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Justice In Odysseus The King

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Odysseus’ slaughter of the suitors was an act of justice and revenge. The act was revenge because slaughtering 108 men for courting your wife and eating your food is insane. If someone did that present-day, society would frown upon the person who committed such an act. It would be considered mass-homicide and the person would be jailed for life. On the other hand, the act is a form of justice because of the setting of the story. Considering that a god, Athena, helped Odysseus, has to make the act right. The Greeks believed that Athena was the goddess of wisdom. There has to be some justice in killing 108 men with the gods helping you. It could be thought that the suitors were dangerous in society, they planned the murder of Telemachus. Getting
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”(12. 417-418), for the cattle was sacred. When a mortal does the inhuman, monstrous act of killing another's own, revenge will come. So when Odysseus didn’t stop his men, or warn them enough, they ate the cattle and payed the price of death. Odysseus is not a leader to be trusted with his dumb decisions.

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995 Words | 4 Pages

As the noble Odysseus’ returns to his beloved homeland of Ithaka, he comes to find a sea of suitors awaiting their chance at marrying his wife Penelope and taking his home as their own. After enduring a twenty year long odyssey, the Trojan war hero has run out of patience and seeks only to reunite with his family. Following his return, Odysseus and his son Telemachos plot to take their revenge on the suitors and retake their home. Their plan proves to be a success and their goal is reached, however a dilemma is now presented to the readers- did Odysseus and Telemachos go too far in seeking their justice? Post battle, it becomes evident that Odysseus and Telemachos’ actions were justified and rational due to evidence provided by Halitherses,

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973 Words | 4 Pages

Odysseus was enraged at the condition of the palace and couldn’t stand the fact that his maids that he didn’t know and or weren’t even born when he left dare to sleep with and or befriend the suitors that destroyed his palace. I feel that he put all the blame on the women and wanted to get rid of anyone who had anything to do with what was lost. It was also almost as if he secretly didn’t care for Penelope and had a reason to kill her. I say this because Eurycleia paid no consequences for what occurred while Odysseus was gone. It was an obvious sign of favoritism and Penelope never got a chance to explain any of her strategies to Odysseus and her reasons for doing what she did.

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477 Words | 2 Pages

Being killed for love was a big thing back in mythology times. Now a person killing for love would be put in jail for murder. People in mythology times loved people and were very loyal because the gods would reward them if they were. In Homer's The Odyssey, Odysseus should have killed the suitors because of the way they were acting towards him, the love for his wife, and the loyalty that his wife had for him. First, he should have killed the suitors because of the men at they were acting toward Odysseus.

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247 Words | 1 Pages

In Homer’s Odyssey, Odysseus men did deserve their punishment for eating Helios’s cattle because, well first of all do not eat first, you are supposed to ask first, if they say yes then eat, but if they say no, do not eat. All the trouble that the men got odyssey into, I really do think that they did deserve their punishment for all the things that they have done to get odyssey in trouble with all the gods. Well there's another thing Eurylochus convinces the men to eat the cattle of the sun. Then odysseus wakes up to find that the men has broken the oaths and killed some cattle, so it was the men falt. Even though they were starved, there is no reason to steal and kill a god's cattle.

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154 Words | 1 Pages

Once Odysseus kills all the suitors, he makes the maids clean up the blood and pick up the bodies. After that, he hangs the maids that were sleeping with the suitors. “And snatching in a powerful hand a sword left on the ground - Agelaus dropped it when he fell - Odysseus hacked the prophet square across the neck and the praying head went tumbling in the dust.” This

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240 Words | 1 Pages

Few people will argue and say that Odysseus is smart because he took the suitors weapons away when fighting them. He really is not heroic even being smart enough to take their weapons, because he still was a evil enough to murder them all. Secondly, Odysseus is a murderer mainly because he killed everyone of the suitors. It’s not like he was killing them to protect himself, he killed them because he was selfish and was very angry that they were eating his cheese and

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317 Words | 2 Pages

In Homer’s Odyssey Odysseus should have killed the suitors because they had overrun his palace, sleeping with the maids, and demanded Penelope to marry one of them. Odysseus’s palace has been overran by the suitors. When Odysseus returns to Ithaca, he has to be in disguise. He has enemies at his home that will recognize him. Therefore if they notice him he may be put to death.

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1764 Words | 8 Pages

At various times throughout the story, mainly through the trials, Odysseus made many decisions and forced his crew to go through many potentially lethal situations without preparing his own crew, or situations that were just a waste of time. This then leads to not only all of his crew being killed but the creation of many bad relationships. The first example of Odysseus mistreating his crew is when he and his crew went through the trails, “No more. Come, / let me tell you about the voyage fraught with hardship / Zeus inflicted on me, homeward bound from Troy...” 9.42-44.

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169 Words | 1 Pages

I think that Odysseus was justified for his actions by killing the suitors, because he went through so much to get home all to find the suitors taking over his home and they were bothering penelope. However, I don’t think his actions were justified when he killed the maids because they weren’t as bad as the suitors so they did not deserve it. He could have punished them, but he didn’t need to kill them just for being with the suitors. I definitely feel like the suitors deserved it because it was so hard and took so long for Odysseus to come home, and he came home to everything destroyed. Also, maybe not all the suitors deserved it because some didn’t do as much as others.

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1399 Words | 6 Pages

As the precise definition of justice cannot be definitively stated, the line separating just from unjust actions is incredibly obscure. Many factors may influence an individual’s perception of what constitutes justice, such as time period, culture, or personal morals. Thus, while an act may be considered righteous in one context, the same act may be ruled unjust in other contexts. For instance, when Odysseus finally returns home to Ithaca, as retribution for defiling his home and attempting to court his wife, Odysseus murders all of Penelope’s suitors. The extremely graphic depiction of his retribution had appeared almost superfluous, causing the morality of his actions to be brought into question.

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1631 Words | 7 Pages

Before skillfully killing the suitors, Odysseus berates them for wasting away his wealth and harassing his wife "Without any fear of the gods in high heaven / Or of any retribution from the world of men" (22.39–43). Odysseus implicates the suitors by calling out their behavior as equally uncivil and impious. Though Odysseus massacres the suitors for their transgressions, his response was justified as retribution on behalf of Athena and the gods. On the other hand, Clytemnestra's murder of her husband was

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1314 Words | 6 Pages

What is the definition of a good person? The view of a good person changes as time goes on. However, the Odyssey is still the foundation of human morality. The Odyssey, created by Homer, is an ancient telling of a man named Odysseus and his journey home from the Trojan War. The morals found in the Odyssey show readers the benefit of being able to view situations from multiple points of view.

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414 Words | 2 Pages

Odysseus shows considerable hubris when he brags to King Alconis about slaughtering the small village of Ismarus. Odysseus claims that he and his men “stormed that place,” enslaved the women, and slaughtered those who fought. (Homer 43). Due to Odysseus’ arrogant decision to assault Ismarus, a few of his men died. This demonstrates how arrogance and the hunger for victory will lead to certain death.

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1085 Words | 5 Pages

Killing Laius and his men is an overreaction to his anger. This violent outburst shows that he has no self control and he does not show any remorse for what he has done. He also looses his temper with Tiresias when he is trying to explain the oracle to him. It is because of his anger that the oracle becomes true and in the end he looses everything good around him including his children and his sight. Oedipus constantly pushes people away that are only trying to help him, as if accepting help makes him seem

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