. These suitors are over-consuming their day-to-day essentials which could easily led to famine.

The uninvited suitors not only create a plan to take the land of Ithaca but conspire to murder Telemachus, son of Odysseus. Odysseus is protecting and defending his family, which is a natural human instinct to anyone whose privacy has been invaded. The

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    I think that if Telemachus was a good leader and took care of the suitors, Odysseus wouldn’t make his dining hall into a bloodbath. But because he didn’t take care of the suitor problem, Penelope was bribed by suitors to marry them. And maids of Odysseus slept with other suitors. The suitors who died from Odysseus deserved to die from Odysseus because not only did they try to marry Penelope they also planned to kill Odysseus and Telemachus as well. And for the maids, they also deserved to die because they were not loyal to not only penelope but Odysseus as well, because they were with the idea of suitors killing odysseus.…

    • 384 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    I believe that Odysseus was both justified and not justified, in his decision to not tell his men that they will not make it back to Ithaca. The background of this scene is that a god comes to Odysseus and tells him that his fate it to make it back to Ithaca. The god also tells Odysseus that he will be the only one to return to Ithaca. Odysseus decides that the only way that he can make it back to Ithaca is if he lets his men believe that they will all make it back to Ithaca. Throughout the rest of the story Odysseus doesn’t say a word about himself knowing the men’s fate. Just as the god had said, by the time Odysseus got home, all his men had died.…

    • 464 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This is the essay on The Odyssey by Homer and How the action that Odysseus made were justified given the circumstances. It tell the reader that Odysseus's action are actually really…

    • 437 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Odysseus revolts against them due to the trouble Penelope faced all these years . Odysseus forewarns the…

    • 716 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The engrossing story, The Odyssey, tells the tale of the heroic Odysseus’ journey to reach home after the Trojan War. In the first four books, the reader learns about Odysseus through other characters eyes. They follow the footsteps of Telemakhos, the son of Odysseus, and his awakening to save his father. Telemakhos’s house is being overrun by his mother's’ suitors, however dear Penelope can’t help change that. Telemakhos is then visited by Athena, in which she arouses him and gives him the confidence and steady mind to search for word on his father. Telemakhos and the reader can interpret from the stories told about Odysseus that he was an important warrior and is thought to be dead. Therefore he is held to a higher respect than most Trojan…

    • 264 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    His killing of the men has to do with the disrespectful way that they have been treating his wife, home, and personal belongings while he was away. The suitors had brought a large amount of dishonor to Odysseus’ house and he wanted to re-gain that honor. Odysseus had spoken to the suitors when he returned and said, "...because of that you despoiled my household, and forcibly took my serving women to sleep beside you, and sought to win my wife while I was still alive,... Now upon you all the terms of destruction are fastened (book 22)." Penelope had challenged the hundreds of men to a task that she knew only Odysseus could complete. The task was to shoot an arrow through twelve axe heads. Many men tried but did not succeed. Only Odysseus completed the task. Penelope then knew it was her beloved and that’s when Odysseus rightfully took his place back on his…

    • 506 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “The Odyssey” is a story about a King named Odysseus, who goes off to lead a war and is separated from his family and kingdom for 20 years. While he is away for so many years his son grows up into a man and helps his mother; Odysseus’ wife, Penelope rules the kingdom. After many years of Odysseus being gone, suitors or “wooers” arrive trying to win over the queen. When Odysseus gets back he brutally slaughters everyone who was involved with the suitor’s plans, including the innocent servant women, who were working in his castle at the time.…

    • 510 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    After reading the Odyssey,I think Odysseus returned to kill suitors back our own country is very correct. Odysseus in waves and the struggle of monsters, also use opportunely ingenuity, bravely overcome countless disasters. Difficulties, he will not be intimidated by any wealth, or even love the temptation to shake him.Encouraged him to overcome difficulties is he to tribal group and the affection to his wife, so I think hero Odysseus is a justice.When Odysseus on exotic, Ithaca and neighbouring powerful deceives his wife weak young.Programs to his wife, Mr Nie roper (Penelope), forced the she remarried, Mr Nie roper tried various methods to delay.…

    • 446 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Odysseus encounters many trials on his grand journey homeward, and these trials teach him many valuable lessons. Polyphemus, pride. One of the first lessons Odysseus learns comes from Polyphemus. After outsmarting Polyphemus, Odysseus and his men are sailing away from the island. Odysseus then decides to boast to Polyphemus, saying “if any man on the face of the earth should ask you/ who blinded you, shamed you so- say Odysseus” (Homer IX 559-60). Consequently, Polyphemus curses Odysseus, praying to Poseidon to avenge him. This encounter shows Odysseus that pride can destroy even the strongest man. Another trial Odysseus learns by comes from Circe. On Circe's Island, Odysseus must be cautious and cunning to survive. After he has overcome her,…

    • 151 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Odysseus should feel justified for his actions for killing the suitors. After being gone for twenty years and coming home to people living in his house. Also trying to take the only things he got left like his son and wife. Odysseus should feel more justified for killing those who were involved with the wooers so now he knows who is loyal and who is not. Those are reasons why Odysseus should feel justified after killing all of those people.…

    • 438 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    When Odysseus offers Zeus a prized Lamb’s thighbones, he refuses them, and Odysseus realizes his mistake. He states that “Zeus disdained my offering, destruction for my ships he had in store and death for those who sailed them.” He wanted absolutely nothing to do with him, which told Odysseus that he would have no guidance or protection from him; they would have to take the journey on alone. It was then that Odysseus knew that the voyage home would be difficult, and that he would have to prove himself by adhering to the god’s advice. The fact that Odysseus does not have Zeus on his side is extremely important, it means that Odysseus would have to prove himself by acting with restraint, the men’s lives depended on it. When Odysseus had a chance to return home with the remaining crew, he was still inclined to disobey the gods thinking that he could fight his way out of his destiny, something for which Circe berated him, saying, “Must you have battle in your heart forever? The bloody toil of combat? ...will you not yield to the immortal gods?” Odysseus is a fighter, and believes that he is above all, which shows that he still will not “yield”, or admit he’s not equally great. This trait is the root of the issues that arise in the epic tale, and causes the gods to be filled with disdain towards him. It is also the cause of the men’s demise, because of his arrogance, he ruins his chances of…

    • 1412 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Odysseus and his men live luxury with her for a year. Finally, his men persuade him to…

    • 1242 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This test sheds some light on why their love for each other is so natural in the first place. None of the suitors could ever replace Odysseus, just as Circe or Calypso could never replace Penelope. Despite The Oddessey being about traveling to love, The Thousand and One Nights talks about traveling away from one love to escape it. In this story, two brothers, King Shahrayar and King Shahzaman are both cheated on by their wives. At first, it was King Shahrayar whose wife was caught sleeping with the kitchen boys, King Shahrayar killed both the kitchen boys and his wife, as well as promised to never fall in love or marry again.…

    • 898 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    and how they treated his son and the servants. Another reason why is that when Odysseus’s wife said, “That they shall all pay for what they had done to all of them”, so how they had payed for what they have done is when Odysseus came back he had killed all of them. So that means that Odysseus did not kill them for no reason he had killed them because of the way they had treated his son and…

    • 464 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In addition, Odysseus slays the dozens of suitors plaguing the halls of his palace. After returning to his palace in Ithaca, he commences a bloodbath. He begins by shooting the villainous Antinous through his neck. The text describes that “The point passed clean through his tender throat...His life-blood gushed from his nostrils in a turbid jet.” (Homer, 329) Odysseus begins to take back his right as the master of the palace. The lifeless state of Antinous stresses his looming wrath. In spite of the suitors’ attempts to bargain their wealth for being spared, Odysseus asserts the punishment which they deserve for their crimes. He says “...not if you made over all your patrimony to me...would I keep my hands from killing until you Suitors had…

    • 328 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics