The Dilemma Of Odysseus

{Imagine seeing horrific tragedies and unspeakable things happen to close friends while traveling across seas, trying to get home to family whom have been absent for close to 20 years.}This is exactly what happens to a war hero named Odysseus, from the epic poem The Odyssey, by Homer, translated by Robert Fagles. In the poem, Odysseus goes off to war in Troy, which lasts a decade. He gets lost on his way home with his crew and goes through a list full of crazy adventures. Odysseus witnesses some very gruesome things, some very pleasant things, and some very strange things. He eventually makes it home another ten years later after he loses ✔his entire crew, and brings revenge to the suitors whom have invaded his house and courted his wife,

He lives in the “now” of time, he doesn’t reach out to process the future. There are plenty of examples of Odysseus in these kind of situations, but one that causes the biggest dilemma is when Odysseus gets home and slaughters all of the suitors. Odysseus was so over the top with his emotions, he didn’t bother to think about what would happen if he killed over a hundred of the richest upper classmen in Ithaca. Although Odysseus did think ahead when he was stranded on Phaeacia. In book 5, lines 515-523, he thought about where he should sleep that would keep him the safest: “Man of misery, what next? Is this the end? If I wait out a long tense night by the banks, I fear the sharp frost and the soaking dew together will do me in - I’m bone-weary, about to breathe my last, and a cold wind blows from a river on toward morning. But what if I climb that slope, go for the dark woods and bed down in the thick brush? What if I’m spared the chill, fatigue, and a sweet sleep comes my way? I fear wild beasts will drag me off as quarry.”(1) In this quote, Odysseus is debating about where the safest place for him to sleep would be. He thinks about the outcome of both situations and considers what he could do to make either one less dangerous for himself. Unfortunately, he does this a little too late and even though he does save himself, his crew is still dead. If he were to be a little more considerate about dangers a little sooner he might not even be in the spot he was in now. He easily could’ve made it home by then and none of the troubles yet to come would have even happened. Odysseus was not bothered by the future on any level which is one of the main reasons that he was done wrong multiple times. Odysseus had no reason to actually kill the suitors either. While it is true that they overstayed their welcome tremendously and