Essay About Love in Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey

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Recommended: Compare and contrast the iliad and the odyssey

The Importance of Love in Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey

Homer’s Iliad was a tragedy illustrating the despair and useless suffering associated with war. Homer's Odyssey was an epic tale of long suffering resolving in triumph. Though there were a great many differences between the two works, there was an underlying theme of love which ran through both. Not just the physical manifestation of infatuation, but the kind of love that makes one willing to die for another

The events portrayed in the Iliad were set in motion by love. Paris' love for Helen and her love for Paris, resulting in Helen deserting Menelaus and leaving with Paris for Troy. Helen, consumed by her love, leaves for Troy with "no thought for her child or husband." Menelaus' love for Helen drives him to raise an army of thousands and lay siege to Troy to recover her. Thousands of young men from both sides of the struggle, Troy and Argos, died. The result was a ten year siege of Troy finally resulting in the plunder of the city, the women of troy being enslaved, and all of the men being slaughtered. Patroclus, Achilles, and Hector, all dead for the sake of Helen. Achilles withdraws from battle because he loves Briseis, the favorite of all the women captured in battle, and refuses to return until she is recovered. Achilles returns to battle in order to revenge Patroclus, but not until after Briseis is returned to him in the same condition in which she was taken. It is apparent, I grant, that after the death of Patroclus, the motivations in the Iliad quickly turned to revenge as is demonstrated by Achilles proclamation to Hector - "Would to god my rage, my fury would drive me now to hack your flesh away and eat you raw...!" These are the words of a man driven by revenge, but isn't revenge, in this case, motivated by love - Achilles love of Patroclus?

While the events of the Odyssey were different from those of the Iliad, they were, none the less, driven by love. The suitors love for Penelope, Odysseus' love for Penelope, and Odysseus' love for his home, are all examples of the motivations in the Odyssey. Odysseus' love for his wife, his home, and his son were so deep that he gave up becoming immortal to continue his quest for them.

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