The recurring theme in the Odyssey is that you must always stay loyal to your leader or king because they will get you through anything and if you are disloyal it will come back to haunt you or even kill you.
In book 12 of The Odyssey odysseus and his crew must make it through some tough passages and without the help of Odysseus their leader they will all perish and die. Without the leadership of Odysseus who knows about all of the obstacles they are about to face in the sea, and how to get past them with some of the crew left they must listen to him. To get past the Sirens Odysseus told his crew to tie him to the mast and then plug there ears with wax so they will not hear the sirens. "and I stopped the ears of my comrades one by one. They bound me hand and foot in the tight ship-erect at the mast-block lashed by ropes to the mast." (pg.276 Lines 192-194) By doing this Odysseus cannot steer the ship into the rocks and kill them because even if he did plug his ears he would still be able to hear them because he wanted to. Since the crew plugged their ears they could not hear the sirens and that saved them thanks to Odysseus. Thanks to the leadership of Odysseus it saved the crew from distruction and helped them pass the sirens on the quest to get back home.
In book 19 of The Odyssey Odysseus trusts the loyalty of his wife to see if he wants to return to her and remain married to her. When Odysseus returns to Ithacea, he sees if his wife has been loyal to him while he has been gone. In fact she has not married any of the suitors that were trying to marry her, but deep down in her heart she believed that Odysseus was still alive. "I yearn for Odysseus always, my heart pines away. They rush the marriage on, and I spin out my wiles.." (pg.394. Lines 151-152) This quote shows that she hopes Odysseus comes back because she is his true love. If she must she will marry one of the suitors but she will never love them like she does Odysseus, and when she finds out that he might be coming back she cries for joy but doesnt know if she believes it. Penelope stays loyal to Odysseus by not marrying any of the suitors and wishing and hoping that he will come back to be with her.
In Book 22 of The Odyssey there are some people that have not stayed loyal to Odysseus and they will pay for that. All of the suitors have not stayed loyal to him and they will all die for that. "You dogs! you never imagined I'd return from Troy- so cocksure that you bled my house to death,..." (pg.440 Lines36-39) Odyseeus unleashes his wrath on the suitors for trying to take away his wife from him and hurt his serving women. Odysseus gets back at them and kills every last one of them with his son Telemachus at his side. By not staying loyal to Odysseus the suitors pay the price with their lives, which is not a nice way to die.
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