Hospitality In The Odyssey

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In The Odyssey of Homer, translated by Allen Mandelbaum, Odysseus makes the journey home after twenty years. He faces obstacles that he must overcome, which includes the loss of all his men. While away his wife Penelope was to pick a suitor from many men who consumed all of Penelope and Telemachus’ wealth. Odysseus returns to Ithaca as a beggar and with the help of Athena, is able to defeat the suitors. Hospitality played a major role in the Odyssey, because it determines the fate of both the host and the guest. Showing anyone into one’s home and respecting them because it is morally right, but the guest must also respect the host repay the favor if needed. There are many examples of good hospitality in The Odyssey, but some stand out more
Odysseus is telling the story of his journey to the Phaecian king and talks about his experience on Circe’s island. When Odysseus and his men reach Circe’s island, some of his men go to her home, pound on her door, and eat her food. Because they were bad guests, she turned them into hogs. Odysseus describes his men having “taken on the bodies—bristles, snouts—and grunts of hogs,” but that they “kept the human minds they had before” (Homer, Odyssey 10.214-245). Odysseus’ men were unhospitable so the goddess Circe punished them. Homer uses poetic justice again to show how rude guests receive punishment for not being respectful. Odysseus' men were acting like pigs in their human form, so Circe made their appearance match their actions making this situation very ironic. At the beginning of The Odyssey, Telemachus is telling Athena disguised as Mentes how selfish and greedy the suitors are. He exasperatedly tells her that “they feed—but never recompense” (Homer, Odyssey 1.137-165). The suitors are rude and unhospitable as well as overstaying their welcome. Homer directly characterizes the suitors here through Telemachus expressing his frustration with them. The suitors do end up paying for their actions with their lives. The cruelest of the suitors, Antinous refuses to give a part of his meal to beggar-Odysseus and when he asks again, Antinous throws a stool at him. He proceeds to yell and insult

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