The Iliad A Wide Scope Of Courageous Warriors - 1964 Words

The Iliad shows a wide scope of courageous warriors: the Achaeans warriors entailing Diomedes, Odysseus, and the Aiantes; and the Trojans Sarpedon, Aeneas, and Glaucus. These heroes and many others are Homer’s models of virtue in arms. Exceeding all of them, however, are the novels two main characters, Achilles, the son of Peleus and, Hector, the son of Priam. In these two Heroes, they find the physical strength, intense determination, and vigorous drive that give them top command within their respective armies. Furthermore, in their inner struggles they both represent a complete archetype of the hero. Homer’s vision of the hero presents Achilles and Hector determining the paradox of integrating the ideals of their communities and at the same time standing entirely apart from their fellow comrades. This conflict between separation from and integration with all of mankind first comes into play in the question of the heroes’ motives; this eludes different choices o f Other or Self, in which one finds enlaced for leadership and response to human fate. It is the struggle of interests and destinies (their own against their communities’) that takes them beyond the fabric of ordinary, dull human life. The foundation for the heroes’ actions comes from the conflict between concern for self and concern for others—their egotistic and benevolent impulses. The past draws them to seek Kleos for themselves, establishing a collection of accomplishments that men will remember in song and