Hospitality In "the Odyssey"

Joe Strehlow 3/8/09 4°

Hospitality: A Moral or a Law? In the elaborate and profound epic poem “The Odyssey,” Homer expresses that one’s nobility is determined by one’s ability to abide by the proper etiquettes of hospitality. Odysseus, King of Ithaka, has left his homeland and has been unable to return home for twenty years due to the Trojan War, as well as obstacles which prevent him from returning home. Since he left for war, he was forced to leave his wife Penelope and his son Telemachos behind. Many suitors flock to Penelope, as they want to claim the throne of Ithaka; Penelope refuses to marry any of them, but as a result, they overextend their stay and become unlawful and volatile guests. Since one’s ability to abide by the proper etiquettes of hospitality determines how dignified one is, one must always provide adequate hospitality to visitors, and in turn, the visitors must not take inappropriate advantages of the host; Homer illustrates his theme through the hospitable actions of Menelaos and Telemachos and through the flagitious and nefarious actions of the suitors. The welcoming and hospitable actions of Menelaos and Telemachos illustrate the proper manner in which to comply with the laws of hospitality. When Telemachos asks for permission to leave Sparta, Menelaos replies, “It is equally bad when one speeds on the great unwilling/ to go, and when he holds back one who is hastening…/ Yet stay until I can bring you fine gifts…/ while I tell the women/ to prepare a dinner” (XV. 72-77). Menelaos acts overly hospitable, as well as, to some extent, hypocritical; he wants Telemachos to stay, yet at the same time, he speaks of how a host should not hold a visitor in the host’s residence. However, Menelaos, in his mind, is in somewhat of a dilemma, as he wishes to give his visitor whatever he desires, but he also feels he is a poor and unworthy host if he permits Telemachos to leave without a proper valediction. Menelaos’s perspective of hospitality suggest that it is not easy for an honorable

Greek to be a proper host, as one must try to see the world through the eyes of the visitor(s); at the same time, the host must refrain from becoming overly hospitable. Moreover, when Theoklymenos asks Telemachos where he should stay on Ithaka, Telemachos replies, “Were things otherwise, indeed I would urge you to visit/ our house, we lack no means as hosts, and yet for yourself/ it would be worse, for I shall be absent” (XV. 513-515). Telemachos has difficulty choosing between following the traditional practices of hospitality and adhering by them, but even with the situation regarding the suitors at his residence, Telemachos still puts in his greatest effort in making his visitor Theoklymenos comfortable. Telemachos also tries to prove that he is a respectable and decorous individual, as he wishes to do his best to preserve the life of his home. By working to protect his home, he is preserving his righteousness in his hospitality; by preserving his righteousness, he is preserving what his home and all homes alike truly stand for: the past, the future, family, dignity, and life itself, as home is where one lives, whether ill or healthful, disheartened or blissful, and with or without what one truly desires. The indication of Telemachos’s temporary future absence, although unavoidable, is a future action that is merely a minor corruption of hospitality; however, it suggests the possibility that the iniquity of hospitality will soon rise. The repugnant actions of the suitors contribute to the exposure of Homer’s theme. Telemachos finally admits his irritation with the suitors’ misuse of the hosts’ hospitality; he harangues, “But if you decide it is more profitable and better/ to go on, eating up one man’s livelihood, without payment,/ then spoil my house” (I. 376-382). The suitors are dumbfounded as well as astonished, due to the daring way Telemachos spoke to them. The suitors, no matter how unlawful their actions, consider themselves guests of Telemachos and his mother, which reveals that some believe even if one breaks the laws of hospitality to an extent beyond contemptible, that does not give the other party, be it visitor(s) or host(s), the right to refuse to abide by the

laws of hospitality. Additionally, when Telemachos informs the suitors that if they decide it is better to overextend their hospitality and ruin Telemachos and his mother, he attempts to use the weapon of shame. He is well aware that if they feel shame, they will set themselves right, and unknowingly, the suitors will restore the ethical principle of hospitality on Ithaka. Furthermore, the suitors demoralize hospitable aspects; when the suitors are speaking together, Antinoös proposes that they “must make [their] plans for the grim destruction/ of Telemachos…/ and ourselves seize his goods and possessions” (XVI. 370-384). Antinoös violates the laws of traditional hospitality, as he is not only ungrateful to Telemachos’s and Penelope’s hospitality, but Antinoös wishes to kill Telemachos because the suitors may unrightfully inherit all that belongs to Telemachos and his father. Telemachos is a protector of hospitality, as he understands that hospitality keeps people together and happy, as well as it being a symbol for what home truly is. Antinoös knows that in order to utterly obliterate the meaning of moral hospitality, he must first kill the Telemachos the Guardian. Antinoös’s proposal to murder Telemachos is not just a plan to gain riches and eliminate an individual he perceives as troublesome; it is a plan to utterly defile the very concept of ethical hospitality itself. Homer explicates that the nobility of an individual depends on one’s ability to follow the laws of true hospitality; the visitor(s) must have proper etiquette and the host(s) must take proper care of the guest(s). In addition, the author proves that one’s adherence to the laws of hospitality affects the moral preservation of home; when one preserves the moral aspects of one’s home, one protects what one feels one’s home truly stands for. Even though Homer composed “The Odyssey” over three thousand years ago, many of the moral values regarding hospitality have not changed, regardless of where one is around the world. One must always act properly when one is being hosted by another, one must always provide for the individual(s) one is the host for, and

one’s devotion to following the laws of hospitality still makes one’s home a morally comfortable place for oneself.