An Essay on the Illiad

Homer’s The Odyssey, is an epic poem of mythology which includes twenty-four books. The ancient writings focused its topics of discussions on the Trojan War, a hero named Odysseus, and the challenges he faced

The Odyssey by Homer is a great text that manipulates the skill of storytelling bringing out the meaning of being human, the spiritual and physical homecoming. It is an archetypal epic expedition essential for understanding ourselves and other modern texts following the same pattern. The text brings out the ancient Greek beliefs and customs that are essential in studying Western Literature through the evaluation of different characters, and the themes manifested are essential in establishing a good foundation for any literature student. The themes therein such as leadership skills, folly, retaliation, mythology, death, ogres, temptation seduction, deceit, and warfare make the text an essential student companion in the quest of comprehending literature.

When Achilles first challenges Hector, Hector tries to talk his way out of it; yet again showing his cowardice. But, in the end, Hector decides to battle Achilles even though he knows the gods have

The Ancient Greeks idealized and worshiped their heroes, this is portrayed in Homer’s epic poem, The Iliad. To become a hero in ancient Greece, one would have to live and die in pursuit of glory and honor. Both Achilles and Hector seek victory in battle to become the “true hero.” Although both characters possess many hero-like qualities, Hector proved to be the genuine hero.

Homer’s epic poem, “The Odyssey” reveals many aspects of ancient Greek life and culture through character and plot. Through each of the tales circling the life of Odysseus and the Greek people, Homer depicts the history, legends, values, and merits of the ancient Greeks. Greek culture is known to be one of the most flavored and thorough in history, and each facet of it—from religion to ideology to mentalities and beliefs.

Even as his wife Andromache pleads “Pity me, please! Take your stand on the rampart here before you orphan your son and make your wife a widow” (Iliad VI. 511-512) to persuade him to stay at home, he chooses kleos over his family. Hector is described by Helen far differently than she speaks of her own husband.  “But come in, rest on this seat with me, dear brother, you are the one hit hardest by the fighting, Hector, you more than all – and all for me, slut that I am, and this blind mad Paris” (Iliad VI. 421-423).  Helen embraces Hector for his bravery and honor, and asks even that he rest from battle.  Her polar opinion between the two brothers serves as an important facet for dissecting the importance of kleos even within a family. Homer shows Helen’s shame and contempt for her husband as he does nothing to defend her or his home against her love for Hector as he fights so gloriously for Troy.

In the Trojan society, Hector is also given a very special role – not only is he the handsome son of Priam, a prince, he is also the strongest of the fighters. This is established when Achilles himself says of Hector after killing him:

Although his father Priam begs Hector to retreat behind the safety of the walls, knowing Achilles will most likely kill the last of his sons, Hector believes this is his fate to fight Achilles. Pride and honor play a role in preventing Hector from backing down. However this is where Achilles turns out to be more hero-like than Hector as Hector backs off when he is confronted with Achilles one on one. Each hero responds in a different manner to this conflict. Hector, in this case, decides to flee from Achilles, who chases him. Achilles, vengefully kills Hector with a spear to the throat which is the only part of Hector‘s body which isn't covered with Patroclus‘ armor. After Hector dies Achilles shamelessly desecrates the body and allows Greek soldiers to "have a piece of Hector" by cutting him. These actions do not follow the warrior code of the Greeks, which in turn angers the gods. When Achilles and his soldiers gain pleasure from repeatedly stabbing Hector's lifeless and bloody corpse, Achilles true nature is shown, and according to the heroic code, this should take away his title as a hero. In my mind Hector was more of a hero than Achilles although Achilles survived and Hector didn't. Hector died for the Trojans and died in the glory of battle whereas Achilles downgrades himself by attacking the lifeless corpse and gains pleasure. Also Achilles takes Hector's body and keeps it as a ransom. Knowing Hector's father,

In book 22, Hector becomes an instrument of fate and is shown no mercy by Achilles. Hector was consistently tricked by Apollo into fighting the battle even though there was no hope of winning. At the end of the book, as Achilles is bounding towards the city of Troy with Hector standing out front. Despite all of the encouragement to come back inside the city walls, Hector remains outfront and faces his death. Ultimately his pride gets the best of him and he would rather stay out and accept his fate of death, then to come inside and receive shame for leading his people into a losing battle in the first place. Hector chooses to leave his city to fend for itself without its greatest warrior to save himself from shame. The parallel between Hector and Achilles leads to a greater understanding of the theme of freedom vs. fate. Hector gives into his pride and accepts the “fate that awaits us all” and Achilles is motivated by freedom and seeks the revenge of his friend ultimately escaping death. Homer makes an excellent statement of this connection between the two men when he writes: “They ran by these springs, pursuer and pursued, a great man out front, a far greater behind” (book

Hector is a very important character he is one that thinks that children should not only be taught the syllabus that the government gives but they should be learning how to be well-round beings and have the knowledge to go throw life and be successful in everything they do this is shown in this quote "[Hector during his general studies class with the

The women in the city of Troy cannot ignore that lives without their husbands is a possibility. Helen, who some would say is the cause of the great battle, understands that she has a fault in the tragedies the men and woman will suffer: “You are the one hit the hardest by this fighting, Hector/ you more than all – and all for me, slut that I am, /and this blind mad Paris. Oh the two of us!” (VI: 287-289). Hector is valiant, a man of honor, which is the detriment to his fate, an element Andromache cannot help but worry about: “Clung to his hand, urged him, called him: ‘reckless one, / My Hector – your own fiery courage will destroy you!’” Life without a father for their son causes her most worry: “Have you no pity for him, our helpless son? Or me? /and that destiny that weighs me down, your widow, /now so soon. Yes, soon they will kill you off,” (VI: 350-352). Andromache understands that Hector is too proud of a warrior to walk away, but fears his death will cause most harm to their child, and many of her days she worries tremendously. Hector himself is conflicted:

This extract from Book 6 of Homer’s The Iliad comes at a point where the Trojans are heavily losing to the Achaeans. Hélenus, son of Priam has instructed Hector to return to the city to gather the elders to tell them to offer prayers to the gods so that goddess Athena may pity Troy. It is interesting that Homer should choose Hector to deliver this message rather than an unimportant character; Homer uses it as a devise to develop Hector and make him a more (if not the most) sympathetic character. He shows his contrasting sides; his family oriented side as opposed to the cruel warrior. The interaction with his child, Astyanax, brings a moment of tenderness and humanises Hector.Hector’s contrasting aspects to his character can be explored through

Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey follows Odysseus on his long journey home. The Epic also includes the stories of Odysseus’ family left behind: the travels of his son, Telemachus, and how plenty, of what we would now call “home wreckers”, suitors pressured his wife, Penelope, into marrying one of them. The characters are beautifully crafted and the story is truly epic. All the elements presented can bring in any reader from any century, the Cyclops, the Gods, the trickery of Penelope, and the disguises of Odysseus, are all legendary literary hooks . There are many things to learn—about writing, about the world around us, the world ahead of us, and the past behind us—from The Odyssey. (26) It is undeniably evident that this ancient text has

Homer concentrates on Hector throughout the chapter and makes comments about how brave and courageous he was. He also mentions that he is a great commander and leader of the Trojan army. In addition, Hector knew the reason behind the invasion which was Paris stealing Menelaus’ wife, Helen. This gives Agamemnon an excuse to attack Troy. Both Hector and his wife know that he is soon to meet his death, it’s inescapable. However, even though it is not his fight, he still feels compelled to go to war with his country and search for some vague glory. Hector seems to be very heroic. Moreover, Homer describes Hector as an immense warrior almost god-like. But in

Now that I have given a rough setting for book 12 of Metamorphoses, I will give a brief background of the battle with Hector. Achilles’ battle with Hector in book 22 of Iliad begins outside of the walls of the city of Troy at the end of the Trojan War. Hector was the last of the Trojan’s outside of the walls, ignoring his father King Priam’s pleads for him to get back to safety inside of the walls of the city. However, Hector believes he must fight for his honor and believes it is more honorable to die as one fighting to defend his city rather than dying an old man. At this same time moment, Achilles is going on a killing spree, because he believes glory is found in the size of the amount of Trojans he kills. This leads to Achilles chasing who he believes is a Trojan, Agenor, but in reality is the god Apollo distracting Achilles. Apollo is acting as a Trojan in order to divert Achilles from his killing of Trojans to save Trojan lives. Achilles’ anger is heightened due to the trick, and is now even more dangerous to Hector. After realizing that Achilles’ anger meant there was no chance of negotiation, Hector chose to run. After three laps around the walls of the city, Zeus began to pity Hector but was dissuaded by Athena who informed him