More handpicked essays just for you.
Achilles and Hector contrast and comparison
Achilles and Hector contrast and comparison
Achilles and Hector contrast and comparison
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Felicia Rey
Literature 120 C
Essay 1
September 28, 2015
Achilles versus Hector
Homer uses many literary devices in The Iliad, including the use of foils. A foil is a character whom possesses qualities that are in contrast to the qualities of another character. Foils are often used to highlight traits of characters. In The Iliad the foils are adversaries. An adversary is an opponent or a rival. In the following paragraphs, I will show how both of these terms relate to Achilles and Hector in The Iliad.
Hector was the best warrior in all of Troy. He was the Trojans best hope of winning the war against the Greeks. Achilles was the Greeks best warrior, and their best chance of winning the war. This automatically made the two characters adversaries,
…show more content…
they were each other’s greatest opponents in battle. However, tension grew even more between the two warriors when Hector kills Achilles’ best friend, Patroclus in book sixteen. When Achilles heard about the death of his beloved friend, he entered back into the war against Troy. Achilles did this to avenge Patroclus’ death. Achilles was set on killing Hector and Hector was ready to fight Achilles to save Troy. The battle between these two adversaries was the rising action of The Iliad. Hector is a foil because his character qualities contrast with Achilles’ character qualities.
For example, Hector does not like to fight in battle, the only reason why he fights is because he is the only way Troy could ever win the war. However, Achilles loves the war. He even chose being a warrior over having a long life, something that Hector probably would not do. Achilles is drawn to war because of his anger. As I have previously stated, Hector is only fighting in the war because he has to fight for the city of Troy. Achilles on the other hand, does not have to fight for his city. This is because the Greeks are not being attacked. Also, Hector is human. Although his father is a wealthy king, he does not have any god- like powers. Achilles however, is a demi-god he is an exceptional warrior and great runner because of this. Also, because he is a demi-god he is only venerable in his heel. While Hector, being a human, is venerable everywhere. Lastly, Hector is not dictated by rage like Achilles. Even before their battle Hector showed respect towards Achilles. Hector did so by saying “With all the gods as witnesses, I swear: if Zeus gives me the victory over you, I will not dishonor your corps, only strip the armor and give the body back to the Greeks. Promise you’ll do the same.” (22. 281-285). Hector is the perfect foil for Achilles, everything Hector stands for and everything he is, is the polar opposite of
Achilles. As I have shown in this essay, Hector and Achilles are adversaries, meaning that they are opponents and rivals to one another. Also Hectors character is a foil for Achilles character. All of Hectors Qualities contrast with the qualities of Achilles. The Iliad, composed by Homer, clearly shows the contrasting characteristics and the rivalry of these two great warriors.
As Hector saw the anger that burned within Achilles as he walk towards him, “Hector began to shake in fear. His courage gone, he could no longer stand there. terrified , he started running” (Homer 22. 140). Hector should be this great hero who will fight to the death in order to protect his country, but some may see his fear as a weakness that makes him unqualified to be called a hero. However Hector reflected his bravery because to chose to stand and wait for Achilles, but he also realizes when fighting will end in his demise. Hector is not a god, he is not immortal, he is human and he does not want to go into a fight where he knows he will die because he cannot protect his country if he is dead. Previously in the war, Hector broke through the mighty Greeks defences he “ jumped inside the gates, no moving out to stop him could hold him back, expect the gods. From his eyes fire blazed” Homer (83). Hectors bravery helped him push through the Greeks defences even though there were people all around him trying to kill him. After this Hector acts as a model for the rest of the Trojan soldiers, inspiring them to push forward with Hector. After making the decision to join the Marines Tillman was “not sure where this new direction will take [his] life though [he is] positive it will include its share of sacrifices and difficulty, most of which falling squarely on Marie’s shoulders.” (Tillman 2). There are many strong people in the world, but only the brave few will be willing to step up where others would not. Heros are the people who will do what most others would not do in order to protect the greater good. Just as Tillman acted as a role model for everyone Hector showed the Trojan army that they could
In The Iliad, Hector isn't always shown as a courageous character. In book 18, Achilles discovers Patroclus is dead. Upon the realization that Hector is to blame, he is ready to rejoin the fight against Troy. The Trojans start to lose their courage until hearing Hector’s speech in which he says, “Tomorrow at daybreak armed to the hill for battle we slash to attack against their deep curved Hills!...I for one, I'll never run from his grim assault.(18.353-357)” In
...battle that Achilles’ ego needed. However, Hector tried to do the right thing by offering the deceased be returned to their respective camps after the battle was over. It is at this point that Achilles is beyond the common courtesies of war and flat out denied Hector’s request. This action by Achilles shows his arrogance and the bloodlust that was truly in his heart rather than the courage that so many people claim that he had.
The foundation of the Homeric heroes’ actions develops from the internal struggle amongst concern for themselves, their families, and their community. The hero’s egoistic desire compels him or her to pursue everlasting glory for them, launching a manifest of feats that people will remember in history for generations. The hero’s altruistic desire seats their personal safety, and the safety of their families, above everlasting fame. Iliad opens with Achilles and Hector fighting for someone else’s gain—Achilles for Agamemnon, Hector for Paris. Both start with similar motives but in contrasting directions. During the opening of Iliad, Achilles retracts his men from the action, due to being unsympathetically dishonored by Agamemnon taking Achilles bride Briseis. Achilles, despite the loss of his fel...
Throughout the Iliad the warriors' dream of peace is projected over and over again in elaborate similes developed against a background of violence and death. Homer is able to balance the celebration of war's tragic, heroic values with scenes of battle and those creative values of civilized life that war destroys. The shield of Achilles symbolically represents the two poles of human condition, war and peace, with their corresponding aspects of human nature, the destructive and creative, which are implicit in every situation and statement of the poem and are put before us in something approaching abstract form; its emblem is an image of human life as a whole.
Homer's two central heroes, Odysseus and Achilles, are in many ways differing manifestations of the same themes. While Achilles' character is almost utterly consistent in his rage, pride, and near divinity, Odysseus' character is difficult to pin down to a single moral; though perhaps more human than Achilles, he remains more difficult to understand. Nevertheless, both heroes are defined not by their appearances, nor by the impressions they leave upon the minds of those around them, nor even so much by the words they speak, but almost entirely by their actions. Action is what drives the plot of both the Iliad and the Odyssey, and action is what holds the characters together. In this respect, the theme of humanity is revealed in both Odysseus and Achilles: man is a combination of his will, his actions, and his relationship to the divine. This blend allows Homer to divulge all that is human in his characters, and all that is a vehicle for the idyllic aspects of ancient Greek society. Accordingly, the apparent inconsistencies in the characterization of Odysseus can be accounted for by his spiritual distance from the god-like Achilles; Achilles is more coherent because he is the son of a god. This is not to say that Achilles is not at times petty or unimaginative, but that his standards of action are merely more continuous through time. Nevertheless, both of Homer's heroes embody important and admirable facets of ancient Greek culture, though they fracture in the ways they are represented.
Although Achilles and Hector are both leaders of men, Hector leads with a mature sense that gives his men reason to respect him. In turn, Hector respects his men which gives fulfillment to both parties. Hector is not a man to sit around and mull over strategies and ideas - Hector is a man of action. His men are inspired to fight because they see their captain fighting as well. Hector fights for belief and respect while Achilles fights out of rage and rashness. Achilles is not respected by his men, rather he is feared. Nobody wants to receive the blunt of the attack when Achilles randomly flies into a rage, therefore his men are terrified of him and allow him to do as he pleases.
Throughout the text, major characters seem to be at constant battle with their different emotions. This inner conflict is mirrored by the everyday conflicts between the gods. Just as Zeus and Hera are constantly at odds with one another, so are the different sides of Achilles: his cultural responsibility, pride, honor, and revenge. No one is completely at peace with his or her conflicting emotions in The Iliad – and therefore, neither are the gods, who represent these emotions. Hector is a prime example of a human who finds himself torn between two forces: his love for his growing family, and his duty as a prince of Troy. He admits to Andromache that he worries about his own mortality, but emphasizes that “I would die of shame to face the men of Troy…if I would shrink from battle now, a coward.” (Homer 6: 523, 525). Hector’s deeply ingrained sense of honor and loyalty to home is clearly established in the beginning of the text. Therefore, when Zeus later grants Hector “power to kill and kill till you cut your way to the benched ships” (Homer 11: 241-242), it is not too much of a stretch to attribute Hector’s dodged perseverance to his upbringing and rigid sense of duty, rather than to the
The Greeks also had their share of icons and heroes. They admired Jason and his quest for the golden fleece, and Perseus, the killer of Medusa, but their finest heroes come from Homer’s Iliad: Hector and Achilles. Hector was the best warrior in Troy and the son of Priam, the king of Troy. Achilles was the great warrior of the Greek army and killed Hector. The Greek citizens, siding with their own nationality, declared the Greek warrior Achilles the hero of the Trojan War, but since ancient Greece no longer exists an unbiased view of the Ilia...
Before Hectors's battle against Achilles he proposed a pact to Achilles, if Hector won he would allow the Greeks to take Achilles' body for a proper funeral as long as Achilles promised to do the same, but Achilles replied "Hector, I'll have no talk of pacts with you, forever unforgiven as you are. As between men and lions there are none" (Homer 70). Hector proved he was a better epic hero by showing he had morals by promising not to damage Achilles body after death, meanwhile Achilles could not make the same promise. Hector then proved his courage by continuing his battle with Achilles even though the goods were not one his side. "Athena had tricked him and there was no way of escape... 'At least I will not die without a struggle'" (Hamilton 199). Hector knew he would not win as soon as he relished he was tricked by a goddess, yet he still kept fighting and fought his best. He never gave up even though he knew death would come soon. His courage, strength, and morals make Hector an epic
Angel Morales 2800 Achilles’ Pursuit of Hector In The Iliad, Homer uses vivid similes developed over several lines to enhance the atmosphere of the scene. Both to help the reader understand the vastness of the situation and enhance imagery, these epic similes as they are known help immerse the reader in the image as well as give it a deeper meaning. In Achilles’ pursuit of Hector, Homer does exactly this using two similes rather than one.
In Homer’s The Iliad he tells of the battles and events during the time of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles. This was just a small portion of the Trojan War that had lasted ten years. The Iliad shares the ideas of the glory of war, military values over family life, and the impermanence of human life and its creation. One thing that Homer does is characterize the two different warriors Achilles and Hector. These two great warriors both show different kinds of traits that shape the character they become throughout the The Iliad. Achilles is the main hero in The Iliad, but Homer subliminally tries to persuade the reader that Hector is the true hero in this story.
Hector and Achilles, two outstanding warriors on opposing sides in a conflict, show that there is more to people than what meets the eye. Although they are seen as ultimately heroic and powerful, their weaknesses and inner conflicts are unmistakable. Their differences are larger and more significant than their similarities, and to think of them as interchangeable warriors diminishes their significance. Achilles is portrayed as a fierce fighter who is harsh on the battlefield, but cares about the ones he loves very deeply, whereas Achilles is shown as a strong fighter with a more sensitive heart and compassion for all people.
According the Iliad by Homer, Hector and Achilles are the main characters that have many different, but also they have some similarity.They both have the different in personalities and life. Also, they have the different about leadership and relationship with their family. Both are the two strong warriors and heroes. Achilles is in Greek side, Hector is in the Trojans side , and they both want to win the battle . Both characteristics believed that their fate is to die on the battle as the warrior, but approach war differently. However, they all have the advantage and disadvantage. Also, They have the different reasons to fight the battle that hector fight for his homeland and his family's honor and Achilles fight for Helen , also because he is the best warrior that he want people to respected him.
In the poem, Iliad, Achilles and Hector both show relative heroism in their own different ways. Achilles may have been the more popular hero, but Hector had great heroism as well. Each of these characters possess their own different strengths and weaknesses. These two characters both have pride as being one of their main weaknesses. Hector seems as if he would suit best in the modern world, but there are a few different reasons as to why the ancients may have chose Achilles. Hector and Achilles both lost a lot by letting their pride get in the way of their heroism. Both of these characters were their country’s best warrior. Achilles and Hector have very different personalities, and very different ways of approaching situations.