People have karma when they bring themselves trouble or luck by the way they act. Loyalty is extremely important in Greek culture; good fortune comes to those who are loyal, while those who are unfaithful or rebellious usually end up ruined or killed. In Homer's epic Odyssey many people are influenced by their actions. Some examples of people who were affected by this are Clytemnestra, Penelope, all of her suitors, Odysseus, and her maids. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Clytemnestra is a perfect example of a disloyal wife. Her husband, Agamemnon, was away fighting in the Trojan War, and she felt lonely, so she found a new boyfriend, Aegisthus. They had been happily together for years and were getting used to being together. When Agamemnon finally returned home, he helped Aegisthus kill him. When Agamemnon's son Orestes learned of this, he killed Aegisthus to avenge his father. This clearly shows that one should not commit adultery, because Clytemnestra was thereafter known as a very unfaithful wife, and thereafter never truly had any happiness in her life. This teaches the lesson of how important loyalty to one's spouse is; if you are not a devoted wife or husband, things will not go well for you. Penelope was exactly the opposite of Clytemnestra. When her husband, Odysseus, went to fight in the Trojan War, she missed him desperately. More than twenty years passed and even suitors showed up at her house to try to win her over. However Penelope, being a devoted wife, ignored all the suitors and instead continued to hope that Odysseus would eventually return home. Due to her extraordinary loyalty she was bestowed with good fortune by the gods, particularly Athena, and eventually had a wonderful reunion with her husband. This is a very significant point that explains how important loyalty was in Greek culture; instead of showing how disloyal people end up angering the Gods and their lives are destroyed, he showed how one's kindness and devotion could turn out to be good for them in the long run. Although Penelope abstained from suitors, they certainly did not abstain from her or her handmaids. This was both unfaithful to Penelope, because they should have courted her, and contemptuous of Odysseus, because some of them were from Ithaca and therefore disrespected their king, and most of them actually fought in battle side by side with Ulysses. He had saved the lives of many of them and they treacherously repaid him by attempting to kidnap his wife with the excuse that he might be dead. This rudeness and inability to show respect was shown to the gods and they became angry with the suitors. The gods involved were mostly Athena and Zeus, but it was mostly Athena. Telemachus and Odysseus slaughtered them all for their crimes in their dining room. At this point, it seems that Odysseus had an easy time after having settled everything with the war, but he didn't have such luck. He was a very loyal crew member even though he caused many of their deaths when he taunted Poseidon's Cyclops son, which made Poseidon hate Odysseus even more than he already did for defeating the Trojans in war, because Polythemus, the Cyclops prayed that Odysseus would never return home, or that if he did, all of his crew would die. The main focus of his disloyalty was his infidelity towards Penelope. He might seem like the perfect husband, but that wasn't true at all. During his absence he had slept with Calypso almost every time.