Call of Duty

The marks of our heroes are deeds of courage and valor, along with the nobility of purpose; even sacrificing their fleeting life upholding the lives of brothers at arms or ideals greater than themselves. In the Iliad, the heroic code administers the underlying conflict between Achaeans and Trojans, both acknowledging the presence of their unwritten code. For the ancient Greeks, a hero had but a single task to fulfill: to live by honor and to leave with glory. How this was achieved varied from hero to hero. Nevertheless, honor and glory were held with the greatest esteem. For the heroes of Homer, a life without honor meant a meaningless existence. The heroic code that Homer showcases is easily identified, as the code is at the heart of the war. In fact, the Trojan War was the very result of Paris committing the sin of adultery with Helen, the wife of a foreign king. Yet, despite the presence of the code, the hero’s posse’s drastically different perceptions as to how religiously it should be revered or what it means to be a ‘hero’.
Evident in Achilles and Hector, heroes larger than the stories they inhabit, present an interesting contrasting in how these men live by the code. Hector, champion of Troy, demonstrates a more humane, or humble, idea of heroism. Hector does not fight for glory for the sake of having it but that he seeks it as a means to prolong his own, as well as the lives of his neighbors. Conversely, Achilles is motivated primarily by his own desire and status. Diverging from Hector, Achilles plunders only to glorify himself, even at the expense of those close to him until the end.
Hector, from the beginning of this epic, is displayed as an archetype of heroes. While Hector is slain by Achilles, Hector is, in ...

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...nor and quell his guilt.
War is the great crucible of heroes: such darkness compels men to question their ideals, their identities, their hearts, while forcing participants to tap into unknown reserves of energy. It is interesting so see how Hector and Achilles grow diverge, converge, and ultimately change as the Iliad unfolds. At the beginning, Hector is the human warrior showing restraint, and yet by the end the war has left him little more than a brute. Achilles, once full of vanity, who have would gladly abandoned his friends; though the by the conclusion, Achilles unleashes his temper upon the Trojan army, annihilating any who oppose. War, then, can make a man stronger, such as Achilles, or even break down a man, such as Hector. Fundamentally, war, crime, murder, and other horror’s show were men truly stand and are willing to stand for in the face of death.