The Immortal Mortal: Heroism in Pride and Glory
We live in a world where we strive for permanence in an impermanent world, an overwhelming desire to be remembered after death shared by all humans. Author Ray Bradbury once said, “Everyone must leave something behind when he dies . . . Something your hand touched some way so your soul has somewhere to go when you die . . . It doesn't matter what you do, so long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that's like you after you take your hands away” (Fahrenheit 451). Bradbury’s ideas pervade the epic the Iliad, where the author Homer portrays a similar desire instilled within the Achaean heroes Achilles and Ajax. In this ancient Greek epic, each warrior fights for greatness, honor, and a legacy. Heroism and immortality in the Iliad is determined by the …show more content…
In the Iliad, the sustained attainment of pride and glory is prized so highly that it becomes a prerequisite of being an honorary member of their society. Homer writes about this mindset to move readers about the expectations and the realities the armies must face, and this deepens the reader’s appreciation of what commitments and sacrifices they have made. Ajax’s and Achilles’s persistent approaches to reach this desired state may not be outwardly similar but have the same end goal in mind. For instance, Ajax’s pride moves him to seek glory, while Achilles’s pride keeps him from experiencing it. This contradistinction is crucial to understanding the epic as a whole. As these two continually struggle for pride and glory, what Homer is really suggesting is the two are also fighting for something much harder to achieve: immortality. Homer’s conception of these two qualities therefore boils down to a way of being remembered. In his eyes, pride and glory are the means to an ends of a long-lasting
We live in a world where we strive for permanence in an impermanent world, an overwhelming desire to be remembered after death shared by all humans. Author Ray Bradbury once said, “Everyone must leave something behind when he dies . . . Something your hand touched some way so your soul has somewhere to go when you die . . . It doesn't matter what you do, so long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that's like you after you take your hands away” (Fahrenheit 451). Bradbury’s ideas pervade the epic the Iliad, where the author Homer portrays a similar desire instilled within the Achaean heroes Achilles and Ajax. In this ancient Greek epic, each warrior fights for greatness, honor, and a legacy. Heroism and immortality in the Iliad is determined by the …show more content…
In the Iliad, the sustained attainment of pride and glory is prized so highly that it becomes a prerequisite of being an honorary member of their society. Homer writes about this mindset to move readers about the expectations and the realities the armies must face, and this deepens the reader’s appreciation of what commitments and sacrifices they have made. Ajax’s and Achilles’s persistent approaches to reach this desired state may not be outwardly similar but have the same end goal in mind. For instance, Ajax’s pride moves him to seek glory, while Achilles’s pride keeps him from experiencing it. This contradistinction is crucial to understanding the epic as a whole. As these two continually struggle for pride and glory, what Homer is really suggesting is the two are also fighting for something much harder to achieve: immortality. Homer’s conception of these two qualities therefore boils down to a way of being remembered. In his eyes, pride and glory are the means to an ends of a long-lasting