Patroclus

Compare how the concept of redemption impacts on the lives of the characters in Ransom and On the Waterfront. A character’s yearning to atone for a sin is what may drive him or her to serve justice or begin on a path for good. In David Malouf’s novel Ransom and Elia Kazan’s film On the Waterfront redemption plays a major role as the driving force for the protagonist’s journey to a moral rebirth. Achilles, Priam, Terry and Charley take up the opportunity to regain their new titles as honest and…

An Analysis of Beauty in Plato’s Symposium The Symposium is Plato’s account of six speeches on the meaning of love. The setting of a symposium is quite telling of Greek culture at that time for it was a culture that failed to emphasize the virtue of self-control. For the Greeks a symposium was a night filled with heavy drinking, sexual indulgence, and other sorts of vulgar entertainment. Such a setting threatens to undermine the validity of an entire work. If, upon examination, Plato’s…

high funds, many troops, and other means of executing the siege. In The Iliad, the Achaeans had these means, and, historically, the Mycenaeans had the means of sieging the city of Troy (Sacks). Afterwards, Achilles discovers that his best friend, Patroclus, has been killed. Consequently, Achilles goes on a murderous rampage. A fight breaks out. The gods see what is transpiring in the city of Troy, and some gods decide to join the fight, while others opt to watch from a distance. The fight only…

King of Mycenae and general of Achaea, Agamemnon is an extremely important character in The Iliad. One major characteristic as well as flaw of his character is how he is quick to anger and arrogant. While Agamemnon feels pressured to fulfill the role of a great Achaean general, his anger, selfishness, and strong sense of pride affects and even kills many Achaeans, nearly causing them to lose the war, which demonstrates how rageful and stubborn actions can cause utter catastrophe. Agamemnon,…

can compare to Achilles who rather fight out of pure rage and military honor for his own purposes than to bring honor to his homeland. Even if Zeus had wished for Hector to win, Fate favors Achilles ending the Trojan warrior’s life to avenge Patroclus. Both have had their cowardly moments and show their faults and strengths as…

moral dilemma when killing Hector. After fatally stabbing him, Achilles, along with his troops, mutilates the body, drags the corpse around on the back of his wagon, and leaves him to the dogs. Given that Hector had killed Achilles’ close friend, Patroclus, along with countless of his comrades, it may seem that Achilles was right to be angry. At the same time, Achilles’ blatant disrespect of Hector’s body and family, brings up the question of whether he was truly doing the right thing.…

obligations. Hector is torn between his adoration for family and his affection for a state, both considered critical goals to the Greeks the same amount of as they would later be to the Romans. Nevertheless, Hector is indiscreet and imprudently murders Patroclus which connotes the fall of Troy in this recorded account. Hector understands his failure to comprehend the issues at hand and knows…

The myth of Agamemnon and his son Orestes has impacted many different customs and actions of today’s society and culture. The main points of the story have connected through Ritual theories that are used today, the structural world and how it has changed from ancient times to modern times, and the allegories that are associated with the stories in this myth and how they relate to the comparisons that are used today. During the first play, Agamemnon returns back from the Trojan War and his wife…

has achieved that send of honor to believe and fight in something beyond himself. Achilles fought with his myrmidons but shows a lot throughout the Iliad that he does not care if they live or die. Achilles showed his compassion only for his cousin Patroclus, when Hector killed him. He fought mostly for his own personal reasons and did not want to partake in the Trojan War in the first place. Someone fighting for their country or to protect something or someone that they love portrays a very…

Luc Ferry’s The Wisdom of Myths, and Homer’s The Iliad are two extraordinary works of literature when it comes to tales of Greek mythology. The first gives a unique account of the birth of the universe following Hesiod's Theogony, starting at chaos and ending with order in the cosmos; while the later incorporates many detailed and unique characters and motifs that all help contribute into shaping the poem into something much more elegant than just a recollection of a war. The two works also…