Are You Satisfied Yet?

After reading Book 22 of the Odyssey, a question that has been asked in class is: Was it satisfying?  Honestly, I have found that I can’t really answer this question.  I mean, the slaughtering of the suitors was what the whole book was building up too.  It’s what we, as readers, have been waiting for, all signs pointed to it, and so it seems “right”.  But is it really? Is that really all there is to it?

The whole scene is very ruthless.  Odysseus has painted his walls with the blood of the suitors, “so the suitors lay in heaps ,corpse covering corpse...Odysseus in the thick of slaughtered corpses, splattered with bloody filth like a lion that’s devoured some ox of the field and lopes home, covered in blood, his chest streaked, both jaws glistening, dripping red--a sight to strike terror” (22.414, 426-430).  Not only does he slaughter the suitors, men in the household during his leave of absence, but he also gave the unfaithful maids, women of the household, a daunting sentence. Their punishment denigrated their lives: “they carried out the bodies of the dead and propped them under the courtyard colonnade, standing them one against another...Next they scrubbed down the elegant chairs and tables, washed them with sopping sponges, rinsed them clean” (22.473-5, 478-9).  If that wasn’t enough discipline, the unfaithful maids, “sluts--the suitors’ whores” (22. 490), are sentenced to death.  I won’t quote this part of the book, for it is very gruesome, but in short, they are hung by Telemachus.  

In a macabre way, I get why we, as readers, are supposed to see this scene as justified.  I mean, these suitors have been lounging around Odysseus’ palace during his absence, using up his resources.  I assume, in the minds of Odysseus, Telemachus, Athena, and others, that it seemed justified to slaughter all the unfaithful.  But, from a 21st century American perspective, I don’t believe it was really justified.  Must Odysseus slaughter to solve his problems?  In my opinions, that action seems more villainous and hedonistic than heroic.  There were other ways to deal with this situation.  These alternatives did not involve intense violence; they include banishing the suitors from Ithaca, making them repay him, etc.  

Returning to Odysseus, how should we interpret his decision to revert to extreme violence.  This act reveals his insecurity more than heroism.  It’s a bit childish, when you think about it.  (Of course, not the actual slaughter, but the concept behind it).  Children, because they have yet to mature, believe the only way to a problem is the throw a tantrum and freak out.  When then mature as adults, they learn that either you can either talk to the problem-maker(s), or you can walk away.  Odysseus did neither of these mature responses, he lost control and killed everyone.  By doing this, it implied that Odysseus is a little immature in his actions as king.  He killed the suitors, before even talking/ reasoning with them.  That tells me that he is worried about his kingly stature, and feels self-conscious enough to kill the problem-makers, the suitors and unfaithful maids, instead of reasoning through it.  

So, back to the question: is this scene satisfying?  Partially.  I mean, I don’t think I would be satisfied if it ended in non-violence either.  I guess that means I’m a hard reader to please or my mind is not totally convinced that he could have ever reasoned with them.  Although I may not agree with the morals of Odysseus’ actions, I do think it made for an exciting ending.