Have you ever thought what would be like if the gods get involve in our life? What would be of us if they do? In the story of Homer 's Iliad, we see how the gods gets involve in people life quite often, and what effect it have on the person when they do. In this paper I will be arguing the differences and the similarities of books 3 and 22 from Homer 's Iliad. I will be talking about the issue of human free will vs. the role of gods in our life. In particular, in book 3 we see how our free will can have the gods get involve in our life’s, where in book 22 we see how free will can decide our destiny without any help from the gods.
Every day we live our life by making our own decision without having no one interfere, but when we read the Iliad,
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On book 22 we read that Hektor, the prince of Troy, decided to stay behind to fight Achilles. The reason for this overconfident is because, since he defeated Achilles best friend, Patroclus, Hektor thought that he might have a chance on defeating Achilles. As a result, his plan didn’t go as planed. Additionally, if we continue reading, we see that Hektor had a lot of signs to save himself from dying a horrific death. One of the sign was, when Apollo was disguise as Agenor, to distract Achilles while the Trojan run to safety. The other sign was his parents and comrade telling him to go inside and not fight the almighty Achilles because he “might encounter his destiny beaten down by Pelion(Achilles), since he is far stronger than he is” (22.37-40). Nevertheless, Hektor decided to stay and fight Achilles. As a result of his act of bravery to bring honor to his family and people, and the act of free will, cause a mortal human to lose his …show more content…
For example, imagine that you are caught up in an argument with someone stronger than you. In your mind you are probably thinking, “better not fight this person since he/she might hurt me really bad,” but then you have the gods(audience) cheering you on to fight him. You start changing your way of thoughts and think that you might have a chance to defeat him, eventually you end up fighting the person and lose. The same thing happened with Hektor, when he saw Achilles marching towards him, he knew at that moment that he couldn’t defeat Achilles. His pride took over him and didn’t let him rationalize the situation he was going to get himself in. But when Athena came to comfort Hektor as his brother “Deiphobos,” she cheered him on with some beautiful words, “Dear brother, indeed swift-footed Achilles is using you roughly and chasing you on swift feet around the city Priam. Come on, then; let us stand fast against him and beat him back from us” (22.229-231). Having someone to cheer you own gives the human body the strength to do anything they fell like even thought they are not capable of accomplishing
Many authors have employed the religious beliefs of their cultures in literature. The deities contained in Homer’s Odyssey and in the Biblical book of Exodus reflect the nature of the gods in their respective societies. Upon examination of these two works, there are three major areas where the gods of the Greek epic seem to directly contrast the nature of the God of the Israelites: the way problems are solved, the prestige and status that separates the divine from the masses, and the extent of power among the immortal beings.
Fate and free will, two subjects that go hand in hand in the Odyssey. The Odyssey is filled with examples of both fate and free will. I believe the gods of the Odyssey interfere with the lives of humans, but don’t control their lives completely. I also believe that humans in the Odyssey have some control over their lives, but do they?
There may be no greater fact known than that of human beings seeking a purpose in this life. Are we here simply because of our parents meeting or are we here because God ordained it for some divine reason unfathomable by yourself, but seen by those in your community? What would the world be if Gandhi had not examined himself in his writings? Ultimately we will never know the consequences of unexamined lives because it is simply human nature to seek a purpose, no matter the situation you are born into; meaning, rather King or citizen we all seek to examine our lives to find reason. This brings us to Achilles, the main hero of Homer’s The Iliad and the life that he eventually found a purpose in. This essay will seek to explore through Socrates quotation, “The unexamined life is not wroth living” how Achilles longing for a purpose affected the Achaean community at large both militarily and politically.
In Homer’s renowned epic, The Iliad, no character is depicted with as much humanity and decency as Hektor, the son of Priam and prince of Troy. Although he could be considered the antagonist of the story, he is nevertheless cast in a very favorable light throughout most of it and is shown as a far more decent person than many of the epic’s Achaian heroes. In stark contrast to his opponents’ lust for glory and bloodshed, Hektor’s defining character trait is his powerful sense of duty towards his family and Troy. Although he undeniably seeks glory through battle, it this sense of duty that drives him throughout the epic and makes him one of a very small number of characters not acting completely out of self-interest.
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 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.
Nothing can be more life changing than when a god chooses to interact with a mortal man. Much of Greek mythology describes the natures of these interactions. The Olympian Gods meddle with the mortals they rule over constantly, but what is the result for these interactions, and how do they impact the mortals? The question that this paper tries to address is what is the nature of these divine interaction, and how does each side truly perceive each other? The Gods and mortals interact in a variety of ways, but the true natures of these interactions truly describe how the ancient Greeks perceived their gods.
An interesting and important aspect of this Greek notion of fate is the utter helplessness of the human players. No matter the choice made by the people involved in this tragedy, the gods have determined it and it is going to come to pass. T...
The epic show this theme by having the winner of the battle lose his closest friend Patroclus, which results in him eventually grieving and finding ways to cope with it such as eliminating Patroclus’ killer, Hector. So despite winning the battle Achilles still loses his best friend which balances out if not out weighing the win of his fight with Hector. Hector wins despite no longer having a beating heart because he gains the respect of the gods and goddesses which is typically no easy task to accomplish. Hector gets praised by the people of Troy and gets the honor and respect from many. So even though he lacks the ability to breath he gains much respect and gets the title of saving his city by giving up himself to a very anger induced behemoth. Achilles once again losses after his defeat of Hector because the gods and goddesses lose their respect and regards for him after seeing Achilles’ true nature. Achilles potentially loses his life also, for in Hectors final words he claims Achilles will be brought down by the god Apollo himself. Which will be a pretty big lose and all for slaying someone who slayed a friend. The Iliad is basically one long epic just trying to say that if you’re a winner don’t boast about it because you probably lost in some way or another and if you lose don’t be too upset because you won something it’s just a mere mater if you realize what you won or not. Is that probably the true intention of the epic? No probably not, but it’s my own personal take on it even though we aren’t supposed to include opinions or “I” or “you” in it, but I’m dreadfully sorry because I felt it was rather necessary to state my rather failed attempt at understanding this complex but intriguing
The gods in power, like Zeus, exhibit bias, dishonor, betrayal, deception, and many other humanly characteristics. One memorable scene is when Zeus and Poseidon are in conflict with each other over the Achaens versus the Trojans. Zeus controls the battle by “lifting the famous runner Achilles’ glory higher,” (Homer 13: 404). Zeus plays both sides in this scene, acting like a double agent which is dishonorable. Zeus’s bias is prevalent throughout the poem; specifically, he is “bent on wiping out the Argives, down to the last man,” (Homer 12: 81-82). Just like mortals such as Agamemnon and Achilles view each other with suspicion and intolerance, the gods experience identical emotions of wariness, anger, and irritation. This human-like behavior is not restricted to Zeus. Later in the text, Hera lies to Aphrodite to use her powers to manipulate her own husband Zeus. If one looks at Hera as a heavenly entity, her reaction may not make sense, but when it is viewed as a manifestation of human emotion, it become almost reasonable. Her scheming response to Zeus’s meddling with the war is spurred by her support for the Trojans. Hera’s manipulation and Aphrodite’s ego don’t stand alone as examples of this divine humanity. These instances suggest that the deities are being presented in this unique way to help explain behavior of the humans in The
... was when the Greek armies were trying to seize the city of Troy without the help of Achilles , the fight was relentless. With the unfortunate death of Achilles beloved companion and friend Patrolcus, Achilles entered the war with the city of Troy only to wind up killing his enemy, Hector. In all of the fates predicted, Achilles knew ahead of time what the outcome could possibly be, with this in mind, Achilles has the freewill of whether to engage in the war and lose his life. However, fate had been reveal prior to the killing of Hector, Achilles engaged in war with revenge on his mind and fulfilled the prophecies.
The Iliad, translated by Robert Fitzgerald, is an epic about the Trojan war which displays the complicated relationships between the Greeks and the Trojans in their final year of battle. Akhilleus has all the attributes of a great warrior and distinguishes himself as one of the strongest fighters on the Akhaian side. In The Iliad, Akhilleus’ motivation is led by his thirst for bravery and the desire to leave behind a legacy causing him to go to far extents to fulfill Akhilleus’ need for pride. However, this is only attained after his conversation with Priam, when Akhilleus learns what it means to show honor in a sense of camaraderie and loyalty.
Throughout Greek literature, fate is a predominant theme. Characters often feel that their actions have little meaning because their fate is already predetermined. In The Iliad and Oedipus the King, Achilles and Oedipus have received oracles that reveal their fate. However, Achilles and Oedipus react in drastically different ways to their fate. Ultimately, though, fate and their reactions lead to their downfall.
One of the most compelling topics The Iliad raises is that of the intricate affiliations between fate, man and the gods. Many events related by Homer in his epic poem exhibit how these three connections interweave and eventually determine the very lives of the men and women involved in the war. Homer leaves these complex relationships slightly unclear throughout the epic, never spelling out the exact bonds connecting men's fate to the gods and what can be considered the power of fate. The motivation for the ambiguousness present in The Iliad is not easily understood, but it is a question that enriches and helps weave an even greater significance of the results into Homer's masterpiece. I feel that the interaction between man, god, and fate can be shown to be one great fluidity that ultimately leaves life mysterious, giving much more depth and complexity to the bonds between the three.
Homer’s The Iliad: Book XX features a battle between the Trojans and Achaians, shortly after Patroklus’ death (Lattimore Book XVI), where the gods must intervene in order to restrain Achilleus’ destructive nature that becomes amplified due to the grief and wrath as a result of the loss of his cousin/lover. The divine foresaw an early fall of Troy caused by the intensified destructive nature of Achilleus, therefore they interfered in the battle to protect a bigger ideal of fate, a fate of a nation, by manipulating smaller ideals of fate, the fates of people’s lives(Lattimore 405). At the beginning of the battle, after the gods descended from Olympus, they decide to sit and just watch how their mortal teams will fend for themselves until Apollo takes form as Lykoan and coerce Aeneias to challenge Achilleus, thus establishing the first act of divine intervention (Lattimore 406-407). When Achilleus is inches away from killing Aeneias, Poseidon takes sympathy upon him and whisks him off to safety (Lattimore 407-411). The last interference occurs during the confrontation between Hektor and Achilleus, where Achilleus is about to murder him and Apollo saves Hektor (Lattimore 416). Hektor’s rescue in this battle is an important event in the Iliad because Achilleus’ and Hektor’s fates are interrelated, further meaning that if Hektor die...