Compare And Contrast Eurylokhos And Amphinomos

In Homer’s Odyssey, translated by Robert Fitzgerald, Eurylokhos is a member of Odysseus’ crew and Amphinomos is one of the suitors intent on winning Odysseus’ wife Penelope while Odysseus is lost at sea. Eurylokhos and Amphinomos both commit good deeds that allow them to distinguish themselves from their groups, yet they each possess fatal flaws that lead to their death and downfall. They both gain Odysseus’ favor despite his knowledge of their fatal crimes. Amphinomos acts as a shadow and lesser version of Eurylokhos because Amphinomos’ actions are of less significance to others.

Eurylokhos and Amphinomos each emerge as independent figures that stand out from their respective “mobs” because of their unique deeds and actions. While the rest

Odysseus is pleased with Eurylokhos for his quick thinking that saves his crew, and he is happy that Amphinomos shows him some respect. Odysseus describes Eurylokhos in extremely reverent and elevated terms: “My godlike Eurylokhos/… valiant Eurylokhos!” (10.224-226). Odysseus has great admiration for Eurylokhos and is grateful that Eurylokhos saved his crew from Kirke. Yet Odysseus praises Eurylokhos in this way when he is recounting the story of his journey; he already knows that Eurylokhos’ later decision to have the crew eat Helios’ cattle will kill off his entire crew and leave him to travel for years. Even knowing this, Odysseus still greatly admires the man, calling him “godlike”. Amphinomos also gains special favor from Odysseus, who tries to convince him to leave before the slaughter of the suitors. “So may some power take you out of this, / homeward” (18.181-182). Amphinomos gains Odysseus’ favor for being the best and kindest of the suitors. Odysseus does not want Amphinomos to be killed with the rest of them. Again, Odysseus is fully aware of Amphinomos’ crime of living off of Odysseus’ land trying to win the hand of his wife, but he still sees good in him. Odysseus does not have nearly the same respect for Amphinomos as Eurylokhos, however, because Amphinomos’ good deed is not on the same level. The praise Odysseus bestows upon Amphinomos is only a

They accomplish good deeds that set them apart from the rest of their groups. Odysseus’ singles them out because of what they do. However, each man has a fatal flaw that leads to his death. Eurylokhos and Amphinomos are both interesting because they are nuanced characters. The gods, Athena and Helios, see them as bad men who possess perhaps a few redeeming features, but who ultimately deserve to die. Odysseus, on the other hand, sees these men as good people who committed a few errors along the way. This is a testament to each man’s compassion for his fellow human beings: the gods looking down may find it easy to judge, but as humans, we sympathize with the mistakes of our kind. Eurylokhos commits the larger crime and his actions have more significant consequences, and at first this might make him seem to be the more evil version of the two. However, his actions represent human error on an elevated scale; Amphinomos’ actions as the shadow represent the nastier, more common type of mistake that we, as humans, are more likely to actually make. He lives as a suitor because it is easy and enjoyable, and demonstrates that once we do something bad, it often becomes too late to take it back. If we take the easy way out, it may come back to haunt us later no matter what we try and do to make up for