Examples Of Pride In The Iliad

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Recommended: Pride in the Iliad

The Dangerous Obsession with Pride
Yingluo Wang

Pride one of the most important elements presented throughout the Hebrew Bible and the Iliad. While both texts illustrate the notion of pride via traits of their own characters in various ways, the effects associated with pride are portrayed in a similar manner. In the Iliad, pride is presented as a virtue of honor and self-esteem and it is highly valued among the warriors. On the other hand, the Hebrew Bible relates the notion of pride to personal desire and satisfaction. Despite portraying the notion of pride from different perspectives, both texts characterize pride with negative consequences to their characters, which shows extreme obsessions with pride could potentially lead to one’s downfall.
Achilles, who is known as the greatest warrior of the Archean, heavily values pride as an essential virtue of honor and acts to uphold his pride …show more content…

The brothers, Cain and Abel, are both obedient to the Lord at first, offering the Lord with their own gifts. “And the Lord was pleased with Abel's offering; But in Cain and his offering he had no pleasure. And Cain was angry and his face became sad.” (Genesis, 4:4-5) The Lord shows more interests in Abel’s offering, which makes Cain angry and unsatisfied. The unfair treatment from the Lord wounds Cain’s pride and Cain is irritated by his brother and the Lord. In order to regain his pride and ease his own dissatisfaction, Cain decides to murder his brother. Cain’s anger comes from his obsession with pride. He sees the Lord’s favor in Abel’s offering as damage to his personal pride and becomes jealous of his brother. His anger eventually leads to his crime of murdering and Lord’s permanent punishment on him. By attempting to uphold his pride through sinful actions, Cain has to bear all the consequences as a price of his extreme obsession with

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