Theme Of Honor In The Iliad

In Greek culture, loyalty was greatly emphasized, most importantly towards superiors and family. To teach this lesson, they included various examples of people being rewarded for staying loyal, as well as the punishments for being disloyal, such as in Homer's epic poem The Odyssey. The Odyssey expresses the message that loyalty towards one another is rewarded, as shown by Eurycleia’s and Penelope's cases, and disloyal actions are punished, as shown by Odysseus' mutinous men. First off, the disloyal actions of Odysseus' crew regarding the cases of Helios' cattle and the bag of winds are two examples showing part the message The Odyssey has about loyalty: that disloyal actions are punished. During Odysseus' journey home, he and his crew comes

In Aias, the most profound enemies Aias has are the Atreidai. The Atreidai are comprised of the brothers, Menelaus and Agamemnon, who rule their lands and army during the Trojan War. Aias has conflicts with them because of their different levels of commitment to heroic ethic, which ultimately leads to Aias’ suicide. If Aias is supposed to be the protagonist of the story, why is he the one defeated instead of the Atreidai? I will argue that in Aias the Atreidai’s corrupt rule persists while Aias dies because Aias’ overvalued perception of the heroic ethic makes him unable to rise up against the Atreidai.

But we’ll let that be no matter how it hurts. And conquer our pride, because we must.” Achilles is telling his mother in other words, he is picking his battles wisely. He would rather leave the fight with Agamemnon alone and pursue the fight with Hector, after all Hector

Orestes is, by the ideal standards of family, a devoted son to his father. He is extremely loyal to his father in many of the same ways that Telemachus is, such as speaking with reverence about his father by referring to some of his great deeds, such as his “sacrifice” and how he has “…paid [Zeus] great honor,” (Aeschylus, The Libation Bearers, 254). Both Telemachus and Orestes longed dearly for their fathers in their absence, and Orestes describes the, “great sorrow I feel for my father…” (Aeschylus, The Libation Bearers, 300). Orestes, most of all is a model son to his father, because he swears to take revenge on his father’s murderers.

With that ideology the mortals decide depending of the outcome of the war. That’s why Achilles is able to say such things. 2. “If I hurt you, it’s not what I wanted.” Said Achilles, a kind of saying an apology

The importance of respect is represented through each character of The Odyssey. Respect through hospitality, is shown through every character in The Odyssey that has a home. Each time a guest comes to visit a house, good hospitality is expected of the host. Since the gods visit people, sometimes disguised as mortal men or women, it is common for the host to be polite to any visitor, in fear of disrespecting a god. Respect is also shown through the family by loyalty to each other.

Achilles’ anger has lead to him committing cruel behavior; a large majority of the horrific violence within Homer’s story, comes from Achilles’ relentless rage. But is his rage truly without proper cause and justification? King Agamemnon forced Achilles’ to hand over his beloved Briseis to him, which caused Achilles to withdraw his men from the Achaean army. Achilles’ closest

When Patraclous is killed Achilles returns to the battle after he said we will not be fighting for the Achaeans because of the insult that it was made to his honor. He decided to go back and kill Hector for killing his best friend and most loved person, and to get the body which illustrate the idea of the glory after life. The idea of family honor adds a new level of understanding how important is pride is in ancient Greek literature. Another Example of this can be shown when Achilles kills hector, The reaction of Priam Hector’s father. Priam says “I have gone through what no other mortal on earth has gone through; I put my lips to the hands of the man who has killed my children (Homer, Iliad 24.505)”

Achilles is maddened and appeals to his goddess mother saying, “If I am to die soon, shouldn’t I have what I want?” Feeling only sorrow for her son, Thetis requests Zeus to cause to Greeks to lose until Achilles fights again. Slowly the Greeks are pushed back farther and Agamemnon pleads with Achilles, offering Briseis back. Achilles declines due to his pride and the Trojans come close to burn the Greek ships. Even when a ship was burning, Achilles refused to fight and instead sends out Patroclus.

Also, the fact that he contended with the top man drove his point home: he demanded respect. A man capable of capturing the respect and admiration of an army is a man capable of leading an army; inspiring them, stirring them to bravery, to courage, to wrath, to love, to sorrow, to indignation, to arms, to war. He understood the importance of the way the men viewed him, and knew exactly how to manipulate this to his advantage. Achilles was socially aware, whereas Agamemnon neglected his social

Achilles anger throughout Homer’s masterpiece results in the unnecessary deaths of many warriors, a shameful reputation, and a disastrous downfall. To begin, Achilles struggle with anger first comes to light from his inability to fight under

The Iliad is a riveting tale of violence and rage amongst heartbreak and tragedy, where a range of emotions are evoked through various events and decisions made by the characters throughout. Some of these characters act on impulse, while others think over with others and themselves to find the best course of action and do what they feel would be the best, be it for their families or their people, or for themselves alone. Through such feelings, certain events play out that either work out to the favor of the characters, or the exact opposite. Characters like Achilles and Agamemnon act on their anger, often going beyond what would be deemed reasonable and even affecting the events following. Achilles’ anger was triggered by Agamemnon’s arrogance

If I stay here and fight before the city of Troy, there will be no home- coming for me but my fame shall never die; if I go home to my native land, there will be no great fame for me, but I shall live long and not die an early death.” (Homer 110) This shows that he is selfishness and fearful at the same time of losing and dying in the war. In the very beginning of the Iliad, King Agamemnon and Achilles have an argument for a couple of different reasons. After, the Achians won a battle against a city that was allied with the Trojans each of them received a prize consisted of a young woman from the war.

Revenge lies within us all, Revenge is an instinctive human characteristic. These emotions and actions associated are neither preventable nor controllable. Everybody has felt and taken action on the emotion of revenge, whether it 's your sibling, friend, or enemy. Revenge can bring justice but as well bring pain to someone else. Vengeance is an extremely popular emotion in today 's life whether it is terrorism or a dispute between family and friends.

Iliad is recognized as one of the most famous ancient monuments of literature. The full understanding of this epic poem is hardly possible without thorough analysis of its main characters. Among all the episodes of the Trojan War, Homer chooses the moment of Achilles’ wrath and thus creates a poem in which he becomes the central figure. From the Ancient Greeks’ point of view, Achilles represents the ideal of manliness and pure heroism, for he is brave and fights for heroics, not profits. Today, one can agree with this interpretation, yet Achilles is probably the most controversial character because he combines various personality traits and acts in accordance with his ambiguous nature.