Odysseus Loyalty Analysis

Is This Really Loyalty?

What does loyalty mean in a relationship? To Odysseus, loyalty in a relationship does not seem to mean anything to him. In Homer’s The Odyssey the reader follow Odysseus as he leaves the Trojan War and makes his way home to Ithaca. On the way there he bounces from island to island introducing himself to everyone he meets, and embraces every diversion possible on the way home to Penelope. Although Odysseus kills the suitors when he gets back to Ithaca showing he is loyal to Penelope, the choices that he makes on the way home show his is not loyal because he cheats on her, is not in a hurry to get home, and does not tell Penelope when he gets home.

As Odysseus made his way home he made choices so he could get home, but

One instance where Odysseus did not seem to be in a hurry to get home was when Odysseus decided to stay an extra 1 year with Circe when he said, “And there we sat at ease, / day in, day out, till a year had run its course,...” (Homer 10. 514-515). It says right there in the quote “there we sat at ease” showing that Odysseus and his crew we in no hurry to get home, it almost was like they were on vacation and just reaction. Odysseus was with the Phaeacians for a really long time for two separate reasons. One being when he told his story of his journey there, it took a lot of time that was unnecessary: Odysseus decided to tell the Phaeacians his whole story, which took a lot of time, and in that time he could have been using to get home (Homer 9-12). The second time that he stayed longer with the Phaeacians is when he decided to compete in the games by saying, “I’ll compete in your games, just watch. Your insults / cut to the quick— you rouse my fighting blood!” (Homer 8. 214-215). Odysseus has such a big ego that he could not stand people making fun of him, he had to waste more time and play the games with them. Throughout the book, Odysseus could not just worry about himself, he has to worry about his crew as well, and in some cases he has to save them. When Odysseus and his crew docked on the island where Polyphemus lived,

Odysseus slept with two women that are not his wife because her could. Odysseus also always took the long route to everything and never took the shortest option. Odysseus killing the suitors really wasn’t because he was loyal to Penelope, it was because he did not want them using his stuff and eating his food anymore. Loyalty in a relationship is very important because they have to know that they can trust their partner, and in the Odyssey, Penelope does that but Odysseus does