Differences in Heroes in The Iliad “What a worthless, burnt-out coward I’d be called If I would submit to you and all your orders, Whatever you blurt out. Fling them at others, Don’t give me commands ! Never again, I trust, will Achilles yield to you – My hands will never do battle for that girl, Neither with you, King, nor any man Alive.”(p 111) With these wrathful words of Achilles to his commander Agamemnon, so begins the sequence of events in The Iliad that ultimately pits Achilles the runner against Hector, breaker of horses. Although these men were already enemies, Achilles being an Achaean and Hector being a Trojan, it is truly Achilles’ rage that makes the rivalry personal. These two men, from opposite sides of the battle lines, are both strong, brave, and heroic, but also possess a myriad of conflicting character traits. It is these differences that aid both men in their independent pursuits for honor and the implementation of their separate destinies. Achilles is half-divine because he is the son of the goddess Thetis and a mortal, Peleus. He is by far the greatest warrior in the Trojan war and is considered to be “worth an entire army” (p.134). The very sight of him throws fear into the hearts of, otherwise courageous warriors. A true man of war, Agamemnon calls him, “ the most violent man alive” (p 107). With his fierce nature and taste for war also comes his prideful ways. When this delicate pride is damaged by the public disgracing Agamemnon brings upon him by taking his war prize, he selfishly decides to withdraw from battle. Achilles goes to his divine mother for the malicious reason of asking Her to beg Zeus for help in getting reprisal on Agamemnon. He pleads with her : “… now, go and sit besi... ... middle of paper ... ...nger,/ he left the gates behind and away he fled in fear-…”(p 180). The picture of Hector we are left with is that of one fooled by the gods to face his fears and then gruesomely defeated by his nemesis. And so we are left with two heroes, both concerned with honor, yet consumed in two very contrasted pursuits of it. The almost god-like Achilles in a self-centered pursuit, seeks honor only on his own terms. When his pride is hurt, he irrationally turns his back on the traditional idea of honor and abandons those who need him the most. The noble Hector pursues honor not only for himself, but also for his family and city. Only when he is faced with imminent doom does he flee and let his selfish emotions rule him. Achilles more courageous than the loyal Hector, Hector more noble than the prideful Achilles, but in the end, both are honorable heroes in their own light.
His mother, Thetis, portends "that [Achilles] is destined for both an early death and misery beyond compare." (Homer, Book I, 438-439) Achilles fights to achieve eternal glory and to be remembered in history for his warrior efforts. Achilles knows that "If I stay here and fight, I 'll never return home, but my glory will be undying forever. If I return home to my dear fatherland my glory is lost but my life will be long and death that ends all will not catch me soon." (Homer Book IX 425-429) This is reflective of the Greek motivation; making it a personal quest. Fueled by his own desire to kill Hector and avenge the death of Patroclus, Achilles tells Hector that" [t]here are no binding oaths between men and lions- wolves and lambs can enjoy no meeting of the minds- they are all bent on hating each other to the death. So with you and me. No love between us. No truce till one or the other falls and gluts with blood." (Homer Book XXII, 309-314) This type of hero would more appeal to the Greeks hearing or reading the
Throughout the Iliad, Achilles and Hector were two of the main characters. Both Achilles and Hector defended their countries greatly. Achilles defending his country Greece and Hector defending Troy. Both were great warriors and were equal in power, but in the end Achilles would be considered the more heroic warrior. Achilles was more heroic than Hector because he was raised to be a warrior, while Hector was raised to be a king. Being brought up in different circumstances the way both men were had an impact on the way they fought. Even though Hector was indeed a great fighter he was no match to Achilles. It is said that Achilles was the greatest warrior of the Trojan War. As stated in class, the heroic code meant that honor is more important than life itself. Achilles stood by that meaning. Achilles wanted to die knowing that his name would be remembered by all.
The most powerful warriors in this story were Hector and Achilles. Both men were given the title of heroes and displayed great power, skills and courage. But the values of Hector and Achilles were very different from one another and very different from the people of today’s society. Dignity, pride, honor, glory, fame, and revenge are very important to these people as it still is today, but it is achieved in a much different way.
Despite the grand scope of Homer's epics--which present warfare, heroism, adventure and divinity as forces that shape human destinyThe Iliad may be seen as an account of the circumstances that irrevocably alter the life of one man: Achilles, greatest of warriors. Through the course of the poem, Achilles goes through many ordeals that change his character immensely. From the initial callousness and stubborn temper of Achilles to the eventual humanization' of Achilles in his interaction with the grieving father of Hector, whom Achilles himself slew, The Iliad can be seen to chronicle the maturation of the Greek hero during the terrible battles of the Trojan War. Achilles is a hero in the epic sense. He is complete with flaws and bad qualities that round out the character, but has passions and convictions that any reader can relate to. Throughout the course of the Iliad, Homer creates the character of Achilles to be a Homeric hero, and also, a modern day hero.
The Greek civilization has brought a wide-range of intellect and visionary philosophies over time. Over a long period, new theories and arts began to embellish. One great art that came about and flourished is Homer’s novel, The Iliad. Throughout this classic novel, Homer emphasized the Greek God’s values through their actions and morals which contributed to their courageous and prideful attributes. In Greek literature, the heroes Hector and Achilles reflect the core values of honor, warfare dexterity, and pride.
In this, Homer presents us with a culture where the pursuit of military glory directly conflicts with devotion to one’s family, and in pursuing the former, Hector must abandon his family. But family members are not the only losses the soldiers must endure: They also experience great anguish when they lose their fellow warriors on the battlefield. When Achilles learns of Patroclus’s death, for example, he is stricken with grief, yelling at the gods as he claws at the ground and tears at his hair. Achilles’ intense feelings of grief soon give way to rage, and Homer describes how the hero loses “the will to live, to take [his] stand in the world of men” until he can vanquish Hector (18.105–106). Achilles goes on to slaughter Hector in one of the poem’s most violent passages. Patroclus’s death upsets Achilles’ concept of the world order. Now he fights not for glory or out of envy, but because he simply cannot live until he kills his Hector. Grief and rage have become inextricably linked for Achilles, and war is no longer a noble or glorious endeavor but simply the symptom of loss. The tension between the glory of
The Iliad portrays a gruesome battle between the Greeks and Trojans that has been ongoing for over nine years. The Greeks ultimately triumph in the war, but not without bloody conflict with the Trojans. The Greeks and Trojans each have positive characteristics that bolster their glory throughout the Iliad and lead to a tense fight between the two sides. Unfortunately, their emotions overpower them and hinder their beneficial traits. The emotional struggle that both sides confront throughout the story constructs contrasting personalities and clashing ideals in battle. The Greeks and Trojans each display positive characteristics such as the Greeks being strategic, and the Trojans being noble; however, each group also exhibits negative attributes
Hector fights in the war to fight for the people of Troy and to protect them from the Spartans. Both Achilles and Hector are made to be more relatable, being kind to those they care for and trying to protect those they love. Words of wisdom are also spoken by both men, to contribute to their heroic aspects.
In Homer's epic, The Iliad, Achilles is the central character and greatest warrior in the Trojan War. He is faced with several problems, but the main fight was between him and Agamemnon, the commander of the Achaean army. Greek soldiers fight to win kleos, which is the greek word for glory. When Agamemnon takes Achilles’ kleos, Achilles is forced to question his role in the war. He struggles with the shallow reason that the Achaean army is fighting and eventually goes against the authority he is under in order to fight for his own reasons. Achilles made the only choice possible after being left with a broken heart, cheated and betrayed.
In the “Iliad”, written by Homer, there are two soldiers named Achilles and Hector that have an epic battle. Achilles is the youngest Greek soldier to fight the Trojans, and Hector is the prince and the youngest Trojan fighter. The two soldiers have many different characteristics and similarities.
In The Iliad by Homer there are two major excerpts, “The Rage of Achilles” and “The death of Hector”. They both take place during the Trojan war, which was being fought between the Greeks and the Trojans. In “The Rage of Achilles” the Greek leader Agamemnon is forced to give away his war prize and then demands Achilles’s instead. This leads to Achilles becoming furious, resulting in him refusing to fight. “The Death of Hector” takes place later, when Achilles finally rejoins the battle and goes off to kill the Trojan hero named Hector. Based off of ancient Greek values, Achilles is the greater hero due to his honor. bravery and strength. Achilles displays his honor when he gives away his war prize to Agamemnon. He then goes on to fight Hector, a major exhibition of bravery, due to Hector being the best Trojan fighter. Finally, Achilles kills Hector, proving that he possesses great strength.
In what is called the embassy to Achilles, Agamemnon tries to shower Achilles with gifts to persuade him into returning to fight for the Achaeans, but Achilles rejects the gifts offered to him by Odysseus, Great Ajax, and Phoenix on behalf of Agamemnon. Achilles seems quite sad, almost dejected at this point in the epic. He is going through a period where he questions what role he is really meant to play in the Trojan war, and to an even greater extent he questions what path he is meant to take in his life. At this point, he blatantly ignores the deaths of the Greeks who are dying in battle, which he knows is partially on his account. The transformation of Achilles can be noted as Homer shows Achilles to be very lost in his life upon losing Briseis to Agamemnon and withdrawing himself from the
Achilles was everything that the gods loved: powerful, intelligent, and confident. Some gods even liked him because of the way he treated other gods; he lipped off to Apollo but remained in the good graces of every god that like him before. “I swear, I’d make you pay if I could!” he yelled at Apollo (Homer 205). Directly telling a god that he would hurt him if he could was not enough to fall out of grace with the other gods, they liked him so much. Another reason the gods like him is because he was half divine. Since his mother, Thetis, was a goddess, he was basically a nephew of the other gods. The gods were not to keen to let their children die as well, so not only did Achilles have abilities that normal mortals would not have, he also had his mother, a goddess, in his corner. One advantage that this gave Achilles was access to Hephaestus’ forge where his new armor was created (Homer 183-187). If his mother were not a goddess, there is no way Achilles could have found such wonderful
This is an indication that Hector is fully converted to this system because he knows that he has a great chance at being defeated by Achilles in the war, but yet he is still ready to take on this dangerous act. “He was passing through it out onto the plain when his wife came running up to meet him, his beautiful wife, Andromache” (128). Even after seeing his Brother and finding out from the housekeeper that his wife went running like a mad woman to see if he was okay, he still did not go to see her or his child.
In return for giving Chryseis back to her father Agamemnon took Achilles maiden, Briseis, for himself. Achilles was outraged and felt dishonored. He demanded that Agamemnon give