Similes in The Odyssey

             should think to lie in that great captain's bed.
             Fawns in a lion's lair! As if a doe.
             Put down her litter of sucklings there, while she.
             Quested a glen or cropped some grassy hollow. (4. 358-362).
             The wolf simile accurately portrays the suitors as greedy, selfish, rude, thoughtless, and disrespectful. However, the fawn comparison presents the reader with a snapshot of what is in store for the suitors. The fawn here is not portrayed as a tranquil, docile animal, but as unassuming prey to a much stronger, calculated predator. In this case, Odysseus is the predator. This predation is illustrated in the following simile:.
             spattered and caked with blood like a mountain lion.
             when he has gorged upon an ox, his kill -.
             with hot blood glistening over his whole chest,.
             smeared on his jaws, baleful and terrifying -.
             even so encrimsoned was Odysseus.
             up to his thighs and armpits. (22.450-455).
             Here, Odysseus has just slain the suitors. This definitely captures the reader's attention. Not only does this scene portray the mighty power of a hero but also gruesome enough to capture the reader's attention. .
             The use of similes in illustrating heartache is also noticeable in The Odyssey. In Book 8, after hearing Demodokos, the minstrel, sing about Odysseus" battle in Troy, Homer describes Odysseus crying. He uses the following simile: .
             And Odysseus.
             let the bright molten tears run down his cheeks,.
             weeping the way a wife mourns for her lord.
             on the lost field where he has gone down fighting.
             the day of wrath that came upon his children.
             At sight of the man panting and dying there,.
             she slips down to enfold him, crying out;.
             then feels the spears, prodding her back and shoulders,.
             and goes bound into slavery and grief.
             Piteous weeping wears away her cheeks:.