How Does Telemachus Obtain Revenge In The Odyssey

Odysseus seeks physical revenge, Penelope seeks emotional revenge, and Telemachus seeks emotional and physical revenge on the suitors and the effects of the war in The Odyssey, and while their actions may be seen as violent, their way of obtaining justice is acceptable because they used revenge to create clarity and justice for what they have lost.

Odysseus mourns the loss of his men and the emotional damage that the war caused him through killing the suitors, displaying how revenge is often used as an attempt to heal pain. While on the island of Thrinacia, Odysseus and his crew attempt to escape the dangerous and destructive Charybdis and Scylla. As his men are “shrieking out [his] name for one last time”, Scylla throws Odyseus’ crewmates

270, 280-283). The biggest loss that Odysseus felt during his time away from Ithaca was that of his men. He was devastated because his job was to protect them and in order to make sure their sacrifice was not for nothing, he knew he had to avenge them in some way. When Odysseus returns to Ithaca, he devises a plan to defeat the suitors and take back Ithaca. As he is killing the suitors, Odysseus yells with anger at the suitors for their actions because they “bled [his] house to death” by trying to ravish his serving women and wooing his wife and he proclaims that nothing will stop “[his hands] from slaughter” until “all [the] suitors had paid for all [their] crimes”(22. 36, 67-68). Odysseus was devastated by how the suitors had treated Ithaca and after the pain of the war and the journey back, he had not had a way to funnel his pain and anger yet. His revenge on

While Odysseus was away, she would try to keep the suitors contained. She would “weave a great and growing web” and then continue to unravel it at night to keep them occupied “deceiving [them] blind, seducing [them]”(2. 115-118). Penelope was left to protect Ithaca all on her own and the suitors outnumbered her so she knew what she knew best, seduction and deception. In ancient Greek literature, women are rarely portrayed as physically strong and are seen as more emotional. Penelope used this to her advantage by emotionally manipulating the suitors to make sure that they would not destroy Ithaca before Odysseus could return. After testing Odysseus following his return to make sure he was real, Penelope breaks down. She sobbed as she let “her heart surrender” as she asked Odysseus for forgiveness for not “at first glance, greeting, and holding [him]” because she explained that she “cringed with fear that some fraud might come”(23. 231, 240-244). Penelope was under so much pressure to protect everything that Odysseus had left behind. She wanted to get emotional revenge on the pain and grief that the war had caused her, meaning she would put up protective barriers