Revenge and Justice: Two Sides of the Same Coin

Revenge and Justice: Two Sides of the Same Coin

If a person is driving a car and they choose to send a text, this distraction could cause a fatal accident. Everything a person does in life, every choice they make, has a consequence. This is definitely true of the characters in Homer’s The Odyssey. Every choice each character makes has a good or bad consequence, and ultimately shapes them as well as their future. The Cyclops’ choice to disregard the will of the gods, the crewmembers’ choice to disobey their leader’s commands, and Melantho’s choice to be disloyal to the royal family all led to their deaths. Homer uses the themes of revenge and justice in The Odyssey to show that a person arrives at their own downfall through disregard for others. In Homer’s The Odyssey, the Cyclops’ disregard for the will of the gods results in dire consequences, while Nestor’s respect for the god’s traditions gives rise to rewards. Polyphemus, a Cyclops, pays no heed to Zeus’ guest-host customs, trapping and ultimately eating Odysseus’ crewmembers. The guest-host customs of Ancient Greece include giving shelter and gifts to strangers. Odysseus and his crew believe that even a Cyclops will follow the customs, going so far as to eat Polyphemus’ cheeses when they first arrive. Had Polyphemus run a traditional household, he would have added the cheeses to the other gifts he would have given to Odysseus and his crew as they left. Before demanding gifts from the Cyclops, Odysseus tells Polyphemus, “Zeus of the Strangers guards all guests and suppliants:/ strangers are sacred – Zeus will avenge their rights!/” (Homer 9.304-305). However, when Odysseus and his crew meet Polyphemus, he greets them with a violent disruption of custom. Polyphemus grumbles, “‘We Cyclops never blink at [Zeus] or any other blessed god -/ we’ve got more force by far. /’ [...] [Polyphemus] ripped [my crewmembers] from limb to limb to fix his meal/” (Homer 9.307-330). Polyphemus completely disregards the will of Zeus by trapping Odysseus and his crew in his home. Polyphemus claims he holds more power than the gods, and ultimately eats his guests. However, Polyphemus’ actions lead to his own downfall. Odysseus taunts Polyphemus, “Your filthy crimes/ came down on your own head, you shameless cannibal,/ daring to eat your guests in your own house-/so Zeus and the other gods have paid you back!” (Homer 9.533-536). Odysseus and his remaining crewmembers have their revenge on the Cyclops by blinding Polyphemus with a stake. Polyphemus does not follow the guest-host custom of being gracious to strangers, but King Nestor does. When greeted by strangers, Nestor welcomes his guests with open arms. Telemachus objects to King Nestor sleeping elsewhere, so that he may have the finest bed. He tells Telemachus, “No, by god, [you]/ won’t bed down on a ship’s deck, not while I’m alive/” (Homer 3.395-396). Nestor proclaims that it is Telemachus’ right as a guest to have such finery, and gives Telemachus the bed. King Nestor has already been rewarded for his reverence of the gods and their traditions. As Nestor came home from fighting in Troy, the gods granted him a quick and safe journey back to Pylos. The gods punished the rest of the soldiers. Nestor recalls, "Zeus contrived in his heart a fatal homeward run/ for all the Achaeans who were fools, at least,/ dishonest too, so many met a disastrous end/” (Homer 2.147-149). The gods either kept the soldiers from returning home, or killed them outright. Only Nestor, thanks to his reverence, avoided this plight. Nestor is a god-fearing man, and in accordance with the gods’ guest-host traditions, he is generous to Telemachus. King Nestor, the head of a custom-following household, is the polar opposite of Polyphemus. Polyphemus is a perfect example of how disregard for the gods can lead to one’s own downfall. Odysseus’ act of revenge against the Cyclops was the blinding of Polyphemus. Polyphemus went against the will of the gods when he practiced cannibalism, therefore the gods saw this as a just punishment. However, there are more ways than one that lead to a painful demise. In The Odyssey, the crewmembers’ direct disobedience of Odysseus’ commands causes their ruin. Odysseus and his crew stop at Aeolus’ island, where the god presents Odysseus with a bag of winds. Aeolus makes sure to tell Odysseus not to let his crew touch the bag, for if they do their journey home will be greatly delayed. Odysseus relays this message but regardless, the crew opens the bag of winds. Odysseus’ crewmembers believe the bag of winds is full of gold, and plot to steal some of it while Odysseus sleeps. The crew “loosed the sack and all the winds burst out/ and a sudden squall struck and swept us back to sea,/ wailing, in tears, far from our own native land/” (Homer 10.52-54). Unwittingly, they release the winds which blow the ship all the way back to Aeolus’ island. Even though the first time the crewmembers disobey Odysseus, they were sorely punished, they decide to do it again. The crewmembers disobey Odysseus once more because they feel that slaughtering the cattle to survive is just. Odysseus’ ship runs ashore on Helios’ island, and he remembers Tiresias’ prophecy. He warns his crew to abstain from slaughtering Helios’ cattle. Tiresias, the blind Theban prophet, foretold that they would all meet with a horrible demise if they slay Helios’ cattle. Odysseus cautioned, “Friends, we’ve food and drink aplenty aboard the ship-/ keep your hands off all these herds or we will pay the price!/” (Homer 12.345-346). Regardless, the crew disregards Odysseus’ forewarning, and proclaim they would never dream of hurting a god’s cattle. Unfortunately, the crew runs out of food, so they resort to desperate measures. Odysseus’ crew “slaughtered and skinned the cattle/” (Homer 12.386). Wrought with hunger and thirst, the crewmembers disregard Odysseus’ forewarning and butcher the cattle. The crewmembers offer the choice cuts to Helios, so he might forgive them for their crime. Helios, however, feels anything but forgiving and appeals to his fellow gods. Helios shouts, “Father Zeus! The rest of you blissful gods who never die-/ punish them all, that crew of Laertes’ son Odysseus-/ what an outrage!” (Homer 12.406-408). Helios, furious with the crewmembers for their disobedience, calls on his father Zeus to help him punish the crew. Helios seeks revenge, however, because he is a god he does not face a downfall. As Odysseus and his crewmembers set sail, Zeus whips up a mighty storm. Lightning strikes Odysseus’ ship killing everyone instantly, except for Odysseus who survives the wreck. However, Odysseus and his crew are rewarded when the crewmembers are obedient and follow orders. Just as they are about to row past Scylla, Odysseus revels in a morbid prophecy. Six of the crewmembers will die if they sail by Scylla, but all of the crewmembers will die if they refuse to sail past her. Odysseus instructs his crew to row past Scylla, and the crewmembers comply. Odysseus is told, “Better by far to lose six men and keep your ship/ than lose your entire crew/” (Homer 12.120-121). The crewmembers sail on, bearing the toll that Scylla exacts on them. The six crewmembers are rewarded with a quick and painless death, while the rest are content with keeping their lives. The story of Odysseus’ crew and Helios’ cattle demonstrates how disobedience can cause one’s demise, even though different motivations were driving each of their actions. However, there is one more example of how one’s disregard for others can lead to their own downfall. In The Odyssey by Homer, Penelope’s maid’s disloyalty to the royal family results in her demise. Melantho, Penelope’s maid, lashes out at Odysseus when she passes him in the royal halls. Penelope, overhearing her, warns Melantho, “Make no mistake [Melantho,]/ none of your [disloyalty] escapes me either-/ you will pay for it with your life, you will!/” (Homer 19.99-101). Even though Penelope raised Melantho, the maid finds it fit to cast aside her mistresses’ wishes, meeting with the suitors every night. Penelope foretells that Melantho will pay dearly for her actions, but even so the maid ignores her. The maid runs off to join her lovers, the suitors. Melantho relished “the joys of love […] under the suitors’ bodies/” (Homer 22.469-470). The suitors court Penelope in the day, and spend their nights with Melantho and the other maids. This complete disregard for the royal family results in the doom of both parties. When Odysseus returns, he and Telemachus plot the ghastly death of Melantho and the maids. Telemachus plans, “No clean death for [the maids,] by god!/ Not from me- they showered abuse on my head,/ my mother’s too!/” (Homer 22.487-489). Telemachus and Odysseus hang the maids in the barn as opposed to stabbing them to death. Telemachus feels that the maid’s crimes were too great, and that they do not deserve an honorable death by sword. They hang the maids, and they die a dishonorable death. The swineherd and the cowherd are quite a contrast to the maids. Both of these men pine for Odysseus’ return, and act as a pillar of support for Odysseus’ wife Penelope while he journeys home from Troy. Upon his arrival home, Odysseus discovers the unswaying loyalty of these two men. Odysseus promises, “I’ll find you wives, both of you, grant you property,/ sturdy houses beside my own, and in my eyes you’ll be/ comrades to Prince Telemachus, brothers from then on/” (Homer 21.241-243). The cowherd and the swineherd are rewarded by their master for their undying allegiance, despite the betrayal of the other workers. Therefore, there are many ways in which one’s disregard for others results in their own gruesome demise. Homer shows how a person is responsible for their own demise through disrespecting others, by using the themes of revenge and justice in The Odyssey. The Cyclops, the crewmembers, and Melantho all disrespected others and eventually ended up losing their lives. If every choice a person makes has a consequence, then it is essential to make every choice count. A bad choice reflects poorly, and a good choice reflects favorably on the person who made it. Bad choices can eventually lead to a person’s downfall.