The Importance Of Love In Homer's Iliad

“Because it’s all fun and games until someone falls in love.” These are the wise words from the mother that raised me. The mother that taught me that the single most powerful force, in all of nature, is that of love. Love, like people, comes in many different forms, with many different faces. Love encompasses the warm, fluttering feeling that many associate coming from a significant other. Love also includes that gut wrenching feeling that comes when you encounter a situation that your heart was not prepared for. Love, in some ways, can be equated to the hormonal version of Zeus; Like Zeus, love can be blamed for the many actions of humans. Romance, sadness, and violence, are all symptoms of this thing we admire so. Love is one of the many …show more content…
In the obvious ways, this moment of action involved many different scopes of love, but specifically it dealt with the love Hector had for power. As Patroclus lay dying, Hector taunts, “Why Patroclus- why prophesy my doom, my sudden death? Who knows?- Achilles the son of sleek-haired Thetis may outrace me- struck by my spear first- and gasp away his life.” While Achilles was the all powerful fighter that so many had dreamed of slaying, only to be slaughtered themselves at the hand of the almighty Achilles. Hector immediately falls in love with the idea of taking down the one fighter that is seen as the unbeatable, which is why when Apollo comes disguised as a soldier and tries to convince him to keep fighting, Hector ignores the advice and heads straight for “Achilles”. Yet, by mistakenly taking Achilles’ lover’s life, Hector has been given the ego boost that his power loving mind needs to push him on to the top of the …show more content…
As discussed, the disturbance Hector caused was like a door opening to expose the natural love for power and the love for other human beings. The incident also is the perfect depiction of the Iliad in one moment. All through the novel we see that the gods have a way of intervening when they feel it is necessary for whichever side it is that they favor. In this particular battle, the gods’ are present and therefore chaos ensues, a mistake is made, and a pivotal moment in the war is reached. As much as Hector loved power and Achilles loved Patroclus, the gods love to involved in this war that does not include them. The truth being that despite how much the gods like to point out the difference between themselves and the humans below Mount Olympus, they are more invested in their lives than they realized. Even the great Ares himself states, “Even gods must endure pain