I feel the title of this blog could sum up a large majority of this book, but this is greek mythology. I feel the only way to write this blog -without making up some junk in a futile attempt to sound smart- is to just say how I felt reading these last chapters. This is my first time reading the Odyssey, and I found this ending somewhat confusing, and I felt largely incomplete. For shortness I will only use this example. I found the killing of the suitors to be largely pointless. Yes, I understand that he was protecting this that and the other, but really murdering them in cold blood did not seem logical for todays standpoint. So, I attempted to view the barbarous event for the other side. I do see that he did want to stand up to the people that were attempting to court his wife. Furthermore, I see that he wanted to establish that he was king and he should be respected as the king. But even with this I cannot, in my twenty-first century mind, justify the killings of so many people. I do realize that "things were just different back then” and “we live in a different world.” Anyway, I feel if I continue in this I will just be rambling.
Commented Collin Suttle
The killing of the suitors would have been necessary for Odysseus to "purify" his house. Ithaca would have been in absolute chaos, as people who Odysseus knew tried to take control of the island. When Odysseus returned he found men who he trusted trying to court his wife. I don't know about you but that would make me pretty mad, probably not mad enough to kill, but it would be on up there.
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