Vengeance in the Odyssey

They say that vengeance is the sweetest thing in life, but is that really true? The theme of vengeance is carried throughout the epic of The Odyssey. Once one character gets his vengeance on another one, that character has to get his vengeance and the viscous cycle keeps going on throughout the entire epic. Vengeance is what drives most of the characters to do what they do in this epic and is one of the main themes in The Odyssey. The theme of vengeance is placed throughout the epic; the gods, the people that Odysseus meets thoughout his journey and Odysseus himself takes the most vengeance.
In the The Odyssey the gods Poseidon and Zeus get their vengeance more than once. For example, Poseidon sinks Odysseus’ ship after Odysseus gets off of Calypso’s Island. This shows that Poseidon was still angry at Odysseus for blinding his son the Cyclops, Polphemus, and he was swarmed by rage. Obviously, he wanted Odysseus to pay for blinding his son, so out of vengeance he wanted to make it harder for Odysseus to get back home to Ithaca so that he couldn’t see his son, Telemachus. In addition, Zeus creates a storm for Odysseus and his crew after they eat one of the son god’s cattle, which only Odysseus survives. This shows that Zeus was upset when the sun god told him that Odysseus and his crew ate one of his sacred cattle. So, in return for eating one of the sun god’s cattle Zeus created an enormous storm to punish Odysseus and his crew therefore getting his revenge against Odysseus. Finally, Poseidon turned the Phaeacians’ ship into stone after they helped Odysseus get back home to Ithaca. This shows that Poseidon was outraged when he found out that the Phaeacians were willing to help
Odysseus, who was someone that he hated. Obviously, he wanted the Phaeacians to know to that he didn’t approve of them helping out Odysseus, so he turned their ship to stone, sinking it into the harbor.
People that Odysseus meets throughout his journey also take vengeance more than once against Odysseus. For example, Aeolus won’t give Odysseus another bag of winds after his crew opened the first bag of winds Aeolus gave to them. This shows that Aeolus wanted Odysseus to be punished for not listening to the strict instructions that he gave to him, to not open the bag of winds until he got to Ithaca. Therefore, he wouldn’t give Odysseus another bag of winds when he came back to him, as vengeance for not listening to what he was told to do with the winds. In addition, Circe turned some of Odysseus’ men into pigs for coming on to her island. This shows that Circe doesn’t want people to come on to her island, so she made sure that Odysseus and his men would never want to return to her island. Plus, she was bitter that Odysseus and his crew would step on to her land, so out of vengeance she turned some of the men into pigs. Finally, the families of the suitors, who Odysseus killed, came to Laertes’ orchard to attack Odysseus. This shows that the families of suitors were overcome with vengeance when they found out that all their sons were killed by Odysseus. Obviously, the families wanted to do something to avenge their sons, so they went after Odysseus to show to him that they were angry and wanted him to pay for what he did.
Odysseus also took a lot of vengeance on people in The Odyssey. For example, he blinded the Cyclops, Polyphemus, after Polyphemus captured him and his crew, and after
Polyphemus ate two of his men. This shows that Odysseus was driven by vengeance to blind Polyphemus and if Polyphemus never captured Odysseus and his men, Odysseus would have never hurt Polyphemus. Also, if Polyphemus never ate two of Odysseus’ men, Odysseus wouldn’t have blinded Polyphemus, but since he did Odysseus was taken over by vengeance to attack Polyphemus. In addition, Odysseus killed all but two suitors that were in his house when he returned back home to Ithaca. This shows that Odysseus was infuriated when he found out about how all the suitors were destroying his home and trying to win his wife’s hand in marriage. Obviously, he was overcome with vengeance and wanted the suitors to pay for trying to take away everything he worked so hard for, so he killed them in return for everything that they tried to steal from him. Finally, Odysseus killed all of his maids that were disloyal to him while he was gone on his journey. This shows that Odysseus was furious that his maids would help and be with the suitors when they were supposed to be loyal and only serve him. So, Odysseus’ vengeance took over and he wanted to kill all his maids that were disloyal to him because he wanted them to pay for betraying his trust.
Vengeance was what leads most of the characters in The Odyssey to do what they did, but it also ended getting the characters into trouble. The gods, people that Odysseus meets on his journey, and Odysseus were all driven by vengeance many times through out the epic. They acted on their vengeance instead of thinking it through and it often got them into trouble, but it also got them rewarded too. The theme of vengeance is threaded into The Odyssey, and is what made the epic so interesting. Wondering if they would act on their vengeance, or think it
through is what helped develop the complex plot of The Odyssey. It made the relationships between the characters way more complex and fun to read, so the theme of vengeance is a big contributor to making The Odyssey such an amazing epic.