Essay on The Iliad

At the end of the war, Menelaus initially wanted to kill Helen as a result of her leaving him for Paris of Troy. He changed his mind though when he saw her blubbering, in melancholy, and shedding her robes uncovering her beautiful body for him to gaze upon.

There are various accounts for why Helen left Sparta and to why Paris abducted Helen. Some attribute the abduction as a means to power and politics. According to Strauss, Anatolia was a place that offered women more political freedom (Strauss, 16). Freedom and power alone could have enticed Helen to leaving her husband and running off with Paris. Homer heavily

At the beginning of the story, the gods are debating what to do with the Greeks after they pillaged Troy, but more specifically, violated Athena’s shrine. Athena asks for help and says to Poseidon, “I want to help the Trojans who were my enemies, and make the Greek army’s homecoming a bitter one.” (Euripides 63). To which Poseidon replies, “You’re so fickle. Your mind leaps here and there: now you hate, and now you love, and both in excess.” (Euripides 65). Even Poseidon admits to the “fickleness” of the goddess since her allies during the war were the Greeks. This lends itself to show that Helen could be telling the truth about the goddesses having an argument about the beauty of each other and Aphrodite forcing Helen to run away with Paris. Helen also helps her argument by pointing out that the fight was preordained by the gods based on the prophecy about Paris, and then blames Paris’s mother and father for letting Paris live, rather than slaying Paris and trying to stop the prophecy from coming true. Through the many effective arguments, Helen shows that she did not ask to be carried away by Paris and that she liked Menelaus. Menelaus seems very weak compared to Helen, especially since he seems to not be able to make up his mind whether to kill her or not. In the end, Menelaus seems to decide on letting her live, though he still tells

The three people that shall be blamed for causing the Trojan War would be Helen; for being disloyal, Agamemnon for his selfishness and Paris for his ignorance. Helen is to blame for this tragedy because she betrayed her husband by choice. As mentioned in the text, as Helen was chosen to be with Paris, she then chose to flee with him back to Troy. However, after making that offensive decision, she further increased her sins by committing adultery. To further expand, she had many opportunities to run away and go back to Menelaus to end the war but she was determined not to. Her oblivious decisions caused this whole war. A huge role in this long lasting battle was played by Agamemnon’s selfishness. He was only looking for an excuse to go to

One of of the causes or reasons that the Trojan War happened was when the youngest of Troy, Paris, have dishonoured all the means of hospitality by running off with Helen the wife of the king of Sparta, King Menelaus. This got the king angry because of his decision he decided to go to his brother King Agamemnon, for his assistance. King Agamemnon finally had the chance to take overTroy as it was always what he wanted but however he was frequently stopped by his brother and however given by thin opportunity, he took it and finally took over this beautiful city. Helen of Sparta is referred to in Homer's writings to have had the face that launched a thousand believed to be the most beautiful woman during the time.

She delivered the bad news that started the Trojan war, telling Menelaus that Paris had ran away with his wife, Helen. Hera then sent Iris flying to the island of Crete with news of their elopement. Out of anger, Menelaus raised an army that planned to invade

Embodied in Paris, the antagonist of the Trojan war, is the reflection of Troy's lack of piety. When Paris captured Helen, he stole her while Menelaus’ guest in Mycenaea and under the ancient code of hospitality. However, the abduction of Helen went further than breaking

The patriarchal society again would support this view with each god or goddess having specific roles attributed to him/her. However, despite the gods often being instigators of events; for example the Trojan war- Aphrodite appears to cause it, but ultimately the war is caused by Paris who steals Helen by abusing Menelaos’ hospitality thus provoking Menelaos to call upon the suitors of Helen to rescue her. In this case, the gods are being manipulated by Homer to emphasize the consequences of the lack of human morality.

Menelaus’s wife is Helen. When Helen was abducted by Paris, Menelaus, Helen’s husband and brother Agamemnon started war with Troy. It was an insult because it shows that Paris dishonored the city or

There is a gathering with the people of Troy and the people of Greece that hold a toast to being allies with no intention of war of any sort. But when Paris expresses his love for Helen, the wife of Menelaus, she sails off with the Trojan army is secret. Hector is oblivious to wrongdoing of his brother Paris. He knows that with that incident, the Greek army will go into battle with the mighty Troy. Before the Trojans can return Helen to Menelaus, Greece has already set their mind on war. That being said, this will be the greatest war ever fought. The Trojan war.

It was these practices, according to Korfmann, that had made Troy very rich, yet hated throughout the sea. Troy was feared by sailors, and had also become a great target for military ventures. Korfmann called Troy "a pirate fortress." (Fleischmann)

After Paris threatens Menelaus at the beginning of book three then gets frightened and falls back into the ranks, he has lost whatever respect he had in Hector’s eyes. As a result he tries to prove himself again by challenging Menelaus to a duel. He does this as his own choice. But before he could finally prove himself or die trying, Aphrodite, “Snatched Paris away, easy work for a god, wrapped him in swirls of mist and set him down in his bedroom filled with scent” (Homer 141). At his final chance for redemption, he would finally have had honor, but Aphrodite could not see him get hurt so she had to intervene and cause more conflict. He never asked for that, so that so cannot be held responsible for

The people who are responsible for the cause of the Trojan War are Aphrodite, Paris, and Helen. First, Aphrodite is to be blamed for the cause of the Trojan War because she doesn’t make Paris acquainted with the fact that the gorgeous and glamourous Helen is already married to Menelaus (King of Sparta). Aphrodite doesn’t know the outcomes of this fascinating love story that it can cause a big thing like a war. Also Paris doesn’t realize that Aphrodite’s bribing has a dark side to it. Next, the person who is responsible for Trojan War to happen is Paris.

In the third book, in the battlefield, a truce is made so that Menelaus and Paris can meet in single combat, and the winner will take Helen and all her treasures home with him. Solemn oaths are sworn by both sides to abide by the outcome of the duel. However, Paris suddenly loses his nerve and turns back to the troops. His brother Hector who is the leader of the Trojan army is mortified by this cowardice. Hector declares to Paris that he is ashamed of him and his selfishness in stealing another man's wife and causing the war. Meanwhile, Helen is watching the fight with King Priam from the walls of Troy. Just as Menelaus is about to kill Paris, his protector, the goddess Aphrodite takes him safely out of the battle and brings him back to his

The first incident that lead to the Trojan war was the bad omen over Paris's life. Paris was the son of Priam, who was the king of Troy , making Paris a prince of Troy. Priam's prophetic daughter, Cassandra, prophesied that Paris would ultimately lead to the destruction Troy in turn making the king Priam send his son off to be killed by abandoning him when he was just an infant on the mount Ida.However, Paris was rescued by some shepherds and was raised far away from his previous home.