Honor And Pride In The Odyssey

The Odyssey of Homer is about the hero Odysseus who starts an adventure to return to his home and kill the suitors who woo his wife and squander his wealth. Meanwhile, his son Telemachus searches for news of his father from his father's friends, and teams up with his father to kill the suitors. All the suitors are killed and Athena protects Odysseus and Telemachus from the suitors' parents. Honor and pride are the most important aspects of life and hubris leads to destruction. Honor and pride are considered important and must be defended. Poseidon is asked if “any god could deride/and scorn the oldest and best of us...” (Homer, Odyssey 8.169-194). The gods must then have honors to defend if they are worried about others deriding them. This is why honor is highly valued, because the gods also put an emphasis on it.

Odysseus taunts Polyphemus by saying that “if any mortal man should ask/about the shameful blinding of your eye,/then tell him that the man who gouged you was/Odysseus...” (Homer, Odyssey 9.498-525). Because, in his pride, Odysseus tells Polyphemus his name, Polyphemus curses him and starts the series of calamities that Odysseus encounters. The suitors are characterized early in the story, “for all these goods come easy to them:/they feed-but never need to recompense” (Homer, Odyssey 1.137-165). The suitors show hubris in their actions by disregarding the laws of hospitality made by Zeus and are ultimately doomed by their treatment of Odysseus. Later, the suitors' disrespect is shown by Anítoüs, who tells Odysseus, “...you hear our speech/and words no-other scrounging stranger can/lay claims to things so fine” (Homer, Odyssey 21.265-294). Not only do the suitors disrespect Odysseus in his own house, but they also violate the laws of hospitality trying to turn Odysseus away. They think that because they are so powerful, that they do not need to worry about consequences and display