To obtain Klaos is the greatest thing one can do. It is the apex of fame; a fame that lasts not only over one or two generations, but for as long as there are people to remember the stories and pass them down. The Iliad has achieved such renown, being passed down from generation to generation in its own literary Klaos. The Iliad of Homer teaches many timeless lessons that any person can relate to. One of these lessons are reflected within the death of Patroklos. It is hard to dispute that Patroklos’ choices did not lead to his own demise. However, the choices he made were fully influenced by the attitude and actions of Achilleus. Due to Achilleus’ brash behavior, Patroklos was swayed to go out and fight in his place, leading to his death. In …show more content…
He has the power to “call(ed) the people to assembly,” and to “stand among them and speak forth,” showing that despite his age he is known to make generally good decisions in battle and has earned a name for himself. (I.55,58) However, his personality is still marred by those traits often identified with youth: he is selfish, brash, and desiring respect. Agamemnon is Achilleus’ elder and his king. In those two ways Achilleus owes him respect. Nonetheless, Achilleus refuses to acquit him of taking Briseis, the supposed “love of his life”. Achilleus has many women and Gera. Even though he feigns being torn up at Brises’ loss, he continues to sleep with his other girls, and is seen joyfully playing his instruments almost obliviously, as if nothing is wrong. When Agamemnon tries to give Briseis back untouched with compensation, he refuses it. For him, it does not matter that the men who respect him so much are dying, and that he could save them. It only matters that he gets what he wants on his own terms, and that his petty anger is sated. If it was really Briseis that he was concerned about, then he would have taken her back when she was offered to him, or at least shown more concern. It shows that morally, he is still immature, which Patroklos feels the need to make up for. When Patroklos begs Achilleus to go fight to save their friends, Achilleus responds by saying, “I would not give over my …show more content…
At the very least, it was rooted within him when Nestor imbued him with the responsibility, “My child, by right of blood Achilleus is higher than you, but you are elder…you must speak solid word to him,” he is senior in age to Achilleus and a friend and comrade to him. (XI.785-787) Patroklos had a unique relationship with Achilleus. In one way, he is like an older brother due to his age. He attempts to take advantage of this aspect of their relationship when he tries to convince Achilleus to join the war unsuccessfully, much like when Phoenix tried ineffectively to use his fatherly status in his favor. When he fails in this, he resorts back to the being the inferior of the two, in a sort of after to son relationship. Many times when a father is not in the position to carry out his job as head of the house, his son will try to take up his place. He doesn’t comprehend that he can’t replace his father so easily. Like that child trying to step into their father’s shoes, Patroklos tries to take Achilleus’ place by putting on his armor and trying to fight in his place. The armor doesn’t fit Patroklos, but in order to save Achaeans, he tries to use it regardless. In this way Achilleus indirectly causes Patroklos’ death. Achilleus could have made many decisions between the span of his fight with Agamemnon and the death of Patroklos that could have spared Patroklos’ life. If he would have acted accordingly towards
Throughout The Odyssey, Odysseus’ power was gained through the power of others resulting in three phases of understanding: self-determination, courage, and having a greater vision in life. In order to understand these three phases, one must be able to conquer predominance from those less useful than others. Although Odysseus was physically strong, he was not who he was mentally, without the help and guidance through the gods. Odysseus was like one who has no friends, but when he meets up with more people, he becomes popular. One who was alone and meets new people, has more friends and finds out more interesting subjects about daily life. They are the ones who have more predominance than others because they know more people and have much more interesting subjects. Odysseus was like this because he didn’t know much without the help and guidance from others.
of a year. It is only after hearing the appeals of his men that Odysseus
The decision of Achilleus is a crucial moment in understanding how fate works in epic (Homerian) literature. Thetis tells Achilleus of his opportunity to win renown as the greatest warrior of all time, earning glory through his fearless acts in battle against a foe who is sure to overcome the Achaians. The fate of ten years of attack on Troy hinge upon the decision of Achilleus, who is given the choice to win glory for the Achaians and, more importantly, himself.
The subject of Homer’s epic poem, the Iliad, is very clearly stated--it is “the rage of Peleus’ son Achilles.” The reader remains continually aware of the extent of Achilles’ rage, yet is never told the reason why Achilles remains angry and unreconciled. There is no definitive answer to this question. Achilles is not a static character. He is constantly changing; thus the question of why he remains angry solicits different answers at various stages throughout the poem. To find an answer, the reader must carefully examine Achilles’ ever-changing dilemma involving the concepts of mortality and honor. At its simplest, Achilles’ dilemma is that if he goes to war, he will die. But he will die with glory.
Honor is something men and women have fought for century after century. Even now, thousands of American and British men are fighting in Iraq, near to where the Trojan War was to have taken place. These men fight for the greater good. They fight for those in Iraq who are unable to fight for or otherwise defend themselves. They fight for honor. The characters in the Iliad are motivated by their own form of honor, or arete, known similarly as the Homeric Code. And it is because of this code that the Trojan War began. The characters in this story are shown to possess arete, but some have different ideas as to how vastly and to what rate it should be respected. And because of this, many a man’s honor is disturbed.
The Ancient Greeks admired their heroes and tried to learn from both their achievements and their mistakes. They believed that most great leaders and warriors followed a predictable behavior cycle, which often ended tragically. In Homer’s epic poem, The Iliad, Achilles is a great warrior who traces the stages of the behavior cycle twice, from arete to hubris to ate and then to nemesis. Achilles is a highly skilled warrior and a great leader who becomes a narcissist and an arrogant person, which leads to selfish and childish behavior resulting in the death of his best friend. Following Patroclus’ death, Achilles repeats the behavior cycle by regaining his courage and motivation, and goes back to battle against Hector. The pride he feels in killing Hector and his overpowering hatred for him, leads Achilles to another bad decision: disrespecting the body of his enemy. This foolish choice leads directly to Achilles death. Although The Iliad is mainly known as a story about the Trojan War, it is understood as a story about Achilles and his struggle to be a hero.
The Iliad and the Fate Of Patroclus Throughout The Iliad Of Homer, the constant theme of death is inherently. apparent. The snares are not. Each main character, either by a spear or merely a scratch from an arrow, was wounded or killed during the progression of the story. For Zeus' son, a king.
than the times of today. Back then, the most important aspect of life for a
Throughout the Iliad, Homer portraits the extent to which honor plays a role in the lives of Greeks and the manner in which they are willing to sacrifice in order to reach their goals. The Iliad is set during the Trojan War, a particularly long and bloody war, fought not over boundary disagreements, and not over political conflicts, and not to protect the nation. Rather, it was a war fought to defend the personal honor. The possession of women was important to a man’s standing and honor. Paris’ theft of Helen struck a huge blow to the honor of Menelaus and becomes the initial cause of the Trojan War. Consequently, Menelaus, the Spartan ruler, called upon his brother Agamemnon to gather the Greek forces to launch the war against Paris demanding the return of Helen and reinstating the honor for the king. The war lasted for ten years and cost innumerable Greeks’ lives and brought incurable pain upon their families. To Greek heroes, honor is more important than their life as much as that life would be meaningless without it, and they even willingly sacrifice their lives in order...
The price that heroes pay for the glory they obtain is something readily forgotten if one does not read The Iliad in the context of the times. In the time of the Iliad, glory and honor was even more important than it was now. One can get easily get lost in the descriptive nature of the epic poem, which gives reason to a belief that the Iliad is simply a glorification of combat, however, this is not the case. The Iliad is based on much deeper principles than combat, it glorifies the search for honor and the sacrifices that great men will take to achieve this honor. If Achilleus had not rejoined his comrades, taking pity on them, he would never be remembered even if he still had great prowess in battle, because he did not use it to help help his friends.
Throughout Homer’s epic poem, The Iliad, gods are presented as remarkably human in almost every way. While it is assumed that gods are divine entities incapable of human transgression, they are portrayed with all the flaws of mortals in The Iliad. The gods are a manifestation of human emotions consequently helping to explain the behavior of the humans in The Iliad. The actions of the heroes are what determine their fate, not divine intervention. Ultimately, the humans in The Iliad have inherent characteristics that provide the driving force behind their actions: the gods simply act in concert with them, allowing the human beings to exercise free will of
Revenge in The Iliad it the main theme and drives men to do things that they would not normally do. The main example of this is Achilles wanting revenge on Agamemnon. The first book of the Iliad explains that Achilles wants revenge because Agamemnon is forced to return Chryseis, his war bride, to her father, and he decides to take Achilles war bride from him. According to “Some Thoughts about the Origins of ‘Greek Ethics’”, by Nicholas D. Smith, “Agamemnon’s unjust affront to Achilles leads to and extraordinarily deadly retaliation, the ultimate outcome of which is that multitudes of these men’s innocent allies are killed unnecessarily”(smith 10). This is out of character for Achilles, who would normally be the first man into battle, not sitting one out. By “rejecting even the most earnest and impressive entreaties Agamemnon offers, and increasingly making decisions which are rationally indefensible”, he shows how much his wanting of revenge has turned him into a madman (smith 10). His only desire is to get revenge for his loss. It takes the death of Patroclus, his dear friend, to bring him back to the war, which he has left.
People learn lessons every day. They can either learn them the easy way, or they can learn them the hard way. Homer documented Odysseus’ journey back to Ithaca in The Odyssey. In this journey, Odysseus learns several life lessons that applied to our lives.
The 'Iliad'; by Homer is a book that deals with many emotional issues. I am going to talk about a few emotional parts of the Iliad and compare them to the emotional life of today. I have chosen a section of the book and will talk about the emotions that come up there. The section that I have chosen to talk about is in book 18 when Achilles is very angry and very sad about Patroclus death. After that he wants revenge by killing hector.
Homer's Iliad is commonly understood as an epic about the Trojan War, but its meaning goes deeper than that. The Iliad is not only a story of the evolution of Achilleus' persona, but at times it is an anti-war epic as well. The final book proposes many questions to the reader. Why not end with the killing of Hektor? Most stories of war conclude with the triumphant victory of good over evil, but in the Iliad, the final thoughts are inclined to the mourning of the defeated Hektor, which accentuates the fact that good has not triumphed over evil, but simply Achilleus triumphed over Hektor. Ending with the mourning of Hektor also brings to center stage for the first time the human side of war and the harsh aftermath of it. We see that war not only brings great glory, but also much suffering and anguish. Homer puts his anti-war views on display.