Loyalty And Relationships In Homer's The Odyssey

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Loyalty and relationships are like plants -- they both require commitment and nurturing in order to grow. When a relationship is uncared for and loyalty is broken, the relationship eventually dies and wears out, much like when a plant is neglected. In Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey, loyalty is displayed when individuals are faithful to each other, their actions will be rewarded, whereas, those who are false-hearted will be castigated. Penelope and Odysseus’ mutual devotion throughout their twenty year separation convey that those who remain committed to one another will be glorified. Meanwhile, those who commit deceitful actions such as Odysseus’ crew and the maids reveal that those who choose to be unfaithful will be punished. Odysseus and …show more content…
When Odysseus and his crew were still on the island of Helios, Eurylochus conspired a plea to try to make the other crew members eat the cattle. He said to them that “[they’ve] gone through everything” and because of that they should “cut out the noblest of these cattles”(1011). When the Odysseus’ crew ate Helio’s cattle, devastation fell upon them because once the Gods found out about it, the crew tried to escape and go on their ship. However, it got destroyed as punishment from the Gods for their traitorous behavior and everybody excluding Odysseus died. As a result, because the crew were disloyal to Odysseus, their actions lead to their own devastation. In addition, Odysseus’ maid back home were also unfaithful. One the maids named Melantho proved that to be true when she treated Odysseus,while when he was in disguise, disgustingly. She said to him that he will “plague [them] all night” because she thinks that he is “spying on [them] women” and that she wants him to “get out” (19.53-99). The maids were suppose to treat their guests with hospitality because that was what their master believed in, however, instead they treated Odysseus with revulsion. As a result, when Odysseus finally got his revenge on the people who were inconstant to him, he took what the maids did to him in consideration. He took retribution by making them clean up all the suitor’s bodies with whom the maids had relationships with and then later executed them. Since they were untrue, they came across dire consequences. The actions of being not devoted will lead individuals to
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