Justice And Violations In Homer's The Odyssey

The Odyssey embodies a range of emotions and judgements based off the laws of the gods. Odysseus formulates decisions solely off of an individual’s violation of the laws. During the slaughter of the suitors, Odysseus showed no remorse to the suitors pursuing his wife, but he did show a strain of mercy to Phemius, the singer and the herald Medon for their lack in threatening his reign as king. However, this type of justice was not given to the women in the house who were engaging in intercourse with the suitors. When examining these parallel incidents, one may say Odysseus as a fair leader. However, when comparing the two passages adjacently, Odysseus gives preferential treatment to men who break his laws while punishing women severely for minor

After addressing his father not to kill the men Telemachus mummers, “or ran into you rampaging through the halls” at the end of his plea (381). This phrase was placed at the end of his speech in order to convince Odysseus that he has done enough damage and has taken the revenge he needed on the men who deserve it. Telemachus changes his father’s view of killing every man involved by proving that these two men were minor since they were aiding the suitors by providing comfort in the home. The two men’s lives were put in the hands of Telemachus, which caused the Harold to ask “here I am, dear boy-spare me. Tell your father, / flushed with victory, not to kill me” (388-389). By saying the phrase “flushed with victory,” the Harold is aware that Odysseus has won the battle with the ignorant suiters and is begging for Odysseus’s mercy through his son Telemachus. Telemachus is successful in convincing his father to release the men, however Odysseus demands the men to “tell the next man too” in order to keep an unprejudiced reputation for himself and his son (396). In this instance Odysseus fits the role of a fair leader by understanding that the men’s crimes were not in violation of the laws, so they did not need to face

Telemachus refers to the women as “sluts” and the “Suitors’ whores” for having relationships with the suitors, but the suitors were not accused of a crime for sleeping with the women (490). Furthermore, Phemius was involved in singing for the suitors to satisfy their needs just as the women were satisfying their sexual needs, but his crime granted him his release. These parallels are indications of Odysseus’s uncontrollable behavior when it comes to punishing crimes committed. Some may say the women deserved their fate due to the fact that they were not being forced into their actions as Phemius was. However, the idea that the women were “tramping to their shame” as described by the nurse is not a worthy reason for their deaths, since they were not involved in breaking the laws of the gods in the way the suitors