Does War Travel With the Warrior?
In Homer’s The Odyssey, there is a certain passage in book twenty that seems almost out of place in regards to the rest of the epic poem. A striking image is painted of the hatred Odysseus feels for the suitors in his home, and the passage mentions how he was “devising evils in his heart for the suitors” (20.5). Odysseus hates the suitors so much, he would kill anyone who had anything to do with their pleasure, debating whether or not he should “kill each one” of the suitors’ lovers while they are “full of cheerful spirits and greeting one another with laughter” (20. 8, 11). Odysseus, although not fighting in an official war anymore, seems stuck in that particular way of thinking, and as a result, cannot seem to escape the same state of mind he has been in …show more content…
Why is he not falling asleep thinking less violent thoughts, knowing he is in the same building as his precious son and wife? Although he has a right to feel anger towards the suitors, his way of handling these guests in his home is a direct reflection of the way he has lived the past twenty years of his life that he will never get back. Perhaps the reason he is so bitter towards them is because he knows they have spent time with his son and wife while he was away fighting a painful and bitter war. Odysseus knows he has faced problems far worse than not punishing the suitors immediately, “bear up, my heart. You have had worse to endure before this day…but you endured it,” which could be a reason it is so hard for him to let go the injustice of their presence (20.18). On a subconscious level, Odysseus could be trying to bring suffering to the suitors because he feels it is just, as he was fighting in a war while they were harassing his wife, “for my mother [Penelope] is beset with suitors against her will,” and “loiter[ing] in our house and sacrifice our oxen…sheep…and our fat goats”
In Homer’s The Odyssey, there is a certain passage in book twenty that seems almost out of place in regards to the rest of the epic poem. A striking image is painted of the hatred Odysseus feels for the suitors in his home, and the passage mentions how he was “devising evils in his heart for the suitors” (20.5). Odysseus hates the suitors so much, he would kill anyone who had anything to do with their pleasure, debating whether or not he should “kill each one” of the suitors’ lovers while they are “full of cheerful spirits and greeting one another with laughter” (20. 8, 11). Odysseus, although not fighting in an official war anymore, seems stuck in that particular way of thinking, and as a result, cannot seem to escape the same state of mind he has been in …show more content…
Why is he not falling asleep thinking less violent thoughts, knowing he is in the same building as his precious son and wife? Although he has a right to feel anger towards the suitors, his way of handling these guests in his home is a direct reflection of the way he has lived the past twenty years of his life that he will never get back. Perhaps the reason he is so bitter towards them is because he knows they have spent time with his son and wife while he was away fighting a painful and bitter war. Odysseus knows he has faced problems far worse than not punishing the suitors immediately, “bear up, my heart. You have had worse to endure before this day…but you endured it,” which could be a reason it is so hard for him to let go the injustice of their presence (20.18). On a subconscious level, Odysseus could be trying to bring suffering to the suitors because he feels it is just, as he was fighting in a war while they were harassing his wife, “for my mother [Penelope] is beset with suitors against her will,” and “loiter[ing] in our house and sacrifice our oxen…sheep…and our fat goats”