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The Slaughtering Of Odysseus In Homer's Odyssey

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“And the suitors mad with fear at her great sign stampeded like stung cattle by a river when the dread shimmering gadfly strikes in summer, in the flowering season, in the long-drawn days. After them the attackers wheeled, as terrible as eagles from eyries in the mountains veering over and diving down with talons wide unsheathed on flights of birds, who cower down the sky chutes and bursting along the valley.” (Homer, 1842-1850) The Odyssey, a legendary epic poem, stars a noble king on his quest to returning home, Odysseus, son of Laertes. To start of the story, Odysseus, king of Ithaca, was called to fight in the Trojan War. After winning this battle, he and his crew committed a handful of unhonorable causing the gods to condemn them on their way home. As punishment, the gods sends them off course to pay for their crimes. During their voyage back to their families, they committed some questionable acts such as; mocking the cyclops, opening the bag of winds, but no act was more questionable than the slaughtering of the suitors and the maids. Many people may disagree with this opinion, but I believe his actions were righteous. The way that Odysseus, a brilliant strategist, dealt with the intruders is …show more content…

The reason I believed this, is because something similar happened to him near the beginning of His adventure. During his quarrel with the Cyclops, Odysseus had the option to kill the Cyclops in his sleep, but instead he overcame the rage and realized that they needed him for another task. “My heart beat high now at the chance of action, and drawing the sharp sword from my hip I went along his flank to stab him where the midriff holds the liver. I had touched the spot when sudden fear stayed me: if I killed him we perished there as well, for we could never move his ponderous doorway slab. (Homer, 758-764) This showed that Odysseus is capable of preventing his emotions take the best of

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After his men and him escapes unnecessarily losing two men in the process, Odysseus taunts Polyphemus which leads to him saying “ Hear me Poseidon, sustainer of the earth, god of sable locks. If I am yours indeed and you claim me as your son, grant that Odysseus, sacker of cities and son of Laertes, may never reach his home in Ithaca”(Homer 124) . This quote shows that one of Odysseus’s many flaws is that he allows his pride to take control of his actions and doesn’t clearly consider the consequences. Another instance of Odysseus’s foolish pride is when he crossing the threshold Circe advises Odysseus to

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Sometimes Odysseus’s emotional need for rest and relaxation got the best of him, but that was only on one occasion. Odysseus made the selection to use his motives and emotions to choose the right way of path and ultimately save him from what could've been a deadly consequence. One trial where is occurred is when the crew was getting caught up in the moment with the Cicones, Odysseus made the choice not to get caught up in victory, but to continue going on his journey. If Odysseus were to of been in that mindset, all of the crew could’ve possibly gotten killed. “Then I urged them to cut and run, set sail, / but

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In The Odyssey an epic poem by Homer, Odysseus, a hero from Ithaca, is trapped on his way home from Athens and Troy. His son, Telemachus, goes on a journey looking for his lost father. Both son and father want to reclaim their house from the suitors who wish to marry Penelope, Odysseus’ wife. Genghis Khan, Choi Yuna, my brother, An Thai, and Odysseus have traits like strength, thoughtfulness, and attractiveness. People need heroes with these traits because they need role models and someone to guide them through life.

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“... Odysseus looked around him, narrow-eyed, for any others who had lain hidden while death’s black fury passed”(Homer 613).This expresses how much power and determination Odysseus use when it comes getting revenge on something important. The ordinary man would not remain standing in a world full of Gods, Goddesses, and Monsters. His connection with his crew members were valuable to him and from the men that died in different locations, he realized that he could not lose

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(Book 10, page 159, PDF). Odysseus had left almost always meant to die with only saving a few which may have caused a sense of controversy and confusion. Also Odysseus hadn’t thought of a way to save all of his men, which eventually impacted his journey and his entire crew. Though Odysseus did have several acts of heroic deeds, the amount of failure in a majority of those other acts overpowered them

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At the time of this event, Odysseus is aware that by covertly sneaking on the Cyclops’ space not all his men will exit alive, but he has a detriment of arrogance that regardless of the uniform probability among all the men, he would still remain alive. The deduction can also be made that Odysseus disregards the wellbeing of his own men, trading it for the wellbeing of himself. With a leader like Odysseus, a mutiny among his men to overthrow him is not implausible. Simultaneously, Odysseus exhibits signs of Orge, or anger, of which comprises the holding onto anger rather than moving to resolve

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In the book called The Odyssey by Homer, it mainly follows the story of a king of a village called Ithaca, hundreds of years ago-This man, is named Odysseus. Odysseus goes through many adventures after the victory of the Trojan War. However, this is where Odysseus, is not being as strong as a great war hero and a king as he should be. Although Odysseus was seen as a very strong person, physically and mentally, he lacks the appreciation and the care of his crew throughout the trials and didn’t think through many of his actions thoroughly and how they would affect not only his crew but people around him.

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At the end of part 2 of the Odyssey, when Odysseus is finally home and confronts the suitors in his home, he decides to slaughter them all for invading his home and courting his wife: “Not for the whole treasures of your fathers, all you enjoy, lands, flocks, or any gold put up by others will I hold my hand. There will be killing till the price is paid” (22.62-64). This quote from Odysseus shows that he was furious at the suitors, and he would allow no other atonement for their crimes except death. While the suitors all did wrong things, their actions did not deserve the death penalty. This shows that Odysseus was not thinking straight and being fair, and this is not something a hero would do.

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Odysseus’ impulse overtakes his actions, and rather than waiting for the right time to do something, he cannot contain himself and must get it out. In the beginning of the Odyssey, Odysseus cannot control his impulses, which leads

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The Odyssey by Homer revolves around the character, Odysseus, and his ten-year struggle to return home after the Trojan War. As the epic’s idol, he displays the combination of a clever, handsome, and courageous man popular among the mortals as well as the gods. Essentially, he embodies the ideals of the ancient Greek culture, being adorned with many favored characteristics of the era. However, an intriguing aspect of Odysseus lies in his personality. As the protagonist, he does not manifest the entirety of a stereotypical hero because Odysseus has a fatal flaw—his arrogance.

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Odysseus was capable of deeds of great strength and courage which was shown in many instances throughout the epic poem The Odyssey, in book 9, line 288 - 292 “ I drew it from the coals and my four fellows gave me a hand, lugging it near the Cyclops as more than natural force nerved them; straight forward they sprinted, lifted it, and ramped it deep in his carter eye.” In the quote it proves that he is capable of deeds of great strength and courage due to his actions in lines 288-292 as he comes up with a plan to escape the cyclop by blinding it. Odysseus found a tree and sharpened it and put it in fire with his men and hid it. Later on they gave the Cyclops wine to get him drunk and eventually the Cyclops passed out and roasted the stick a second time and attacked the Cyclops where Odysseus and his men blinded the Cyclops. With him and his men working together to escape the island as soon as possible.

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In the epic poem written by Homer, The Odyssey, the king of Ithaca named Odysseus sails home from the war at Troy. Along the way, he and his men encounter a lot of tedious obstacles. They go to Ismarus as well as discover the island of the Lotus, and the Lotus eaters who live on the island. Odysseus and his men also find a cyclops named Polyphemus, which they find out is the son of Poseidon. The land of Hades, or the land of the dead, is another place they travel to.

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Just as Achilles is confronted in the Iliad with the problem of balancing his honor with his pride, Odysseus repeatedly faces situations in which self-restraint and humility must check bravado and glory-seeking. In his early adventures, he fails these tests, as when he taunts Polyphemus, inflaming Poseidon. As the epic progresses, Odysseus becomes increasingly capable of judging when it is wise to reveal himself and when it is appropriate to rejoice in his

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None of Odysseus’s men were really loyal to him because of their lack of obedience and honesty. In this episode the men learn that their disobedience causes them their lives when Helios the sun god realizes his scared cattle had been killed. Helios furious goes to Zeus and begs him to punish Odysseus’s men, or he will take the sun and go “down to the House of Death and blaze the sun among the dead” (Odyssey 12. 412). Zeus with no choice left but to punish Odysseus’s men whips up a storm and strikes his thunder bolt to destroy Odysseus’s ship soon after they leave the island. No one survives but Odysseus.

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Odysseus has clearly learned not to be impulsive in his decision-making from his past errors, for example on the island of the Laestrygonians and that of the Cyclops, his bad decision making cost many of his men their lives. This decision to wait and contemplate where he is and think about his decision is very smart because at his palace, there is a “world of pain” (11.132). If he ran home, he might have been killed by the suitors. This question shows that after suffering so much, he finally has learned patience. In response to this, and his whole speech, Athena praises him and says he is “so winning” and he is “worldly-wise” (13.377,77).

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