“Revenge is an act of passion; vengeance of justice. Injuries are revenged; crimes are avenged.” Famed English writer, Samuel Johnson, attempts here to distinguish the acts of revenge and of vengeance. In Homer’s The Iliad, we see the vengeful death of the character Patroklos, whose death is an ironic one. While he is wounded due to a blow inflicted by Apollo, and a spear from a Trojan warrior, he is then finished off by Hektor. The course of these events are initiated by Zeus, king of the gods, because his son, Sarpedon, falls at the hands of Patroklos. Because of this divine intervention, it is clear that Zeus is responsible for Patroklos’ death, as he sought vengeance, not revenge, on Patroklos, as well as the fulfillment of a promise and set the events in motion that would …show more content…
eventually kill Patroklos. Zeus’s anger and vengeance-fueled action are caused by his knowledge that his son, Sarpedon, is destined to die at the hands of Patroklos. Even though Zeus wishes to “snatch him out of the sorrowful battle”, he is stopped from doing so by his wife, Hera, queen of the gods, who has to remind him to the consequences of doing so (The Iliad 16.436). Hera reminds Zeus that if he revives his son, the other gods will want to do the same and will get too involved with protecting their children and will adversely affect the outcome of the battle. The difficulty of knowing when your child will die as well as who will do it, yet not being allowed to prevent it is a hard blow to any parent, immortal or not. This is the point where we see what Zeus will do to cause Patroklos’ death and Zeus’s actions are no longer acts of passion or revenge, but are calculated moves to avenge his doomed son’s death. Battle ensues between the Trojans and the Achaians and Patroklos with his men confront Glaukos and Sarpedon with their Lykian force.
Patroklos throws his “brazen\ spear, and the shaft escaping his hand was not flung vainly\ but struck… the beating heart [of Sarpedon]” (16.479-481). Hektor finds Patroklos cheering on the Achaians while they are dishonoring the body of Sarpedon. Zeus realizes the Greeks should have the body of Sarpedon and makes Hector fearful and causes him to retreat back to Troy, with the intention of luring Patroklos closer to the city walls and his subsequent death. Zeus then commands Apollo to go and take Sarpedon’s body, clean him, and deliver him to Sleep and Death to take him back to his home, Lykia. Having dealt with Sarpedon’s corpse, Zeus now can go after Patroklos. Patroklos, still wearing the armor of Achilleus, proceeds to fight against the Trojans after killing Sarpedon. However, Zeus isn’t finished with him yet, as Homer describes Zeus as “stronger than man’s mind.\ he terrifies even a warlike man” (16.688-689). Zeus sends Apollo to fight for the city of Troy, who then heckles Patroklos from atop the tower: Give way, illustrious Patroklos: it is not
destined That the city of proud Trojans shall fall before your spear Nor even at the hand of Achilleus, who is far better than you are. (16. 707-709) Even after Apollo’s warning, Patroklos still tries to defeat Troy by charging the gate. He does this three times, but to no avail; Troy is not conquered. While he does this, Apollo appears to Hektor as his uncle (name) and encourages him to fight again, this time informing him that he will kill Patroklos. Instilled with this motivation, Hektor heads out on his chariot straight toward Patroklos and the fighting ensues. As Patroklos is charging the walls of Troy for the third time Apollo appears from a mist and attacks Patroklos himself, hitting Achilleus’ helmet off his head. This great helmet was then given to Hektor by Zeus, as Zeus realized that Hektor’s death is close as well. As Hektor closes in to finish of Patroklos, Patroklos says that his victory is one “given by Kronos’ son, Zeus, and Apollo, who have subdued me.” Patroklos recognizes that Hektor is not responsible for his death, rather that Hektor was more of a tool used by Zeus and Apollo. Zeus commanded Apollo’s help, so his death was truly orchestrated by Zeus. Even though Zeus avenges Sarpedon’s death, he realizes that another problem could be dealt with as well using Patroklos’ death. Knowing Achilleus will feel guilty having allowed Patroklos to fight in his stead, and will soon rejoin the battle. Zeus fulfills his promise to Thetis, mother of Achilleus, to bring kleos, or honor, to Achilleus. Zeus uses Patroklos’ death as a positive externality, adding his promise to Thetis to his original plan for simple vengeance towards Patroklos for the death of his son. This act of compassion towards Thetis also shows that by Zeus taking responsibility of Patroklos’ death, shows that this truly is an act of vengeance, and not of revenge. Zeus truly orchestrated, and holds sole responsibility for, the death of Patroklos. Zeus was angered by the fact that Patroklos struck down his son, Sarpedon.
The Greeks, as portrayed by Homer, are a very vengeful people. Throughout The Odyssey, a theme of vengeance is dominant. These displays of retribution come from different entities for fairly different reasons. So why is revenge such a factor in The Odyssey? Fear and the overwhelming feeling of payback are two answers. Homer gives numerous examples of how certain characters demonstrate their power in a fury of rage. He writes of the payback Zeus gives to those who break the rules, of Poseidon’s hatred towards Odysseus, and of Odysseus’s revenge to those who have dishonored his home.
Revenge is a reoccurring theme throughout the Odyssey. Nearly every motivation for conflict within the Odyssey is because one of the characters is craving revenge. The three main areas of revenge in the first twelve books are as follows. Initially, Zeus prevents Odysseus and his men from returning home. Poseidon also continually chastises Odysseus throughout the entire story. Finally, the key account of revenge the reader sees in the story is from Telemachus in that he feels the need to make the suitors compensate for their impudence to his house as well as his mother. Therefore, each of the characters in the story is put through many hardships which pushes them to seek revenge.
When Patroclus asked Achilles for his armor, Achilles finally sided with Patroclus after a great deal of pondering because he wanted revenge over Agamemnon. In the armor of Achilles, Patroclus was killed by Hector. When he learned of the death of Patroclus, he would kill Hector knowing that it would lead to his own death. Achilles went back into war knowing he would go against his mother’s wishes. When the news of Hector’s death reached King Priam, he asked for the body of his Son of Achilles. The body was returned out of understanding the pain of losing a son. But in the end, that was the plan that finally destroyed the City of
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.
Patroclus. His life was taken by the mighty Hector's spear, who was. truly liable for his death? The intricate story line of The Iliad makes many possible answers available, but only one possibility. accurately explains the actions and events that led to this gruesome episode.
Throughout the Iliad, Homer portraits the extent to which honor plays a role in the lives of Greeks and the manner in which they are willing to sacrifice in order to reach their goals. The Iliad is set during the Trojan War, a particularly long and bloody war, fought not over boundary disagreements, and not over political conflicts, and not to protect the nation. Rather, it was a war fought to defend the personal honor. The possession of women was important to a man’s standing and honor. Paris’ theft of Helen struck a huge blow to the honor of Menelaus and becomes the initial cause of the Trojan War. Consequently, Menelaus, the Spartan ruler, called upon his brother Agamemnon to gather the Greek forces to launch the war against Paris demanding the return of Helen and reinstating the honor for the king. The war lasted for ten years and cost innumerable Greeks’ lives and brought incurable pain upon their families. To Greek heroes, honor is more important than their life as much as that life would be meaningless without it, and they even willingly sacrifice their lives in order...
Simone Weil argues that the way Homer presents war and the use of force in the Iliad, in all of its brutality, violence, and bitterness bathes the work in the light of love and justice (pg 25). The point Weil is making is that by depicting the suffering of all of these men regardless of their side, or strength Homer equalizes them in a “condition common to all men”(pg 25). Because Homer equalizes them the reader can feel empathy, or at least compassion for all of the men. However while Weil is correct about how Homer’s descriptions of war and force reveal justice and love, she is wrong in thinking that justice and love are mere “accents” to the Iliad, and progress through the story “without ever becoming noticeable”(pg 25). Homer not only reveals this underlying idea to the reader through his tone and even handedness, but also through Achilles’ journey. By the end of the Iliad Achilles understands justice and love in much the same way that the reader does.
Achilles agreed that Patrokolos should wear his armor into battle, this decision along with the fact Achilles was no longer fighting, ultimately caused Patrokolos’ death. When Patrokolos died at the hands of Hektor, two things happened. First, being distraught over his friend’s death, Achilles feels responsible/ Guilt ensues but is channeled to more anger. Hektor, the slayer of Patrokolos now becomes the target of Achilles rage. Achilles is ready to fight, but more accurately ready for revenge. Achilles said, “I will not live nor go about among mankind unless Hektor fall by my spear, and thus pay me for having slain Patrokolos son of Menoetius,” (The Iliad, Chapter 18, Lines 89-91). When Achilles decided to fight, the fate of Hektor was already decided. Also, because he decided to fight, many more Trojans died. His fury with all of Troy was unleashed. Achilles killed and killed. The carnage was
"The Iliad is a poem that celebrates the heroic values war imposes on its votaries (27)." Homer himself describes war as "bringing glory to man." War is a huge part of both the Achaeans and the Trojans' lives. Characters gain glory through their performances and bravery in battle. Furthermore, Homer persuades the reader that war is the glorious way to settle a dispute. For example, Hector and other Trojans scorn Paris for backing down from Menelaus. On the other hand, Achilles acquires glory by deferring the option of a long, peaceful life in order to fight and become an epic hero. The characters in The Iliad value honor and glory to such a degree that they are willing to give up life itself in order to possess it.
Pyrrhus who plays a deeper and personal meaning into the story has his fathered killed by Paris and seeks to avenge him by slaying someone just as dear to Paris, his own father Priam. However with the great walls of Troy blocking his advance there is little he could do, but madness drives him and they build a great “Trojan” horse as a transport to fool the superstitious Trojans. To make it believable they even stage like they abandoned the siege by having all of their ships sail away from the island off on the far end to avoid attention, and leaving the horse there as if it were a gift from the gods. The Trojans seeing this as a great victory happily took the horse into Troy and threw a great feast, and drunk themselves to sleep. Then in th...
Revenge in The Iliad it the main theme and drives men to do things that they would not normally do. The main example of this is Achilles wanting revenge on Agamemnon. The first book of the Iliad explains that Achilles wants revenge because Agamemnon is forced to return Chryseis, his war bride, to her father, and he decides to take Achilles war bride from him. According to “Some Thoughts about the Origins of ‘Greek Ethics’”, by Nicholas D. Smith, “Agamemnon’s unjust affront to Achilles leads to and extraordinarily deadly retaliation, the ultimate outcome of which is that multitudes of these men’s innocent allies are killed unnecessarily”(smith 10). This is out of character for Achilles, who would normally be the first man into battle, not sitting one out. By “rejecting even the most earnest and impressive entreaties Agamemnon offers, and increasingly making decisions which are rationally indefensible”, he shows how much his wanting of revenge has turned him into a madman (smith 10). His only desire is to get revenge for his loss. It takes the death of Patroclus, his dear friend, to bring him back to the war, which he has left.
First off, Achilles talks about how sad he is about the death of Patroclus. Achilles groaned and answered, 'Mother, Olympian Zeus has indeed vouchsafed me the fulfillment of my prayer, but what pleasure is it to me, seeing that my dear comrade Patroclus has fallen—he whom I valued more than all others, and loved as dearly as my own life?
...h Agamemnon and wishes that ‘strife could die from the lives of gods and men’… Not to avenge Patroclus by killing Hector would be a renunciation of all that he stands for and has lived by”. Even though “sorrow fell on Achilles like a cloud” (216), he went back out to the battlefield and killed Hector. It took a great deal of bravery for Achilles to face the man who killed his best friend but Achilles, being the hero that he was, got back into battle and killed him because he couldn’t let Patroclus’ death go unavenged.
The death of Patroklos touched Achilles in many ways that changed and shaped his character. Many emotions were a result of his death such as love, loss, anger, and sadness. Patroklos was a dear friend to Achilles and when a mix of divine intervention and Hektor cut Patroklos down grief and the desire to avenge his dear friends death consumed Achilles. This switched his anger from King Agamemnon to Hektor, the man who slew his dear friend. This anger drew Achilles to avenge the death of his friend, to kill Hektor.
In the Iliad, Patroclus stepped up and took over Achilles position in battle; he died for Achilles and revealed the true hero in himself. Patroclus, “lost in his own great innocence … condemned to beg for his own death and brutal doom” (16.54,55). He had such courage and bravery to take upon this high responsibility. Achilles even directs Patroclus to “take this command to heart—obey it to the end” so that Patroclus could win glory for him. (16.96). Achilles decides if he sends out Patroclus then he will receive glory for his acts. Patroclus showed a tremendous amount of bravery and boldness in the battle Achilles was supposed to fight in. That battle led to his heroic death. . Patroclus was like Achilles and had a superhuman nature to him