How do the rhyming couplets move the action forward? by including descriptive details about setting by connecting important plot points by illustrating the author's purpose by using the same number of syllables up rose old barbara frietchie then, bowed with her fourscore years and ten; bravest of all in frederick town, she took up the flag the men hauled down;

The rhyming couplets move the action forward by connecting important plot points.

All rhyming couplets used the same number of syllables, and not always move the action forward. These don't show the author's purpose nor details about the setting.

i cannot see any of the options

in my opinion i think it was not excessive at all. the maids turned against the queen in his absence, how could he ever trust them again? if he let them go they would surely spread the news of the suitor's deaths, which is much too risky. as for the suitors, they were selfish, rude, and greedy. the god's had apparently marked them for death, meaning odysseus made their death come faster.