Matthew Lin
Mr Stewart
English 10 Honors Period 4
23 September 2010
Epic Hero Comparison
Though The Iliad contains gory blood scenes, “gory” turns into glory” as Homer indirectly exalts many of the characters of The Iliad. Written almost three thousand years ago, The Iliad tells of the last few days of the Trojan War, a historically significant war supposedly fought over a woman. Legend has it that a blind bard, Homer, wrote The Iliad and some other epic war poems, but historians now highly doubt that there ever existed a blind bard named Homer that signed his name on these poems. Through illustrious descriptions, Homer exalts the champions of the two sides, Achilles for the Greeks and Hector for the Trojans. Though each side held in high esteem their best fighter, Achilles is the greatest warrior in the Iliad. Through his fulfillment of more traits of the epic heros and his performance on the battlefield, it is clear that Achilles is the most worthy of the title of “Epic Hero.”
An epic poem must always have an epic hero. An epic hero in Greek mythology generally has several traits. To begin with, Achilles is the only mortal character in The Iliad to have a divine lineage. His mother is Thetis, a sea nymph who has some powerful relations in Mount Olympus. In comparison, Hector is the prince of Troy, his father being the king Priam and his mother the queen of Troy. In addition, Achilles possesses superhuman abilities. Not only is he skilled at the art of war, he is extremely strong. He can use his father’s ash spear, which was a feat that all of his comrades cannot accomplish. Also, he goes and accomplishes something great. Though he was in an extremely sour mood during the begging in of the poem, he eventually lets go of the grudges he has against Agamemnon and kills Hector, something that other Greeks have contemplated on and schemed upon doing but never had the opportunity to do so. Finally, Achilles embodies many of the values that the Ancient Greeks have seen. He embodies the values of courage, cunning, and strength. ON the other hand, Hector embodies courage and strength, but a major weakness of bad judgment is implied throughout The Iliad.
In addition to the embodiment of the epic hero traits, Achilles performs better on the battlefield. Though Hector leads many successful raids against the Greek camp, including one where he permanently damaged some of their ships, Achilles is the superior fighter. When Achilles returns to battle, the very sound of his war cry was enough for the Trojans to flee from the front lines. Though Hector’s kills are highly glorified through the battle scenes, Achilles is exalted more during his rampage. Though concentrated near the end, the list of people that died under Achilles is significantly longer than the combined list of all the Greek casualties during the war. Also, when the two champions face off against each other, though Hector had some minor aid from some gods and goddesses, he was easily defeated by a swift strike to the throat made by Achilles.
Through the analysis of the traits of the epic hero and the performance of the battlefield it is conclusive that Achilles most deserves the title of “Epic Hero.” Though both champions were highly exalted, Achilles is the superior and skilled warrior.
