War And Violence In Homer's Iliad

Homer’s “The Iliad” uses Achilles, our epic hero, as a demonstration of the power rage has over men, and how that in turn affects fate. Achilles, though sometimes considered godlike in his sheer power, often succumbs to his overwhelming rage--eventually at the expense of his best friend’s life, and nearly his own honor. Although Achilles ultimately chooses to avenge Patroclus’ death and achieve his own kleos, his initial rage-fueled decision to withdraw his participation in the war leads to the death of many Achaean soldiers at the hands of the Trojan forces, thus demonstrating the power prideful rage has in determining fate. Achilles’ initial refusal to battle alongside Agammemnon, motivated by his fury at being publicly shamed, leads to

Madison McDonald Dr. Travis Montgomery ENGL 2213-02 16 March 2018 Violence in The Aeneid The Aeneid is bursting with violent acts from the beginning to the end. The main character, Aeneas, constantly faces conflict from both humans and gods. Aeneas is a Trojan hero and prince who embodies pietas, driven by duty, honor, and devotion, which makes him an example of an ideal Roman citizen. Aeneas was called by the gods and determined to be a successful founder of Rome, but he faced complications along the journey. In each conflict along the way, Aeneas dealt with fighting and violence and could not find peace until the end.

In Homer’s The Iliad, epic hero Achilles serves as an example of how rage, when unchecked, leads to disastrous repercussions. Achilles, though nearly superhuman in his physical abilities, struggles repeatedly to contain his anger. Throughout The Iliad, as Achilles’ fury compounds, the consequences of his actions become catastrophic, eventually leading to the death of his best friend, Patroclus. Although Achilles ultimately chooses to avenge Patroclus’ death and achieve his own kleos, or honor, his rage-driven actions lead to the death of many Achaean soldiers, and change the course of his fate.

The evidence of the culture is in the literature from the time periods. In Homer’s Iliad, there is no conflict between the hero’s masculine identity and the emotion he expresses. The Iliad describes Achilles as having “His comrades/Gathered around, weeping, and with them Achilles, /Shedding hot

Throughout Book 22, Achilles tries again and again to chase down and kill Hector, and is finally able to do so. Before he actually kills Hector, he tells him “I wish my stomach would let me cut off you flesh in strips and eat it raw for what you’ve done to me” (Iliad, Book 22, 384-86). Shortly after Achilles allows the Greeks to stand around and continually stab the corpse of Hector. However, not even this brutality satisfied Achilles. Eventually, he ended up completely disgracing Hector’s dead body in front of all of Troy, tying him up to a chariot and dragging him around, being “defiled in his own native land” (Iliad, Book 22, 449).

During part of the poem, the epic hero displays actions that prove his courage and cleverness to be legitimate. For instance, “Now, by the gods, I drove my big hand spike deep in the embers, charring it again, and cheered my men along with battle talk to keep their courage up: no quitting

This soil is blackened with a plague that doesn’t hesitate to kill and death shall follow. Romeo and Juliet dig deeper into this soil, so no one can see their love, but tragic events make their love blackened. The fate of the star-crossed lovers caused to do everything in secrecy/running away that caused R&J love to shrivel in the seeds of hate. The innocence of Romeo and Juliet’s life/events are stripped

( C.Moulton, 1983) In one hand, he mentions the farms and rural areas of the peacetime to highlight how war is ferocious and ugly. In the other hand, he mentions the three famous nature’s forces, Water, fire, and wind to show how the war is harsh. ( C.Moulton, 1983) Again, the controversial Iliad’s similes have uniqueness to its reader.

The gods engage in violent behavior as often as mortals do, and even more so on a larger scale. As a whole, violence is present throughout The Iliad, contributing to the idea that violence in literature will always make characters inherently more human. Throughout classical literature acts of senseless violence have been a common thread. Throughout classical literature acts of senseless violence have been a common thread.

Upon being left by her husband during a decade-long journey, Penelope’s depressed character, like Hecuba’s character, accentuates the misery of women during that time. Once stripped of the only source of power and happiness they had—men in society—women were deemed miserable, useless, and awful in society. Penelope spent years waiting for Odysseus, and the audience watches as a beautiful, popular woman, weeps over her missing husband and lives a long, melancholy life. Penelope grows impatient and stagnantly miserable; she begins to wish for death, for life was not worth living without her husband in her life. She begs, “How I wish chaste Artemis would give me a death so soft and now I would not go on in my heart, grieving all my life and longing for love of a husband excellent in every virtue.

War plays a large role in The Iliad by Homer, as Homer describes the battlefronts at Troy between the Trojans and the Akhaians, especially focusing on major leaders of the fights. With describing war, and the concept of war, overall Homer does not glorify war itself. However, Homer praises and honors some of the men involved in the war. Based on the readings thus far, Homer does not glorify war.

Achilles vs Hektor The Iliad, an epic poem by Homer, takes place in the tenth year of the Trojan War. Recalling important events that take place bringing the war to an end the poem uses figurative language and literary devices to enhance its characters, presenting similarities and differences between how the characters handle specific situations and how they deal with the concept of masculinity. For example Homer uses the method of literary foils. A foil is a character that depicts traits that differ with the traits of another character. In The Iliad, Achilles and Hektor are foil characters.

In Iliad, a story of a war between the Greeks and the Achaeans, there are several themes illustrated through characters interacting with one another in this war. That of glory, pride, revenge, honor, and the gods care for the outcome of this war. These themes play a crucial role in informing the reader of how war was viewed by those in that time. In this war, these soldiers received honor and glory when they were deeply involved in the battle and came out the victor.

Book Twenty-Four of The Odyssey opens with an interesting scene between the ghosts of Achilles and Agamemnon, in which Agamemnon describes the death and the funeral of Achilles. In this encounter, in which Agamemnon relates the death as well as the funeral of Achilles, Agamemnon demonstrates the Achaeans’ value of honor and glory in death. Homer reveals this value through Agamemnon’s praise of Achilles death in battle as well as through the character’s disdain with his own murder at the hands of Aegisthus, which did not bring any glory to Agamemnon. Furthermore, this scene also demonstrates the importance of a proper funeral, as Agamemnon dwells on the games that Thetis held in honor of her son, Achilles, a privilege that Agamemnon did

The Iliad is a mild representation of a very precise feeling of emotion that connects with the texts; Petersen’s Troy and Malouf’s novel Ransom. Imagery is visualised by having the characters assemble between the setting of the text to show a greater understanding to all readers and/or viewers. Through exploring the personal concepts of Homer’s Book XXIV of The Iliad; it could be argued that finalising the ‘glory of war’ is set upon ‘celebration’. It is of great power to have such awe in such a defined character mindset. “Imagine a king who fights his own battles.