The bow represents then end of a long journey, and when Ulysses strings and draws the bow it signals the end of the suitors and the return of the king. When Penelope opens the room where the bow resides, she cries because she can't run any longer, she can't delay any more. Her fate is not in her hands. It is also giving up the man she loves, giving it away to someone else. Perhaps its that she isn't ready to move on, she can't bear the thought of not only the man being lost, but his possessions too. What is she to do without his wealth? When Telemachus tries to bend the bow he's huffing and straining and on the fourth try puts his weight behind his pull and starts to bend it. Ulysses has that "that's my boy" moment right then but even as he is proud, he doesn't forget that the plan is for Ulysses to bend the bow to announce his return, and at the same time arm himself for the coming slaughter. And really, that's the the bow means in the story, the harbinger of the suitors' demise and Ulysses's return.
Ulysses explains to the suitors after Antinous dies a terrifically written death that they're lives are forfeit, their debauchery and exploitation of his house is reason enough for them all to die. Eurymachus doesn't believe he is Ulysses, but pleads mercy by offering riches and livestock from every suitor. He's trying to bribe Ulysses, but he has no need for such pleasantries, their fate is sealed, he will not back down, the price is blood. He' filled with hate and wrath, and he is eager to unleash it. I get the feeling that he is saying these words while grating his teeth, eager for Eurymachus to stop talking to he can exact his punishment. I think I would be more lenient to the suitors if I was in his position. If i were him, I would probably exile them, strip them of all their titles, deeds, lands, wealth, and property, and send them off on a ship with no provisions. But that could only happen after I crack some skulls, as I think there would be plenty of resistance, in the end, to get what Ulysses wants, he uses force, and force was the only way. The suitors would never so easily give up unless they knew their life was on the line. So...that means that someone had to die to prove that Ulysses was serious, he not in negotiating mood. Killing Antinous was like killing the head on a snake, now the body is flailing and panicked.
This violence is violence done for vengeance, for retribution, for justice. It is righteous in the eyes of Zeus. That is the key difference between the war over Helen, that was a war of lust, anger, and ego.
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