The Suitors Demise and Odysseus’s Revenge: Justified?
Piumi Perera
11/18/09
Period 7
The Suitors Demise and Odysseus’s Revenge: Justified?
I: Thesis:
“They’d no regard for any man on earth-good or bad-…” (Fagles pg.452). Using these words Odysseus says that the suitors deserve to get murdered or slaughtered in the halls because of their actions. The gods bring death on the suitor through Odysseus because they do not care for anyone but themselves. In Homer’s The Odyssey, Odysseus is justified in his actions toward the suitors because society thinks that the slaughter of the suitors is acceptable and it is what the gods want. Slaughtering the suitors is a reasonable thing to do because of the time period The Odyssey takes place in and because the gods believe that Odysseus should be the one to take revenge on the suitors.
II: Body Paragraph One: The actions of Odyrsseus are legitimate because the suitors are disregarding the values of society. They ignore the rules of xenia and the code of ethics in that time period. Johnson’s Grief and Revenge in The Odyssey lecture acknowledges that “They devoured his livelihood, hounded his wife, abused his slaves, tried to kill his son.” (Johnson pg.2). The suitors clearly abuse the idea of xenia. Telemachus and Penelope are good hosts, but the suitor take advantage of it. In Johnston lecture, Lecture on Kant’s “Perpetual Peace” he says “accept that what [Odysseus] does is just because the suitors have violated the most important moral rules of the world…” (Johnston pg.1). The suitors have raided Odysseus’s home and according to what it is like in the time period of The Odyssey, such things, like the slaughter in the halls is acceptable to do. Due to the suitors’ lack of participation in the rules of society, Odysseus is not wrong for slaying the suitors.
III: Body Paragraph Two: Since the gods are on Odysseus’s side the killing of the suitors is a reasonable action. The gods want the suitors to stop performing these horrible deeds so they sent Odysseus to do their
11/18/09
Period 7
The Suitors Demise and Odysseus’s Revenge: Justified?
I: Thesis:
“They’d no regard for any man on earth-good or bad-…” (Fagles pg.452). Using these words Odysseus says that the suitors deserve to get murdered or slaughtered in the halls because of their actions. The gods bring death on the suitor through Odysseus because they do not care for anyone but themselves. In Homer’s The Odyssey, Odysseus is justified in his actions toward the suitors because society thinks that the slaughter of the suitors is acceptable and it is what the gods want. Slaughtering the suitors is a reasonable thing to do because of the time period The Odyssey takes place in and because the gods believe that Odysseus should be the one to take revenge on the suitors.
II: Body Paragraph One: The actions of Odyrsseus are legitimate because the suitors are disregarding the values of society. They ignore the rules of xenia and the code of ethics in that time period. Johnson’s Grief and Revenge in The Odyssey lecture acknowledges that “They devoured his livelihood, hounded his wife, abused his slaves, tried to kill his son.” (Johnson pg.2). The suitors clearly abuse the idea of xenia. Telemachus and Penelope are good hosts, but the suitor take advantage of it. In Johnston lecture, Lecture on Kant’s “Perpetual Peace” he says “accept that what [Odysseus] does is just because the suitors have violated the most important moral rules of the world…” (Johnston pg.1). The suitors have raided Odysseus’s home and according to what it is like in the time period of The Odyssey, such things, like the slaughter in the halls is acceptable to do. Due to the suitors’ lack of participation in the rules of society, Odysseus is not wrong for slaying the suitors.
III: Body Paragraph Two: Since the gods are on Odysseus’s side the killing of the suitors is a reasonable action. The gods want the suitors to stop performing these horrible deeds so they sent Odysseus to do their