The concepts of dissonance and “The Hero’s Journey” can be applied separately to The
Iliad or they can be combined; either way it would make sense. Within the story there is material dissonance and cognitive dissonance. Material/physical dissonance and cognitive dissonance, in this context, both concern dissonance and “The Hero’s Journey”. “The Hero’s Journey” exists more dominantly in physical dissonance than in cognitive dissonance. Dissonance usually comes with a negative connotation, but The Iliad can and will prove that it can actually have a positive outcome. Material dissonance would refer to the 10 - year war in its entirety, while cognitive dissonance refers to the internal war that one experiences due to conflict between ideals and
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Both return home, one alive and the other dead. The difference is, Achilles is able to return and begin contributing back to society again, that is, as a soldier for the Greeks. Achilles became a more renounced hero to both mortals and immortals while Hector remained a hero to the people of Troy. Both earned their names in history books, one seemingly superior to the other. Achilles set out to achieve a personal goal, but his victory against Hector resulted in achieving a communal goal and he ended up satisfying himself as well as helping his community of soldiers and gave an advantage to King Agamemnon. As proven by The Iliad, dissonance can lead to great things.
In conclusion, The Iliad is relevant to both dissonance and “The Hero’s Journey”, and dissonance is not always a bad thing. Everyone benefits from dissonance because it forces one to leave what they are prone to and experience great challenges to grow as an individual to the point where one is able to live contently with themselves and where one achieves a greater status than before. Through dissonance everyone has the opportunity to experience, learn, grow, and finish as a