How To Lie To The Suitors In The Odyssey

Choices to leave good advice caused disaster to unfold throughout the Odyssey. Odysseus was a legendary hero in Greek mythology, king of the island of Ithaca and the main protagonist of Homer's epic, the Odyssey. He was the son of Laertes and Anticlea, and is well known as an eloquent speaker, ingenious and cunning. Odysseus had to leave his home to fight the war in Troy. They had been fighting the war for years and then Odysseus came up with a plan.

He doesn't tell his men this and he sacrifices 6 of his men just so he wouldn't die. The Charybdis is a giant whirlpool that swallows ships. Later in the poem he comes home to his wife but only she didn't know it was him. Odysseus was dresses as a beggar. He tests his wife to see if she had been faithful to

When Odysseus came back home all the suitors were in the middle of trail and were still competing against each other. Odysseus being dramatic as he is, dressed up as a poor old man and faked to be someone else. He then grabbed the bow looking over it and soon after revealed who he was to all the men in the room. All the men were shook and tried to reason with Odysseus on why they shouldn’t be killed, but despite their pardons Odysseus kills all of them with no good heart as described in page 960, “He aimed and shot, and every shot brought down one of his buddling enemies.” A good hero would not have killed all the men just because they tried to marry his wife, but would forget about it and let them leave without being

At one point Odysseus meets Polyphemus, who is a Cyclops. He is also a son of Poseidon. Odysseus had to save him and his men from becoming the Cyclops meal. The author writes, “ lugging it near the Cyclops as more than natural force nerved them; straight forward they sprinted, lifted it, and rammed it deep in his crater eye, and I leaned on it turning it as a shipwright tuns a drill…” ( lines 289- 293). Odysseus shows his strength and determination when battling against this monster.

In the Homecoming of Odysseus, Odysseus wants revenge on the suitors. One of the suitors recites the story of the courtship of Penelope, her resistance to the suitors, and Odysseus’ revenge. He wants the revenge because he when he came back home from his journey which took him 20 years, he finds that his house is full of suitors and they are taking everything that he earned. The other reason he wanted revenge was because Penelope that that he was dead and the suitors were going to replace him. Penelope said, “All my comeliness and my good looks are gone; the immortals took them from me when the army embarked for the war, and my husband with them.

Lies are, whether detrimental or advantageous, are a staple of most civilizations throughout history. Deceit and Lying allow the furtherment of goals and the ability to cast ourselves as someone who may not be. Lying in Homeric Society was as prevalent as it is today, and many characters take full advantage of the ability of deceit. In The Odyssey, Odysseus and others take advantage of homeric social norms of lying and deceit in order to get what they want; furthering their quest and goal through their trickery.

Odysseus is extremely selfish by betraying his crew. His crew believes that Odysseus is trying to help them return home, when he is actually only concerned about himself.

Odysseus learns that while he was away from Ithaca, his home and property were abused by suitors who wanted to marry Penelope. Odysseus takes revenge on the suitors for their rude, wasteful behavior. He also punishes any staff who participated with the wooers. Odysseus is completely justified in his action to punish with death the suitors and staff for their actions. The suitors took from Odysseus’ property, plotted to murder Telemachus, and displayed arrogant, unhospitable behavior.

Before leaving The Land of the Dead, Teiresias told Odysseus that they will face destruction and only he will survive to return home. After the prophecy, Odysseus and his men encountered Charybdis and Scylla. To avoid destruction, Odysseus demanded his men to sail the ship quickly through Scylla and hug onto the cliff. Odysseus did not want his men to lose hope and turn against him if they knew that only Odysseus would return home. To avoid his men going against him, “Odysseus does not tell his men of Circe’s last prophecy-that he will be the only survivor of their long journey,” (Homer 716-719).

The prosecution tore this aspect to shreds. Firstly, while it was not right of the suitors to treat him that way, they had no way of knowing the beggar was actually the master of the house; Odysseus tricked them. Then, there was the question of why Odysseus had to pretend. The reason for it was because he had already planned to murder all to suitors and didn’t want to tip them off and have time to prepare. Then came the defense’s last-ditch attempt at letting Odysseus walk free.

Fourth reason, in the beginning of the book, Homer wrote, “he fought only to save his life, to bring his shipmates home” (Homer 5). But what good is Odysseus saving himself for when in the end he couldn't even control his members in the end. That's why he shouldn't have recklessly sacrificed so many of his members and had a big ego. When Odysseus went back home, he saw that his son and his wife were not safe, so he killed the man’s who were trying to win Penelope heart to gain power. Penelope was so happy that he was back, but really, if Odysseus never left, Penelope and his son would've never be in danger in the first place, that's why he is not a hero.

In Homer’s Odyssey, Odysseus uses lies as a protective disguise against strangers. Not only does Odysseus utilize lies to keep his identity a secret but also, through the use of specific language, he conveys unspoken points. These points invoke different feelings and opinions in the people to whom he lies. Odysseus can quickly tailor his lies depending on the person and the situation he is in. Odysseus’s skill of creating intricate falsehoods and his use of lies as a way of controlling the thoughts of person he’s lying to, reveals his exceptional tact and guile.

Upon Odysseus arrival to Ithaca, Athena hides his identity to help him defeat the suitors. She turns him into a very old beggar to conceal his identity from everyone, most importantly the suitors. Odysseus reveals himself to his son Telemachus, cowherd and the swine herd. The nurse Eurycleia recognizes him because of a scar he got years ago by a boar’s white tusk. Penelope doesn’t recognize Odysseus at first sight because of the disguise.

Odysseus always had a plan especially when it came face to face with the suitors, it sometimes doesn’t matter if it will reveal his identity. Odysseus asked if he could try to shoot an arrow into all twelve battle-axes. The suitors didn’t believe him and laugh at him. Odysseus shot the arrow into the twelve battle-axes with ease, and then shot Antinous in the throat which caused chaos at the event. The end result was that all the suitors and servants were killed (Weigel).

Penelope and Odysseus’ use of tricks and deception are both a help and a hinderacne in allowing the former to avoid a second marriage and confirm her husband’s identity and the latter to attain nostos. Odysseus is wise not to tell his crew of Skylla, but should have divulged the contents of the bag of winds. Similarly, Penelope’s trick with the bed was harmless and successful, whereas undoing her work on the shroud has severe consequences when she is caught. As Homer’s Odyssey demonstrates, tricks and deception must be used wisely in order to avoid problematic