Analysis Of Homer 's ' The Iliad '

In perusing the various roles women fill in our modern society, it is clear the popularity and relevance of the patriarchy is dwindling. However, in Homer’s Iliad, men reigned omnipotent; women were treated as objects, won as prizes in war, and are routley discounted as ineffectual human beings. Whatever the reason for man’s dismissal of women as inferiors, the responses of women to their societal immobility sheds their real traits and abilities in a new light. The Iliad focuses on events during and at the end of the Trojan War, a conflict that not only pits the two male armies against each other, but also main female characters Aphrodite, Briseis, and Helen against the pervasiveness and power of patriarchy. Through a feminist examination of

In almost all instances of war the cause has been related to greed, or the gaining of land and possessions. Greed is presented in the very first book of Homer’s “The Iliad.” It isn’t displayed by the cowards, but the “heroes” of the war such as Agamemnon, Achilles, and Pandarus. The entire cause of the Trojan War is the result of the greedy and cowardly behavior of Paris. There are many factors that had sparked the war, including the interference of the gods; however, the main factor to be blamed for the war is greed.

“As is the generation of leaves, so is that of humanity. The wind scatters the leaves on the ground, but the live timber burgeons with leaves again in the season of spring returning. So one generation of men will grow while another dies” (6.146-50)

In the Epic, “The Odyssey", spoken by Homer, conveys a heroic tale of an epic hero named, Odysseus, who faces many challenges as he sails to get home. One of the tasks Odysseus faces is, "The Sirens", who challenge Odysseus 's will power. Another challenge Odysseus encounters is, “The Cyclops", who torments and slaughters some of Odysseus 's men due to his curiosity. One of the hardest threats he had to confront was, “The Land of Dead" which tested his self-restraint, and revealed his human weaknesses of sorrow. The Epic Hero, Odysseus, struggles with many challenges such as, the taunting Sirens, the brutish and cruel Cyclops, and one of the arduous territories Odysseus has ever crossed, The Land of the Dead.

The first book of the Iliad begins with the beginning of Achilles’ rage, the rage that will eventually cause his own people so much grief and is also the force for Homer’s version of the story of the Trojan War. Whereas the taking of Helen is the focus of the larger, traditional story, the feud between Agamemnon and the hero Achilles over a kidnapped girl defines the Iliad. Both feature a conflict over a woman, Helen and Chryses’ daughter, and a need for resolution as well as a breach of social contract: Paris steals the wife of Agamemnon, ruining the bonds of the guest relationship, while Agamemnon denies Chryse his right to ransom and invokes the wrath of the gods in the form of a plague. In both cases, however, it becomes clear that the conflict will not be resolved quickly, but will continue through the very heart of the story. By “singing of Achilles’ rage” from the first line, the narrator is clearly showing the audience that this Trojan war is not the war of Hector or Paris or Helen, but of the proud Achilles and his hero-sized enemy.

In The Iliad by Homer women in the Ancient World period were seen as possessions and property of men and consequently they were inferior to men. The Iliad begins in the 10th year of the war and starts off with Achilles and Agamemnon fighting over their war prizes, Chryseis and Brieseis. Chryseis’s father, priest of Apollo, asked Menelaus for his daughter back or he would pray to Apollo to send a plague to the Greek camp. Menelaus finally gives Chryseis back because

In the “Odyssey”, Odysseus goes through obstacles throughout the book that a normal man couldn’t subside. One example is in book 9, his main obstacle that he is trying to face is to escape from being held hostage in a cave by a Cyclops better known as Polyphemus. Odysseus is a archetypal hero, he is also a role model, with an ambition to get to his homeland Ithaca. He goes through resisting temptation and using his intellect and physical strength to get him there, no matter the obstacle nor the negative flaws that he faces. Odysseus put himself and his men in that situation by being curious and wanting to know what kind of land his ship and the winds led him to. This was selfish of him because it cost him some of his men, but a leader and hero has to play that role and some lives will be dealt with on the way. Odysseus says, “The rest of you will stay here while I go with my ship and crew on reconnaissance. I want to find out what those men are like, Wild savages with no sense of right or wrong Or hospitable folk who fear the gods” (Homer 429). Saying this quote alone makes Odysseus a humble man due to the fact that not even a piece of land is going to slow him down on his journey back home.

Throughout The Iliad, an epic poem written by Homer, there were numerous warriors and other characters that could be looked upon as heroes; some of these heroes included Achilles, Ajax, Diomedes, Hector, and Glaucus. All of these individuals were heroes because of their remarkable mental and physical strength: they were courageous and were better fighters in war than other ordinary men. The trade of battle was a way of life to the Greeks back in Homer’s time. Children were raised to become great servicemen to their country, and warriors lived to fight for and defend their nation with pride and valor. The heroic code was a strict morality that dealt with matters relating to honor and integrity in battle.

The character Ulysses Everett McGill from “O Brother, Where art thou?” is a worthy representation of Odysseus from the “Odyssey”. Ulysses Everett McGill, or Everett, was the main character of the movie who was trying to get back home. Odysseus was a king and warrior who spent 20 years away from home due to obstacles and distractions. Both characters share many personality traits and events that make the movie a modern adaption of the epic poem

Homer’s epic, The Iliad, highlights the influence and jurisdiction that beauty provides. The prizes and glory a man accumulates from war measure his power, while beauty measures a woman’s power. Since conquering a woman is the ultimate prize to a man, her beauty represents ultimate power. Though the beauty of mortal women has the power to turn men against each other, mortal women have no influence over this power and are instead objectified by men. Immortal women, however, have authority over their beauty and are able to control men with their power. Helen, on the other hand, though mortal, has the beauty of a goddess. Yet, Helen is bound by her fate to Paris, making her power obsolete. By presenting Helen’s hopeless power and supplying the reader with insight on her suffering through her thoughts, Helen is portrayed as a tragic hero.

“The relationship between the male and the female is by nature such that the male is higher, the female lower,” This very sexism and politically incorrect statement came from the mouth of the famous Aristotle from ancient Greece. People from ancient Greece commonly associated women inferior to men and women’s role only belonged in the house and with the children with no political activity. In contrast to this stereotype, Homer, though his book the Iliad, demonstrated women such as Andromache, Brises and Helen playing an enormous role for the Trojans, Achaean and the major war itself through their presents in the lives of the protagonist which change the outcome of the war completely.

Historical records show the rights that women had in ancient Greece. They clearly state that women did not have the legal right to vote or own property, two important privileges of citizenship. On the other hand, poetry and prose from the time period are the primary resources today’s scholars study to determine the exact role that women held in society at the time. Two insightful works for this purpose are Homer’s epics The Iliad and The Odyssey. Females in The Iliad and The Odyssey display the three main roles that women play in the lives of men: goddess, caretaker, and

Agency can be defined as willed action that is freely taken after deliberation or action taken having a specific purpose behind it. In book six of the Iliad, Hector deals with the struggle of choosing between his familial duties and his public heroic responsibilities. The outcome of this conflict, presented in the passage from book six of the Iliad, represents an agency that is both purposeful and goal directed towards receiving honor. The fact that Hector leaves behind his beloved family, and doesn’t abandon his city, although it is destined to fail shows that Hector is able to make his own decisions, even when he is influenced by those outside forces.

Homer’s poem, The Iliad, explains to us how the Trojan War started with Paris stealing Menelaus wife, Helen, and affected the lives of the Greek and Trojan people. The gods and warriors all desire to earn their honor to prove they are great, which Homer proves that it ends disastrously at times. Homer’s definition of honor in Iliad shows us that the gods, Greeks, and Trojans will do anything to prove their honor, while in the Hebrew Bible, they show honor differently. In the Hebrew Bible, we learn to honor one person that gave us life, God. The Hebrew Bible gives us a choice to choose from right and wrong, to learn from our mistakes. God wants us to be able to prove that we are able to head to the advice that we are given. Homer displays fate in The Iliad to show that no matter what we do, our future is already determined for us regardless if we intervene. Homer describes our decisions are not up to us, our fate is decided for us no matter how much we try to escape from it, it will always meet up with us in the future. In Oedipus the King, we have differences of fate vs. free will. Even though fate is already determined, it is the free will that shows us that is ultimately up to Oedipus, but also the free will he takes to own up to his mistakes by blinding himself. As in the Hebrew Bible and Oedipus are the same. Even though

The Iliad ranks as one of the most important and most influential works in terms of world literatures since its establishment. Between the underlying standard to which the Iliad offers us as audience members, along with the plethora of writers that have followed in the footsteps to which Homer’s Iliad paved, the impact that the Iliad has played is remarkable in itself. While the Iliad can be credited for much of present day literature we study today, Hollywood can be created for the plethora of world-class films and replication of iconic works of literature over its time as well. Wolfgang Petersons Troy is a prime example of a world-renowned poetic being transformed into a Hollywood production. While the 2004 American epic adventure war film, Troy was a huge hit in the box office, and full of world-class actors such as Brad Pitt and Orlando Bloom; it does lack many critical events and characters that play a key role in Homer’s Iliad.