The Iliad: Mid-Term Paper

The Iliad: Mid-Term Paper

Quotations:

"Priam was sitting in the conference with the elders of the town. Old age

had brought their fighting days to an end, but they were excellent speakers...When they saw Helen coming to the tower, they whispered winged words to each other: "No one could blame the Trojans and Greek man-at-arms for suffering so long for such a woman's sake."- Iliad book 3.

This quote can easily be summed up into today's language: One day Priam was sitting with a group of the town elders, who were now to old to fight, but still made great conversation and stories. Along comes Helen, this gorgeous goddess, and the elders lean over to each other and whisper: "No one can blame the Trojan and Greek soldiers for fighting and suffering for so long for such a beautiful women's sake." One part to the significance of this quote is showing Helen's part in starting the Trojan War. The quote above shows what effect Helen eventually deciding to elope with Paris had on starting this huge war. It caused a lot of suffering for a very long time and all because of one woman; which brings me to the second part of the significance of the quote, Helen's beauty. This quote, in a way, shows how beautiful Helen really was. She was the most beautiful woman known to man. She could make men stare, drool or even pardon a war with her assets. The quote made by the elders above basically said, well there was a lot of suffering and it took a very long time for that horrible war to end (10 years to be exact), but that's okay because look how pretty she is. I think that that is unbelievably shallow. Granted the war wasn't over Helen's beauty, but never the less, a lot of people were killed or separated from their families to try and get Helen back to her husband and to just say, "Well that's okay, because she is pretty," is wrong.

" My divine mother, Thetis, says that destiny has left two courses open to me on my journey to the grave. If I stay here and fight it out, there is no home-coming for me, but there will be eternal glory instead. If I go back to the land of my fathers, my heroic glory will be forfeit, but my life will be long and I shall be spared an early death." - Iliad book 9.

In my opinion this quote means that Achilles mother, Thetis, told him that he has two options. Achilles could go and fight and die in battle at a young age, but have a ton of glory or he could go back home and not have any glory at all, but live a long life. The significance of this quote is showing what a true Homeric hero is. One of Homer's heroes would not choose to just go home and die of old age with nothing to his name. A true Homeric hero would go into battle, stand up for what is right, risk everything, and above all die with glory. Homer's heroes for the most part are egotistical or self-centered. They tend to think of themselves, and if one were given the option to die with or without glory, well the obvious choice would be to die with glory and people speaking his name for centuries to come. Everything a Homeric hero does is mainly done to have his name glorified. Another reason, though not as prominent, has to do with his family's honor.

"This determination of yours will be the death of you, and when I lose you, I might as well be dead. I have no father or mother. My father fell to Achilles when he sacked our town Cilician Thebe. But though Achilles killed him, he did not strip the body. He cremated him in his armor and placed a tombstone there. As for my mother, Achilles brought her here, but freed her for an immense ransom."- Iliad book 18.

This quote was said to Hector by his wife Andromache. She was basically saying that she did not want Hector to fight in the Trojan war for fear of her ending up a widow and having their son never know his father. I think there is at least one point made and that is even though Achilles was a warrior, and one of Homer's heroes, he still had a tiny piece of heart left. He killed Eetion, Andromache father, but he had feeling enough not to just leave his body there and take his armor. He had him cremated in his finest armor and then put a tombstone over the sight. Even though he had Andromache's mother, he still freed her; however her freedom came with a huge price tag. So Achilles may not be a completely kind soul, after all he is a warrior and a Homeric hero, but he at least has some of his conscience left, and I think that significance is pointed out in this quote. Also, I think in a small way this quote shows how families were torn apart because of the Trojan War, and how a man's honor became so important that it was even more important than his own family. Andromache was begging her husband not to leave her and their infant son alone. She was terrified because she had already lost all the family she had. Hector loved his son and wife ("who carried his child in her arms, Carried his baby, Hector's darling son, lovely as a star." Iliad book 18), so he didn't go to war to escape them, Hector left because of the thought of glory and fame to his name. "My wife", answered Hector, "I too have thought this; But how could I face Trojan men or their women, if I fled a battle? Act like a coward? I can not do so."- Iliad book 18.

Essay:

I think every society needs a higher