Honor, Fate In The Iliad And Chushingura

The Greeks placed great importance on personal honor. Why is this? Is it because to them man I nothing without honor. Or is it that the honor is more important than the man? "Honor to the Greeks is something that is won by a man's prowess, his ability to fight and be victorious on the battle field"(Schein 62). This is just one example of how honor is obtained. A second method of gaining honor is to be a great orator, one must posses the ability to speak in the assembly and express his ideas eloquently, and persuasively to the gathered body. A third way of achieving personal honor is to demonstrate athletic ability.

The relationships between parents and their sons in the Iliad are not relationships we expect to see in today’s society. The Iliad portrays the relationships between fathers and sons as something more than just physical and emotional. It is based on pride and respect for one another. The expectations of their son are more so to pass on their fathers reputable name and to follow in their father’s footsteps of being noble warriors. These relationships are the driving forces in the Iliad, making each son in the Iliad identifiable first by their father’s name. An outcome of the father–son relationships is ancestral loyalty among the characters which play a prominent role in war. Therefore, not only does the Iliad share a major war story, but

The notion of honor is prevalent throughout the Iliad and Antigone. Both texts demonstrate that honor is essential to Greek heroes because honor is the foundation of the society and family. Homer and Sophocles clearly show that honor guides people’s actions and responses and decides the fate of themselves and others. Both authors also place emphasis on the importance of proper burial because it is a strong indication of honor to the deceased and the deceased’s family. As can be seen in the Iliad and Antigone, the aim of every Greek hero is to gain everlasting honor because it ensures his place in the social memory of his society resounding even after death.

Every character in a story is motivated by a feeling or action. In Homer’s Iliad, the themes of aidos (shame) and kleos (honor) are used to propel the story forward and to keep the reader’s attention. The actions of the characters are heavily influenced by shame and honor. Homer does a stupendous job of portraying the feelings of shame and honor to develop specific characters in the story.

It goes without question to state that various times in Homer’s epic poem, The Iliad, violence occurs. Violence is typically thought of as it relates to physical violence, war, a way to resolve a conflict, yet is open to various other interpretations. In addition, it is arguable that multiple types of violence occur within that classical piece of literature. The most obvious type being physical violence, but including, yet is not limited to, psychological, emotional, sexual, and linguistic violence. Emotional violence is one that pairs easily within the other types, yet is equally as important. These types of brutality all contribute to the major theme of fate versus free will. This epic poem allows for readers to question whether people are truly free or if everything that happens is due to fate. If there is such a thing as determinism, then it would be safe to say nothing that happens in someone’s life is a free choice. In Homer’s, The Iliad, multiple scenes of violence support the central theme of fate versus free will.

Most humans create a facade which they hide behind. A person will create an identity that fits their expected role in their family, community, and society. All of these factors play into the human ideal because no one expectation of an ideal human matches another, but people still want to meet the expectations of the people around them. One common thread comes from even under the mask that all humans wear. Within The Odyssey by Homer, The Republic by Plato, and The Holy Bible, honor is able to play a role into a human’s life in many different ways; it is what pushes people into becoming the leader, teacher, and follower of what is believed in, and honor is what creates an ideal human.

In Homer’s epic, Iliad, Achilles is one of the main figures of the Trojan War. Achilles’ beliefs that he defines throughout the passage are influenced by the manipulations of war that he encounters, along with a focus on what the idea of glory entails and the effects that it has on one’s honor. They are two separate concepts, he recognizes, and during the Trojan War he knew that he could not have both. In the selected passage from Book Nine, it is clear that Achilles, the Greek warrior, questions and reevaluates the idea of honor and glory, as he believes honor and glory are inherently incompatible, thus causing him to sacrifice one in order to have the other. This reevaluation emphasizes the abnormal attitude from a once fierce warrior and

Honor is defined as a high respect given to an individual that brings credit. To receive honor is paralleled to being crowned with jewels and being regarded as a role model to all. The society that the Iliad portrays is “centered on the battlefield of achievement and its rewards” (Homer, xxi). The figures in Homer’s epic poem, the Iliad, partake in events that will allow them to “receive more honor and more material rewards” even if it means that they must indulge themselves in heightened risks that could end in death (xxiii). Hector, one of the most pivotal characters in the poem, illustrates the lust for glory and ignorance of everything else that holds just as much importance. As his character is strengthened, it can be seen that every

In ancient Greece, it was crucial that men proved their masculinity in order to uphold their worth and earn them a place in social establishments. An important aspect of human life is a man’s masculine identity and how it plays a role in society. However with this idea of masculinity came limitations that were not to be crossed. Ancient Greek epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey, both function to provide their own view on masculinity in society through the reverse sex similes. In the Iliad the crucial role of Achilles as a warrior and his association with maternal protection, as represented through it’s reverse sex maternal similes, ultimately proves problematic. This intrinsic part of man to fight on the battlefield to win timê and kleos is ultimately

In the epics of both Homer and Virgil, the meaning and politics of honour play a significant role in the decisions and actions of the characters. Honour involves arbitrary set of rules, so just what is is and why did people need to maintain these rules at all? In these poems, honour is linked to a hero’s possessions, identity, and deed. All three are important, but one’s deeds seem to matter the most and without performing great deeds, honour cannot be had the other two ways.

Before his death the Trojan leader Hector exclaims, “Well let me die⎼but not without struggle, not without glory, no, in some great clash of arms that even men to come will hear of down the years,” (22.359-362). This proclamation reveals an important theme in Homer’s Iliad. Throughout the epic poem, the concept of honor and shame constantly reappears, from being the cause of the plot to personification as Greek and Trojan heroes to the dichotomy of honor and shame within the gods. Homer uses honor and shame as a major theme of the Iliad to show how important these attributes are to the human condition.

A person’s worth and identity in modern culture is not determined solely by the principles of either of the two Greek cultures; rather, both have contributed aspects to the system we have. The

     Mortality, by its very nature, causes men's lives to be cut short at their primes.The Fates cut our lives short at any time, so the Greeks must have an example, a model mortal, to follow so as to make the "most of their lives."A model mortal is one who lives his life accumulating the most honor and glory: "he pressed for battle now where men win glory" (4: 259).By strictly adhering to the honor/heroic code, a mortal can raise himself to become the model mortal. This hero, Diomedes, is the model mortal of the Greeks.

There are different forms and examples of exemplary and classic literature which have been deemed as significant works that are highly esteemed worldwide. These examples of literature would awe the world with how much literary skill they entailed when they were composed and written: attention to details as to formation of characters, the most crafty of plots, the most eloquent speeches and lines, the most astounding of twists of scenes, and most of all, the most universal and meaningful of themes. The theme of any literary work is what makes it great as it should be able to encompass the immense diversity of the world and as it would be able to transcend the boundaries of religion, age, race, gender, etc. Two examples of this great and

The Iliad is a story about the war between the Trojans and the Greeks. They believe that if you fight in a war, this is how you prove ones honor and integrity, but to not fight would show cowardice or fear. During this time, the males were trained from a young age to assume a major role in the war efforts (Rosenberg, 1999, p. 119).