Homer’s Iliad is a portrayal of a momentous battle fought by magnificent warriors. This battle has raged for nine years, this story taking place in its tenth. The fighters are fearless warriors, each with some legend of their own. Many are renowned on both sides of the war: Achilles, the “swift running” warrior of the Greeks, or Achaeans, and Hector the “last defence” of the Trojans. the Iliad focuses on the trials and tribulations of these, and other, warriors. Though they are certainly fearless on the battlefield, these fighters are far from unbreakable. Often, disputes and battles are brought to a pause so that their participants may express their grievances against the conditions of war or the events of their past. These mighty warriors
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It is stated that Hector is the “last defence of Troy”, further enforcing the fact that Hector is an idol to the Trojan people, a figure to whom they look for guidance and protection. To these people, Hector chooses to show them, not the persona of a blood thirsty warrior, but that of a loving father and husband. He shows that he does have much at stake in this battle, things that he is afraid of losing to war. Hector even laments in a later passage that he fears the life that his family would be forced to lead were the Achaens to win the war. He states, “It is less the pain of the Trojans still to come/ that weighs me down, … / That is nothing, nothing beside your agony/ when some brazen Argive hales you off in tears,/ wrenching away your day of light and freedom!” (6.535, 539-541). The last two lines of the earlier passage also speaks to how mighty a warrior Hector is and how easy it is for him to be vulnerable to what he feels outside of battle. This encounter does not weaken Hector’s resolve. He does not think less of himself, nor does his family or his people. In fact, the moment Hector is allowed to share with his family strengthens him and gives him the push that he needs to return to the battle and fight with even more vigor than before, knowing that he has confronted his
It is stated that Hector is the “last defence of Troy”, further enforcing the fact that Hector is an idol to the Trojan people, a figure to whom they look for guidance and protection. To these people, Hector chooses to show them, not the persona of a blood thirsty warrior, but that of a loving father and husband. He shows that he does have much at stake in this battle, things that he is afraid of losing to war. Hector even laments in a later passage that he fears the life that his family would be forced to lead were the Achaens to win the war. He states, “It is less the pain of the Trojans still to come/ that weighs me down, … / That is nothing, nothing beside your agony/ when some brazen Argive hales you off in tears,/ wrenching away your day of light and freedom!” (6.535, 539-541). The last two lines of the earlier passage also speaks to how mighty a warrior Hector is and how easy it is for him to be vulnerable to what he feels outside of battle. This encounter does not weaken Hector’s resolve. He does not think less of himself, nor does his family or his people. In fact, the moment Hector is allowed to share with his family strengthens him and gives him the push that he needs to return to the battle and fight with even more vigor than before, knowing that he has confronted his