Hubris In The Odyssey

The concepts of honour and hubris are critical to understanding the social and personal motivations of the heroes in Homer’s Illiad. The poet embodies the universal Greek goal of achieving fame that resounds even after death, through the character Achilles, whose deepest desire is to attain status and respect in the form of heroism in battle, and whose inherent mentality is that ‘If [he] voyages back to the fatherland [he] loves, [his] pride and[his] glory [will inevitably] die . .’. Similarly, ‘glorious’ Hector, of whom Achilles battles against for the splendours of distinction, also exhibits the strongest most desire to ‘Fight for [his] country—that is the best, the only omen!’. In contrast to this, Hector’s brother Paris, the instigator

This is explored through Homer’s symbolisation of Priam’s drive to Achilles’ tent as a ‘death-ward’ voyage from a ‘decadent’ Trojan city, to the ‘desolate’ underworld, of which arouses a sense of an approaching ‘doom’ that foreshadows the destined fall the Trojans ultimately suffer. Through the austere alliteration of ‘death-ward’, ‘decadent’, ‘doom’, Homer conveys a sense of the grief that inevitably coincides with the tragedy of warfare. The notion of loss and fear of what is to come is reinforced through the rich death imagery: ‘weeping’, ‘terror’, and ‘gusting winds’. Furthermore, Homer uses the Psychopompus god Hermes “the guider of souls” to accompany Priam in his voyage, whereby he ‘picks up his wand’ and ‘charms [Priam] to sleep’, an allusion to its brother demise. In the case of Achilles, the effects of grief are particularly transformative, in the sense that his ambitions alter drastically after undergoing the grieving process. This is exemplified in book XXIV as he and Priam grieve in unison. Through his use of aural imagery ‘throbbing, ‘crouching’, ‘longing’, Homer exemplifies the human cycle of grief as Achilles transitions from a ‘burning memory’ of ‘aimless anguish’ over his beloved Patroclus’s death, to a sense of acceptance and peace. Homer’s use of sweltering diction: ‘burning’, ‘anguish’ ‘red’ imply that the blazing misery within his ‘murderous’ soul is

This is demonstrated through the contrast between the dependence that various mortal characters exhibit in their ‘devotion’ to a higher power, and the way in which the gods themselves react to the loss of a mortal being. In particular, the death of ‘noble Hector’, illustrates a divide between the gods who merely ‘pity’ and the god (Apollo) who ‘rages’ at those who ‘shame’. Thus, accentuating the influence the gods have over humans, and the way in which their favouritism and judgement ultimately seals their fate. This is further reinforced through Homer’s negative connotations of Achilles: ‘barbaric’, ‘murderous’, brute’, which consequently guide the god Apollo to preclude the mutilation of Hector’s body, causing Achilles great frustration and revulsion and therefore influencing his sense of ‘wild pride’ In the film Troy, it is evident that both Achilles and Hector are sceptical about the sovereignty of divine intervention, and in the case of Achilles, whether their existence is merely a fable. This sense of dubiety and disrespect is illuminated in the scene of which Achilles loots Apollo’s temple and beheads his golden statue with a remorseless slash of his silver word. Conversely, in the Iliad, Homer briefly portrays Achilles as showing humility and respect for the gods, when he promptly agrees to the ransom requested, ‘as