Analysis: The Death Of Hector

The Death of Hector:

Raging Achilles kills Hector, prince of Troy, in book XXII of the Iliad. This climatic chapter in the epic story begins with the Trojans fleeing ‘like deer’ away from the Achaeans and seeking refuge behind the walls of their city. Achilles is on a mad rampage; filled with grief over the death of his friend Patroclus, he is determined to kill all of the Trojans and especially Hector who he holds personally responsible. Hector is standing outside the safety of the city’s fortifications waiting to fight Achilles one on one. As he waits his parents call out and beg him not to fight, “So they wept, the two of them crying out to their dear son, both pleading time and again but they could not shake the fixed resolve of Hector.”

Despite his personal misgivings and understandable fear, Hector stands to face a vicious, demigod of an opponent, who not only kills him but humiliates and ridicules him in the process and even afterwards. When Hector is dead Achilles desecrates his corpse and parades it before his grief-stricken family and comrades.

Even though Hector wavered and entertained the idea of negotiating rather than fighting with Achilles, and despite fleeing in terror before being chased down and brutally killed — he is not cowardly or weak. His demise is humiliating, however, Hectors ' nobility, honour and decency shine on, even eclipsing the feats of his triumphant killer.

Not everyone agrees with this perspective on the two major opponents of the Iliad. S. Farron from the university of Witwatersrand calls Hector a coward in no uncertain terms and even goes to great lengths in his essay ‘The Character of Hector in the Iliad’ to try and prove that Homer portrayed this tragic figure as a man comfortable in domestic situations but inept on the battlefield and unable to live up to his own or anyone else expectations of

Hector’s fate was sealed in slow and painful stages. First, he resolved to face Achilles - an incredible brave resolve considering the odds, then he wavered, the he fled in terror, then he, believing he had support, rallied and faced Achilles, swearing to treat him honourably should he fall, then at last knowing he was doomed he draws his sword and attacks and is speared between the collarbones by Achilles; Athen had passed him back the spear he had thrown so he could use it again on Hector. These very human stages do not demonstrate cowardice necessarily, this process is a very human one of weighing ones options. It is not fair to stay that Hector stood and faced the great Achilles on his own because he had run out of options and could not live up to his reputation. He could have chosen otherwise, in fact, he was being entreated not to take that course of action. His noble sacrifice was, even more, heart wrenching and a much greater loss than any other hero precisely because of the relationship we see between him and his young wife, his infant son, his mother and father and his brothers and sister in law. These familial bonds compound our sense of tragedy and loss. Hector was loved and had a real place in the world compared to bachelor soldier far from home. Book XXII ends with the lamentations of Hectors family members and his wife who cries