Vultures In The Odyssey Analysis

In Book 22, lines 302-309 of his Odyssey, Homer offers the following simile:
But the other men, who were like hook-clawed, beak-bent vultures,/ descending from the mountains to pounce upon the lesser birds;/ and these on the plain, shrinking away from the clouds, speed off,/ but the vultures plunge on them and destroy them, nor is there any/ defense, nor any escape, and men are glad for the hunting;/ so these men, sweeping about the palace, struck down/ the suitors, one man after another; the floor was smoking/ with blood, and the horrible cries rose up as their heads were broken. In this paper, I will argue that although the surface meaning of this passage is the slaughter of the suitors by Odysseus and his men, the deeper meaning of the passage is the

(B 9, L 501-505)
This shows that Odysseus’ self-serving nature extends beyond material greed into the equally sinful realm of pride. In a classic display of hubris, Odysseus taunts the Cyclopes fulfilling the sole purpose of stroking Odysseus’s ego. At first it appears that our hero is lacking foresight, but Odysseus tells Polyphemus his name in hopes that tales of his cunning will spread throughout Greece: a very selfish goal, directly resulting in the endangerment of the lives of both him and his men throughout the remainder of their travels.
In this paper, I have considered the above simile in Book 22 of The Odyssey by Homer, and I have argued that although the surface meaning of this passage is the slaughter of the suitors by Odysseus and his men, the deeper meaning of the passage is the revelation of Odysseus ' true nature, similar to that of a vulture, they are both opportunistic and self-serving, even on the most basic