Although the word “hero” has transcended time, the definition has not. When modern-day humans go into reading about Greek heroes, expecting them to resemble our current ones, they are unpleasantly surprised to find selfish people who sometimes indiscriminately murder in the name of honor. In comparison, we value the firefighter that puts their life on the line to save others, the person standing up to the bully with pacifism rather than fists, and those that learn to forgive and forget instead of spending their entire lives seeking revenge on those that have wronged them. Thus, Achilles would not be considered a modern-day hero like he was in ancient Greece, because whilst they valued glory, brutal strength, and revenge, today we value selflessness, …show more content…
Throughout Book 22, Achilles tries again and again to chase down and kill Hector, and is finally able to do so. Before he actually kills Hector, he tells him “I wish my stomach would let me cut off you flesh in strips and eat it raw for what you’ve done to me” (Iliad, Book 22, 384-86). Shortly after Achilles allows the Greeks to stand around and continually stab the corpse of Hector. However, not even this brutality satisfied Achilles. Eventually, he ended up completely disgracing Hector’s dead body in front of all of Troy, tying him up to a chariot and dragging him around, being “defiled in his own native land” (Iliad, Book 22, 449). His only redemption after this section is the fact that he allowed Hector’s parents to give him money in exchange for their son’s corpse so that he could be properly buried and sent off to Hades. All of this violence, especially the parts towards the already dead person, was not even acceptable towards the Greek. The comparison would be that with this level of brutality, most modern-day people would view Achilles more as a villain than a hero after this. His actions here provide no redemption in modern …show more content…
Book 21 focused heavily on setting up for the audience and everyone around him that the entire reason he was there was to avenge his best friend and make sure that everyone responsible paid for his death. One particular quote caught my attention as being a good explanation, stating “No, you’ll all die, die ugly deaths, until you have paid for the Greeks’ loss, for Patroclus dead, killed by the ships while I was away” (Iliad, Book 21, 141-43). He also exposes his motive for why he feels he must avenge Patroclus- he feels responsible for not being there when Patroclus died, possibly able to prevent him from meeting such a fate. Now he is taking out his anger over Patroclus’ death on all Trojans and refuses to show any of them mercy. Going beyond just seeking revenge, he’s also continuing to partake in the aforementioned brutal violence. Not every single Trojan killed Patroclus, but he wants to kill each one all the
Philip Zimbardo once stated, “I'm saying to be a hero it means you step across the line and are willing to make a sacrifice, so heroes always are making a sacrifice. Heroes always take a risk. Heroes always deviant. Heroes are always doing something that most people don't and we want to change.” I completely agree with what Mr. Zimbardo said, A hero is someone who will always be willing to make a sacrifice for the greater good.
Malouf describes the actions of Achilles’ as to be vengeance to soften grief of losing his dear friend Patroclus, through the slaughter of Trojan prisoners and the defiling of Hector’s body. His body symbolises how revenge is not the answer to battle as nothing is gained except more pain and suffering, an incorporation on Malouf’s view on war. Priam’s state of despair was rooted in the effects of war, the fact that his son had died as a result of war and was being held by Achilles; showcasing mortality. When relying his new idea to Hecuba, he states, “it is true that the gods make me a king, but they also made me a man, and mortal,” showcasing the prospect of death as motivation. Displaying an underlying emotional motivation that allows Priam to break free of the conventional bonds.
The question raised by homer when evaluating a hero is first what makes a hero? A hero is someone who demonstrates substantial quantities of courage or outstanding achievement. Furthermore, a hero is not someone who does heroic things for no purposes or just for the sake of doing something, they do things because they are obligated to do them, also a force greater than them wills them to do so. A hero takes a risk knowing the danger in addition to embracing it, a hero is as brave as they are strategic, they look death in the eye and death blinks. A person like this must be a mortal, someone who endures pain, feeds on it, is forged from it.
Achilles is depicted to the reader as one who is full of anger; sometimes righteous and sometimes excessive. Many of his hatred moments occur due to Agamemnon, his compatriot or after the death of his dear friend, Patroclus. The death of Patroclus is mourned by Achilles greatly that he even goes to war. “Before Achilles' feet as Achilles wept himself, Now for his father, now for Patroclus once again and their sobbing rose and fell throughout the house.” This illustrates that although Achilles is honorable in the Homeric society, he has within himself a great vice; one that can alter or destroy his image.
Hector's end is so tragic because he holds so much shame because of his brash decision for the Trojans to stay outside their walls the previous night. Once he meets up with Achilles and tries to reach some sort or compromise, when he realizes that won't work he just flees searching for an an escape, all while his family is watching; by doing this he losing all of his pride, his dignity. He is searing so desperately for some way to escape his fate, he soon must face his mistakes and his battle, he knows that he must face Achilles in battle, and he
This is like Hector’s struggle because why should Hector die defending his brother’s wife/girlfriend (Iliad VI, 427-460). More importantly, why should other Trojan men die for such a small insignificant cause? All of the thousands of men that have died fighting this war have died in vain because this in Achilles eyes was not a just cause for
Achilles, before this moment, could have been considered sympathetic in many of his battles. Although he brutally killed many a Trojan, he was usually willing to take people for ransom. Although his rage at Agamemnon has faded, with the death of Patroclus, any mercy or compassion Achilles once had is now gone, destroyed by grief and rage. His denial of Lykaon's pleas for mercy can be considered one of the Iliad's most frightening passages.
In Homer’s The Iliad, epic hero Achilles serves as an example of how rage, when unchecked, leads to disastrous repercussions. Achilles, though nearly superhuman in his physical abilities, struggles repeatedly to contain his anger. Throughout The Iliad, as Achilles’ fury compounds, the consequences of his actions become catastrophic, eventually leading to the death of his best friend, Patroclus. Although Achilles ultimately chooses to avenge Patroclus’ death and achieve his own kleos, or honor, his rage-driven actions lead to the death of many Achaean soldiers, and change the course of his fate.
In the Iliad, Achilles is responding to Odysseus’s speech attempting to convince him to return to the war. Achilles’ main argument against returning is his incalculable rage against Agamemnon for “the prize of honor / The warlord Agamemnon gave me / And in his insulting arrogance took back” which is not only an insult to Achilles’ status, but also to his honor as a warrior (Il. 9.378-379). In addition to focusing on the main argument of Achilles’ speech, it is worth noting the contradictions present within his speech as well.
Hector is a man who cares about his family and believes in honor. He is shown to care for his family when he goes to visit his wife and son before going off to a battle he might die in. During his visit he tries to comfort his crying wife and prays his son will be a better man than him when he grows up, along with says a final goodbye to both of them. His honor comes from when Hector was telling Paris to go out and fight with their men on the battlefield rather than staying locked up in his bedroom in safety. Hector’s behaviors affect his heroic image by making him seem like a hero to the Trojan people.
Starting with the Babylonians, there is a vague sense of morality on their part. The origins of morality come from the story of what they perceive as creation. Their fear of the Gods translates to their moral behavior and Hammurabi uses this to inflict one of the first set of laws inflicted on mankind. These set of laws are handed down from the great Gods Anu and Bel directly to Hammurabi (or so he says) as though to keep the wicked in place. There are specific rules that single out the inhumane approach to morality.
Achilles decides that he will avenge Patroclus' death by killing the one who slain Patroclus, Hector. He then decides to enter the fray of war knowing that if he goes into the war again he might die young. Achilles is too disgusted by Hector killing Patroclus that he refuses to eat and he wants everyone to go into battle now. Achilles says, Let
In grief Achilles wants to fight Hector for what he did. Hector has two choices, either to fight Achilles or hide behind the walls of Troy. Hector exclainms doubtedly “What shall I do? If I retreat behind these walls, … And now that I have ruined them all by my rashness, I am ashamed to face the men and women of Troy, or some base fellows may say-Hector thought too much of his own strength, and ruined us all!”
He was killed by the warrior Paris. While in battle, Paris, whom had fled from the battle, was given a poisonous arrow by the god Apollo. He took this arrow and shot it over a wall and hit Achilles right in the heel. The poison spread very quickly, as we read on page one-hundred and forty-four: “Achilles staggered for a moment as the fiery poison of the god burned through his veins.” We can see how he had great glory in two ways.
Iliad is recognized as one of the most famous ancient monuments of literature. The full understanding of this epic poem is hardly possible without thorough analysis of its main characters. Among all the episodes of the Trojan War, Homer chooses the moment of Achilles’ wrath and thus creates a poem in which he becomes the central figure. From the Ancient Greeks’ point of view, Achilles represents the ideal of manliness and pure heroism, for he is brave and fights for heroics, not profits. Today, one can agree with this interpretation, yet Achilles is probably the most controversial character because he combines various personality traits and acts in accordance with his ambiguous nature.