Examples Of Adultery In The Odyssey

1780 Words4 Pages

What’s more important, your morals, or reaching your family after over a decade away? What would you do for your family? Odysseus withholds nothing to reach his home, Ithaca, at long last. The Odyssey is an epic poem written Homer. In this story the main character Odysseus travels for many years on his journey home from Troy. While struggling to reach Ithaca, Odysseus steals, murders, rapes, and commits adultery. Many people will justify everything that Odysseus did on this ten year journey of his by saying that it was necessary to reach his family, but according to Christian laws, Odysseus steals, murders, and commits adultery, which makes him a very bad and sinful man regardless of whether or not there was any other way.
Initially proving that Odysseus is a bad man is the commandment “you shall …show more content…

Odysseus broke this moral law three times. Attacking the Cicones, Eating Helios’s cattle, and trespassing on Polyphemus’s land are all examples of times when Odysseus and/or his men steal something that is not theirs. This is clearly illustrated first when Odysseus attacks the Cicones. Odysseus does not need to plunder the Cicones, but he chooses to anyways, saying, “There I sacked the city, / killed the men, but as for the wives and plunder / that rich haul we dragged away [. . .]” (9:46-48). This shows how Odysseus takes from the people whatever it is that he wants, disposing of the rest. This clearly violates God’s commandment against stealing. Odysseus also steals cattle from Helios. As Odysseus and his crew are on their way home, they stop and rest on Helios’s land. Upon docking, a strong storm blows in, and traps the men for days. During this time, the men

More about Examples Of Adultery In The Odyssey

Open Document