Strong Foreshadowing About the Suitors' fate in The Odyssey

          In The Odyssey, the tale of the hero Odysseus and his many struggles, Odysseus is gone for 20 years, first for the Trojan war, and then lost at sea on his way home. Everyone thinks he is dead, and many suitors from all over have come to try to win the hand of his wife Penelope, who they believe to be a widow. The suitors come, and end up staying for many, many years, outstaying their welcome and breaking the rules of hospitality. This was a very high offense back then, and it was often punished by the gods with the loss of the person's life. Throughout the book, but especially in the later chapters, there are many things spoken that strongly foreshadow a bad end for the suitors. The first one is on page 260, when Telemachus says "That's the Odysseus I want the suitors to meet! They'd get married all right––to bitter death." I think that this is saying that if Odysseus ever gets home, and is still the man he was when he left, the suitors will meet a bitter end. The second bit of foreshadowing is on page 271 when Odysseus, disguised as a beggar says "If there are gods for beggars, or avenging spirits, may death come to Antinous before marriage does." I think that this is showing that the punishment for offenses such as the breaking of hospitality rules should be put in the hands of the gods to do with as they please, and mortals can only hope that the offender gets the end they deserve. The third example of predictions of a horrible death for the suitors is when Penelope says "That means death will surely come to the suitors, one and all. Not a single man will escape." In this example, Penelope has just read her son's sneeze as a sign from the gods that the suitors will meet their end, and none will escape.