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Assingment about greek tragedy
Harry Potter comparison
Essays on greek tragedy
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Continuing the extended allegory of epic in the classical tradition to the Harry Potter novels, we can evaluate the respective roles of mortality and vengeance by comparing Harry to our third hero, Achilles of The Iliad. The important opening theme of The Iliad is given by Greek word menis, or wrath, speaking to Achilles’ anger with his commander-in-chief, Agamemnon. This internal conflict leads to his retraction from battle, leaving his good friend Patroclus in his place to continue the fight against the Trojans. As a result, Patroclus is swiftly murdered at the hands of the enemy champion, Hector. His death prompts Achilles to rejoin the war in an effort to avenge Patroclus (Britannica, “Hector”). Thetis, Achilles’ mother, does everything …show more content…
In this pivotal scene, Harry and Cedric have reached the final trial in the TriWizard Tournament; they decide to finish the tournament in a draw, representing the mutual trust and respect for one another culminated throughout the tournament. They simultaneously grab the cup holding their supposed victory, but instead the pair find themselves being transported to a graveyard by the disguised portkey. They have reached the final faceoff of the novel: Voldemort himself. During this confrontation, Cedric dies at the end of the Dark Lord’s wand. Harry is enraged and challenges Voldemort in a locked-wand duel; mimicking the one-on-one combat often engaged in by heroes of the classical tradition. The same way that sea goddess Thetis breached mortal/divine boundaries in an effort to protect Achilles in the war, Lily Potter crossed the threshold of life and death for her own son. During their magical power struggle, Harry is visited by the spirit of his mother who instructs him to not let go until her cue. Once he is given the go-ahead, the ghosts of Lily and James Potter distract Voldemort long enough to allow the escape of their son. Harry brings Cedric’s body back; his death represents a dark shift in the tone of the whole series, as Cedric is the first to be killed
The brutal killing of Priam, king of Troy, is both at the beginning of the story of the Aeneid and an end to the story of the Trojan war contained in the Iliad. In war, some of the most damaging things that can be accomplished are the demoralizing of the other soldiers and the desecration of their gods. The Trojans held their gods in great esteem and are portrayed as a very reverent people. This can be seen by Aeneas refusal to touch the statues of his household gods until he can clean himself of the battle from which he has just come.
There are many lessons that can be learned from reading Homer's The Iliad. One of which is understanding the stages of grief. One can literally watch Achilles go through all five stages when he morns the death of his comrade Patroclus. Achilles moves through Denial and Isolation, Depression, Anger, Bargaining and Acceptance in the short time after his close friends death.
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.
The Iliad is not only a narrative of epic battles and armies, but also of the redemption of a man ruled by wrath. Achilles, whose wrath is the driving force of the whole tale, experiences redemptive changes in the following ways .Firstly by being able to experience empathy, secondly by being willing to forgive those who his wrath was kindled against ,and finally by being able to release the sinister emotions that ruled his life. Achilles does not experience a total redemption in a biblical sense, but instead experiences partial redemption of his character. The Iliad is a novel of a humanistic redemption that does not fully grasp the Christian sense of the word but is nevertheless still redemption.
“Then the screaming and shouts of triumph rose up together, of men killing and men killed, and the ground ran blood.” From first examination the Iliad seems to be an epic founded on an idealized form of glory, the kind that young boys think about when they want to join the army. A place full of heroism and manliness where glory can be achieved with a few strokes of a sword and then you go home and everything is just lovely. Many people view the Iliad this way, based on it’s many vivid battle descriptions and apparent lack of remorse for the deaths that occur. This, however, is not how war is presented in the Iliad. Homer presents a very practical outlook on war countering the attainment of the glory with the reality of its price and the destruction it causes. He successfully does this by showing the value of the lives of each person that dies and, in a sense, mourning their passing, describing the terror and ugliness of war, and, through the characters of Achilleus and Hector, displaying the high price of glory.
The notion of personal honor is prevalent throughout the Iliad. The honor of every person in Homeric culture was important, but to the hero, his honor was paramount. He could not endure insults, and he felt that he had to protect his reputation — even unto death. The hero 's duty was to fight, and the only way he had of gaining glory and immortality was through heroic action on the battlefield; thus, he continually prepared his life for the life-and-death risks of battle. The Homeric hero believed that men had to stand together in battle; men had to respect each other; and they had to refrain from excessive cruelty. This last condition was critically important for the Homeric hero. He loathed deliberate acts of cruelty and injustice. If he were ready to kill a victim, he believed that he should do it quickly; he was not to mutilate him, as Achilles does with Hektor 's body. By following this code, a hero gained a sense of dignity and a reputation for honor that would ensure his place in the social memory of his community.
Throughout history, people evaluated themselves and others based on moral judgements. The basis of those evaluations changed over time. In the Homeric period, from approximately 1200-800 BCE, people practiced “warrior ethics.” Warrior ethics were based on teleology, meaning all things had a purpose/function in society. The concept of good/bad was directly related to how well the function was performed. For example, a warrior was considered good when he was an excellent warrior and bad if he performed poorly. In Homeric times, excellence was considered god-like.
The Ancient Greeks admired their heroes and tried to learn from both their achievements and their mistakes. They believed that most great leaders and warriors followed a predictable behavior cycle, which often ended tragically. In Homer’s epic poem, The Iliad, Achilles is a great warrior who traces the stages of the behavior cycle twice, from arete to hubris to ate and then to nemesis. Achilles is a highly skilled warrior and a great leader who becomes a narcissist and an arrogant person, which leads to selfish and childish behavior resulting in the death of his best friend. Following Patroclus’ death, Achilles repeats the behavior cycle by regaining his courage and motivation, and goes back to battle against Hector. The pride he feels in killing Hector and his overpowering hatred for him, leads Achilles to another bad decision: disrespecting the body of his enemy. This foolish choice leads directly to Achilles death. Although The Iliad is mainly known as a story about the Trojan War, it is understood as a story about Achilles and his struggle to be a hero.
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.
In the Iliad, revenge is the cause of many problems. There are main concepts that lead to having revenge in which it is pride, rage and emotional charged. Pride can lead to revenge by disbelieving in someone’s own dignity. Rage can also result into having revenge by making a person become full of anger to the point that they can not hold it back any more. Emotional charged can result to revenge by someone who is very emotional and starts to have a negative aspect to what has happened. In the Iliad, revenge causes problems where justice is the solution to those problems, as seen through Achilles and Hector.
In addition to his family, Hector loved the people of Troy and he had their best interest. Achilles, on the other hand, was “strong, swift, and godlike” (233). Achilles’ mother was the daughter of a god. Thetis was a sea goddess who did everything she could to protect her son, Achilles, and make him immortal. Also, Achilles was the only child.
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.
In Homer’s epic, the Iliad, the legendary, has no two characters that are so similar yet so different as Greek warrior, Achilles, and the Prince of Troy, Hector. Achilles is the strongest fighter in the Greek side, and Hector is the strongest Trojan. They are both put into the mold of a hero that their respective societies have put them into; however; it is evident that they are both extremely complex characters with different roles within their society and with their families, and with the gods.
...g Harry and Voldomort circling around each other in the middle. Harry explained to Voldomort that if he fought with Harry he would lose. But Voldomort didn’t listen to what Harry said, and the moment he cast his spell it rebounded on him and he was killed. After the dead had been buried and the injured treated, all was well and the entire wizarding world was at peace.
Thetis, Achilles’ mom, tells her soldier son that he has a choice for his fate, which is to die in battle and receive honor, money, fame, and glory, or to go back home and live a long life without fighting in the battle. Thetis, advising Achilles after Patroclus’ death tells him that his life is already very short, but “For hard on the heels of Hector’s death your death / must come at once–” (XVIII. 111-113). Achilles chooses the honorable option, but Thetis reminds him that his honor and fame will come along with his death. Thetis knows her own sons prophecy, but she does not deny that anything will not happen to him, and she does not try to stop Achilles. Achilles’ own prophecy does eventually come true, but Thetis does not have the power to change Achilles’ fate.