Violence In The Odyssey

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Truly Unnecessary Violence in The Odyssey
Throughout history, violence has been shown as a solution to problems which is expressly shown in the Odyssey by mortals, gods, and even the Hero. Sometimes that violence is completely unnecessary and pointless, violence is shown in this book multiple times from beginning to end even though it is almost never needed. The first time that violence is shown in The Odyssey is when the Greek king Agamémnon is murdered by Aigístho along with the help of his wife Clytemnestra.
“You've heard of Agamémnon -- how he came home, how Aigísthos waited to destroy him” (3.209-210).
While Agamémnon is fighting in the Trojan war his wife falls in love with Aigísthos and upon his return, Aigístho kills him as a way …show more content…
Notably there’s only one suitor who truly deserves to be killed which is Antinous since he plots to kill Telemakhos upon his return to Ithika. Plus there are suitors who have done nothing wrong and some who are even kind to Odysseus such as Amphinomus who shows courtesy to Odysseus when he is disguised. These suitors do not deserve to die, but it's simpler to kill them all then let a few live. Athena asserts her power by choosing to kill them when she can simply banish the suitors from Odysseus’s house.

On the other hand there are times in the epic where violence is the only possible way of surviving. This is when violence isn't a choice but mandatory to the survival of Odysseus. This is shown mainly in book IX, when he blinds Polyphemus to escape. It is crucial to their survival since otherwise Polyphemus would slowly kill his whole crew. Odysseus is forced to come up with a cunning plan to escape his death so he grabs a stake and “rammed it deep in his crater eye” (9.415).
Violence is justified in this book since Polyphemus was killing his men first, and as an act of revenge and escape the hero blinds

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