The Iliad by Homer

It is evident through this passage that Homer is building up this grand battle between two of the greatest warriors of this time period. Achilles, already regarded as the greatest fighter, speaks of Hektor not in a degrading manner, rather in a respectful manner, taking into account his numerous heroic feats.

In the Iliad is a very interesting epic with features two main central characters that are similar in some ways but totally different in other ways. In this epic you will be introduced to Hector and Achilles. Two men from each side in the great Trojan-Greek war. They were both heroes to their people despite their clearly different contrast in their personalities. In this paper I will highlight the life of both of these two leaders of the Greek and Trojans in this epic the Iliad. Also a little will be shed of how Homer portrays the characters deeper then an average thought. I will attempt to show the complexity of his thought process in forming the climax of these two characters coming to battle.

Homer in the Iliad tells of generation after generation fighting to bring glory and honor to not only themselves, but their families. Generations are connected by men who have fought before and men who have yet to fight. Diomedes, after being asked of his lineage, illustrates generations after generations coming and going by comparing them to leaves; one generation rises up while another blows away in the wind. He recognizes both the generations that have come before him and the ones that will come after him. The image is one of hope and optimism. He knows his place in his lineage. In the Iliad, Homer depicts Hektor as this type of warrior. However, as the epic progresses, Hektor’s death causes a break in the generation of leaves for both future and present generations. Future generations will no longer be as Hektor’s death causes a break in the string of generations connected to him. Also, Hektor’s death causes people of this generation, such as Andromache, to look presently at the isolation and despair caused by Hektor’s death. By the end of the Iliad, the generations of leaves show not a sense of continuity but rather one of discontinuity.

From the first pages of Homer’s The Iliad, Achilles is portrayed as vengeful, proud, and petty. As the book progresses, the image of Achilles as a spiteful child is sharpened dramatically. Towards the end of the epic; however, Achilles begins to exhibit qualities that are considered heroic even in today’s society. Once his loyal and trusted friend Patroclus dies, Achilles undergoes a drastic change in character. When he confronts the true horror of death, Achilles puts aside his immature

Justice is a major part of this story and the most significant to the Iliad. Although the word justice can be interpreted in many different ways, It is served by Achilles when he is trying to get back at the son of Priam, Hektor for killing his friend Patroklus who was very special to him. In book 22 Achilles achieves justice for his dear deceased friend as he “drove the spear as he came on in fury.” Achilles wanted Hektor to go through the same pain that Patroklus must’ve experienced and it was only fair that Achilles punished Hektor himself so that they would then be even, although it resulted in two deaths because of them. In addition to Achilles attack on Hektor during his final breaths in book 22, Achilles tells him “I have broken your strength; on you the dogs and the vultures shall feed and foully rip you.” He says these words to him to show him that his actions have consequences and

Godly colossal Greek epic, “The Iliad” constituted by the poet named, Homer, articulate the chronicle of the Brobdingnagian Trojan War. It is swarming with the interventions of the gods enchanting their coveted mortals (humans) and altering the heterogeneous scenes of the Trojan War. In this poem, gods have an assortment of relationships with humans which include love, fornication, and mother or father relationships. Gods interact with mortals in human shapes and stimulate them. Also, gods cognize that every human is eventually destined to die and they anticipate humans to pray to them for every obstacle humans encounter. However, for humans gods are omnipotent, authoritative, dominant, and immortals, who they supplicate to if they have

‘I entreat you, by your life, by your knees, by your parents, do not let the dogs feed on me by the ships of the Achaians… give my body to be taken home again, so that the Trojans and the wives of the Trojans may give me in death my rite of burning’ (22.338-343). This heart wrenching plea represents nearly the final words uttered by Hektor upon his death at the hands of Achilles. Hektor, who recently boasted of his martial prowess, vowing just moments before to do ‘some big thing first, that men to come shall know of it’ (22.305), is reduced to begging before his killer for the basic privilege of an honorable burial. In this moment of his famous Iliad, Homer offers a cynical reflection on human life and the social constructs mortals establish, especially the idea of the ‘heroic code’ that was so prominent during the Golden Age of Greece. Demonstrably, he implies throughout the work that since all humans are destined to die and memories have limited effect after death, the entire concept of the ‘heroic code’- and to a certain extent, conviction in worldly systems instead of personal beliefs- are pointless given the natural chaos of the world and man’s ultimate fate.

Achilles brutally murders Hektor and makes his parents and citizens watch as Hektor is dragged throughout the streets on the ground by a chariot. “A cloud of dust rose where Hektor was dragged...since by this time Zeus had given him over to his enemies... all his people about him were taken with wailing and lamentation all through the city,” (Doc. 5-1, From the Iliad: Achilles’s Anger and Its Consequences, Homer ). The G-d Zeus had given Hektor over to Achilles and let him be defiled after his death, Achilles was so brutal and aggressive to Hektor because he was upset and angered at Patroklis’ murder. Revenge is a big factor in why war can be so bloody and brutal, because people want to avenge their countries, friends and families and want to make their enemies feel their

The idea of kleos otherwise known as glory in Greek, and honor is one of the most essential motifs of the Iliad. For many warriors depicted in the Iliad, honor was vital and personal. For many, Glory earned in battle was more important than one’s life. Glory or the lack of, was remembered long after one’s life. Possibly the greatest fundamental part of honor to the fighters of the Iliad was courage in battle as shown throughout multiple books. Throughout the course of this book we can see how different characters display these traits and how they influence the course of the war. Even though the Achaeans and Trojans are enemies they display a similar view, the acquisition of glory is more significant than life

The intervention of gods provides the reader a way to stand out of the battlefield and see the whole world as the duality between gods and human. This approach of decoding the Iliad transforms readers' attitudes toward the individuals on the battlefield. Before talking about the transformation, it should be considered that who is the reader for the readers' own value system is a strong factor in valuing the characters in the book. First of all, the fact that readers are human-being may not subject to any doubt. Thus, in the duality of gods and human, readers will have a tendency to support humans as a man will tend to support oneself. Thus, when the gods so harm to humans as a whole, it easily brought up the readers' compassion towards the

The Iliad, by Homer, is an epic poem set in the era of the Trojan War, accounting the battle logs during the time of conflict between Agamemnon and Achilles, the text’s tragic protagonist. The heroic outlook on life, in Iliadic terms, is exemplified through the construction of one’s honor through hard work. Being an aspect of the heroic outlook of life, this value is demonstrated through his contribution and dedication to the Trojan War, his experience with neglect from the deities, Achilles’ overall disdain towards Agamemnon, and, lastly, his longingness towards Briseis, his dear lover.

The Iliad: Book I, is about the conflict between Achilles and Agamemnon in the beginning of the Trojan War. It shows how vigorous Achilles’ rage was and that he is no one to mess with. The book states “Peleus’ son Achilles, murderous, doomed”. This shows his fury in just a few words. Achilles was a Greek hero who was the son of a Goddess named Thetis. He was an incredible solder; brave, violent and godlike. However, Agamemnon was the commander of the Achaean Army. He was greedy, aggressive and selfish. He was described as “the most grasping man alive”. He absolutely hated Achilles. I feel that he was jealous of how respected Achilles was among the ranks in the army because of his superior skills in the field of battle. Agamemnon claimed Chryseis as his prize, after sacking a Trojan town. Chryseis was a daughter of a Priest of Apollo, Chryses. He offered an enormous ransom to get his daughter back. At first Agamemnon didn’t want it but the people round him persuaded him that it would be best to let her go so they could be released from the plague that Apollo put on them. Agamemnon then poised to Achilles that he is going to steal Achilles prize, Briseis. This is when Achilles’ rage shows at its best. He nearly draws his sword to kill Agamemnon but he is stopped by the goddess, Athena.

The passage opens with Priam arriving at the Greek camp and going “straight for [Achilles’] house” which creates a sense of pessimism as this peripeteia makes the audience feel hopeless as they are forced to see the worst of the situation: a once mighty king having to supplicate for the body of his dead son. To intensify this pessimism, Priam gave a speech to try to convince Achilleus to return Hektor’s body by reminding him that of all the fifty sons his had “not one of them is left”, a lot of their deaths were at Achilleus’ hand. The fact that Priam felt it necessary to convince Achilleus to return Hektor is pessimistic in itself as Priam should not have had to kiss the “hands of the man who killed [his] child” in order to bury his son. The

In Homer’s renowned epic, The Iliad, no character is depicted with as much humanity and decency as Hektor, the son of Priam and prince of Troy. Although he could be considered the antagonist of the story, he is nevertheless cast in a very favorable light throughout most of it and is shown as a far more decent person than many of the epic’s Achaian heroes. In stark contrast to his opponents’ lust for glory and bloodshed, Hektor’s defining character trait is his powerful sense of duty towards his family and Troy. Although he undeniably seeks glory through battle, it this sense of duty that drives him throughout the epic and makes him one of a very small number of characters not acting completely out of self-interest.

Here, Homer’s diction is composed of successive terms that possess feminine and domestic qualities. Compounded with Andromache’s innocence, the diction overturns the violent and gruesome atmosphere of previous battle scenes and brings in warm, domestic serenity. In later lines, however, the martial qualities are revived and directly contrast with this domesticity. Andromache runs out of the house like a “raving” woman with “pulsing heart,” just like a soldier whose brother or a close friend had died (22.460-461). When she comes up the wall and sees Achilles dragging Hektor around, she faints, and this scene even more resembles the death of a soldier, particularly Patroklos: