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Recommended: Achilles as hero
For years, people have contemplated the influence of divine power, environment, or genetics, as determining how free any individual is in making their choices. The ancient Greeks personified this force into the Fates, who shape and determine the lives of mortals. In Homer The Iliad translated by E.V. Rieu almost every mortal in the poem is faced with the paradox of having a predetermined life, and having the freedom to make their own choices. It is important to recognize that the gods don't control fate; though there are times when they consider acting against it. While immortals play their role in fulfilling fate, a character such as Achilles is faced with an option to live a long life away from warfare, or live a short life of glory. Being
mortal the closest thing to immortality that can achieved is fame, and it is the choice to strive for excellence where these characters are confronted by their destiny. Throughout the epic Homer shows the reader that fate, not the gods, is the determinant of life. As powerful as the gods are portrayed in the poem, they are still limited by the inescapable truth of fate. The Fates provide a general guideline by which the gods are supposed to use their powers to set things in motion. It is evident that even Zeus does not act as a decider of fate but rather an enforcer. Acting upon what the Fates had determined, immortals such as Athene, “...who had been itching to play her part,”(402), was one of the primary causes of Hector’s death. One of the most vivid portrayals of fate in the Iliad is when Athene plays, “...her part,”(402) in Hector’s death: “‘Father!’ exclaimed Athene of the Flashing Eyes. ‘What are you saying? Are you… proposing to reprieve a mortal man, whose dooms has long been settled, from the pains of death?’ ” (401). Allowing this quarrel to continue by sparing Hector negates the attitude towards fate which many of the gods highly respect. However, immortals are anthropomorphic projections of humans therefore giving them the attributes of mortals in this epic. The fact is Zeus has the freedom to make the decision to change the outcome of battle, changing the punishments. It is not fate that kept Zeus from saving Hector, but rather Zeus’ choice to allow the battle to happen.
The subject of Homer’s epic poem, the Iliad, is very clearly stated--it is “the rage of Peleus’ son Achilles.” The reader remains continually aware of the extent of Achilles’ rage, yet is never told the reason why Achilles remains angry and unreconciled. There is no definitive answer to this question. Achilles is not a static character. He is constantly changing; thus the question of why he remains angry solicits different answers at various stages throughout the poem. To find an answer, the reader must carefully examine Achilles’ ever-changing dilemma involving the concepts of mortality and honor. At its simplest, Achilles’ dilemma is that if he goes to war, he will die. But he will die with glory.
to Hades to visit his father. During his stay, he talks to a large number of
Situational depression is common among teenagers, very few are diagnose with clinical depression. Situational depression is exactly how it sounds, the person is unhappy with there surroundings which can sometimes lead to depression. Then there is clinical depression where the chemical, neurotransmitter, in the brain is imbalanced and if not treated correctly could lead to suicide and away to avoid that is to talk to a psychiatrist and get some medicine. Some school have there students read the famous poem, The Iliad by Homer. The Iliad is most commonly sorted into a war and mythology genre. It can be taken as a way to deal with grief. Has anyone ever looked deeper into the moral of the story and seen an analogy for teenagers and adult gong
The Iliad and the Fate Of Patroclus Throughout The Iliad Of Homer, the constant theme of death is inherently. apparent. The snares are not. Each main character, either by a spear or merely a scratch from an arrow, was wounded or killed during the progression of the story. For Zeus' son, a king.
The battle between a film, and a story will forever be discussed through society. Does Hollywood create a better story line full of drama and action? Or did the author create a great enough story for a movie on their own. One example of this issue shows when comparing The Iliad written by Homer, and the 2004 film Troy. Although the movie strays from the ancient story, it is up to the audience to decide which they prefer more.
People have been fascinated by the idea of fate for centuries. They are curious if circumstances originate from divine intervention, or decisions people have made. This concept can be summed up as fate versus free will. The characters in The Odyssey subscribe to the idea of fate; this can be seen through their interactions with the gods, specifically how the gods treat them and how the mortals respond. The Odyssey delves into this idea and makes it one of the main themes in the poem. In the poem, the gods and goddesses decide what happens to the mortal characters. This means that the mortals in the poem are victims of fate, not free will. The poem includes many prophecies that foreshadow what will occur later on.
In English literature and Greek mythologies fate and free will played colossal responsibilities in creating the characters in the legendary stories and plays. The Greek gods believed in fate and interventions, predictions of a life of an individual before and after birth which the individual has no control over their own destiny. Free will and fate comingle together, this is where a person can choose his own fate, choose his own destiny by the choices the individual will make in their lifetime. According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the definition of free will is the “freedom of humans to make choices that are not determined by prior cause of divine intervention”. Fate and the gods who chose their destinies directed Gilgamesh, Oedipus and Achilles.
In the Iliad there are many characters that could be considered heroic. But the two main characters that stand out as heroes to me are swift-footed Achilles and flashing-helmet Hector. Numerous times throughout the epic they display qualities and traits that are unsurpassed by anyone on their side. Many times throughout the epic Achilles and Hector are tested for their strength, and will to win in battle, which for both warriors always ends up positive because they always win their battles. Although both fighters are among the elite status in the armies, they each show human and god-like qualities that help them be as a fierce and feared as possible.
This is the story of Iliad from Trojan. There are many brave characters in the Iliad that showed epic characteristics contain with the bold and heroic warrior indicate of ancient Greece. Everyone was trying to win victory in battle. Analyzing them all has specific strengths and weakness, which is significant at many times that, described the battle in the Iliad. Main illustrate of such brave characters are Hector and Achilles. This paper describes the conflict about the two great warriors Hector and Achilles. These two personalities have very differences in their access to fitting for opposing military and compare each other with hate in battle.
Homer's Iliad is commonly understood as an epic about the Trojan War, but its meaning goes deeper than that. The Iliad is not only a story of the evolution of Achilleus' persona, but at times it is an anti-war epic as well. The final book proposes many questions to the reader. Why not end with the killing of Hektor? Most stories of war conclude with the triumphant victory of good over evil, but in the Iliad, the final thoughts are inclined to the mourning of the defeated Hektor, which accentuates the fact that good has not triumphed over evil, but simply Achilleus triumphed over Hektor. Ending with the mourning of Hektor also brings to center stage for the first time the human side of war and the harsh aftermath of it. We see that war not only brings great glory, but also much suffering and anguish. Homer puts his anti-war views on display.
What is a hero? Is it someone with supernatural powers or overwhelming charm? Or is it someone who is selfless and protects the innocent above all else? To most, the latter seems to be the best option out of the two. A technical definition of a hero is someone who has brave and noble qualities and has accomplished many great things. Any one person could have a different view of what a hero is specifically, but in the case of Homer’s “The Iliad”, there are many possible candidates to discuss. Personally, I believe that in this great tale the true hero is Hector.
The Iliad starts with Chryses, a prophet of Apollo, going to a Greek camp and offering profitable "punishment tokens" asking for the arrival of his girl who the Greeks had caught in a strike. Since Agamemnon thought she was legitimately his, he declines. A large portion of his kindred Greeks needed him to give her back to maintain a strategic distance from strife. With a specific end goal to save his time (respect, regard, esteem), Agamemnon conveys peril to them all. Chryses appeals to Apollo and a torment is discharged upon the Achaeans. Achilles, a basileus in the Greek armed force, recommends looking for understanding from the prophet Calchas. After doing as such, all are educated that Agamemnon is in charge of the torment since he declined to give back his geras (prize), the little girl of Chryses.
The Iliad portrays fate and destiny as a supreme and ultimate force that is decided by each man’s actions and decisions. A man’s fate lies in the consequences of his actions and decisions. A man indirectly controls his destiny by his actions and decisions. One action or decision has a consequence that leads to another action or decision. A man is born with a web of many predetermined fates and one or more destinies. A man’s decisions control which course of fate he takes so that he indirectly controls his destiny.Since all mortals die, destiny is what you have done with the fates you have been dealt, and where you have taken your life. Eventually, a man’s whole life may be traced to his very first action or decision. By stating someone’s fate as determined by their actions or decisions, fate is unbreakable, what has been done will control the present, and ultimately the future. The present is controlled by the past so that no one may escape their past decisions or actions. The underlying concept of fate is that all man are not born equal, so that fate is the limitations or abilities placed upon him.
However, because they sometimes know what fate has ordained, they have the ability to manipulate it, or use it for their own purposes. For example, Athena (as instructed by Hera) does not want Achilles to kill Agamemnon (1.220-230). Instead, she gives him instructions to back out of the war, tantalizing him with the promise of even greater riches (1.242-252). As Margo Kitts says in What’s Religious about the Iliad, “We, the audience, know the cruelty in her promise of three times the riches to come, given the sacrifice of Patroklos which ultimately will impel Achilles to fight, win those riches, and then face death” (228). While Athena gets what she wants—Agamemnon alive and the fall of the Trojans at the hand of Achilles—the humans pay the price. However, even though the gods may be able to make use of fate to meet their desires, they cannot overrule it. This is clear when Zeus watches Sarpedon die, because it is fated to happen. Although he would prefer to save his son, in order to “avoid disturbing fate and unleashing a clash of meddling parent-gods, [Zeus] must settle for spiriting away the corpse and weeping down divine tears of blood” (Kitts 227). These limitations are similar to those that keep humans from changing fate. While mortal man may know what fate has ordained—through prophesy or revelation, perhaps—he cannot change it. He may, however, use it to his advantage. For instance,
The Greek poet Homer established the heroic epic literary genre more than two-and-a-half millennia ago with the composition of two voluminous works of art, the Odyssey and the Iliad. From its inception, the heroic epic cast human fate as a type of whimsical recreation for the gods. In fact, the word fate was adopted from the name of the Greek gods in charge of spinning the thread of human life and then cutting it when a person’s destiny had been fulfilled. Hence, a person’s fate in the Homeric epics was largely determined by providence, and a person’s individual actions had little bearing on what became of him or her.