Essay on "Hector vs. Achilles"

Essay 3 pages (1043 words) Sources: 2 Style: MLA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Hector vs. Achilles

The noblest 'Greek' of them all: The Trojan hero Hector

The Iliad is the creation of the ancient Greek poet Homer. However, the Trojan hero Hector ironically emerges as the noblest hero of all of the Homeric warriors, much more so than the greatest Greek warrior Achilles. Both men are able fighters, but only Hector has an epic moral consciousness, in contrast to the frequently petty and small-minded Achilles. Hector, unlike Achilles, is a family man without inflated ideals of his own personal glory. Hector fights because he must, to save his city, not because he believes in the ideals of warfare. Unlike Achilles, Hector always places the needs of others, including the Trojan people, before his own needs.

Achilles' self-interested view of warfare immediately becomes apparent during the opening books of the epic poem. Because the Greek leader Agamemnon claims Achilles' slave-girl Briseis as his own concubine, Achilles refuses to fight, leaving his fellow Greeks to certain peril at the hands of the better-equipped Trojans. Achilles places his own sense of honor above the safety of others whom he has sworn to protect and defend. Achilles, the son of the goddess Thetis and a mortal man, is said to have been given the choice of a life of glory in battle or a quiet life of obscurity. Achilles chose the former, but his choice was not to serve a great cause, but to make his name immortal. When his immortal honor and reputation is tarnished, he refuses to fight. This early incident highlights how none of the Greeks truly believe in the cause for which they are fighting: to win Helen back for her husband Menelaus. Instead they fight because they have sworn an oath to do so and do not wish to dishonor their names.

Hector, however, finds himself in a more uncomfortable situation: he is the brother of Paris, who has absconded with Helen, but he believes that Paris has acted wrongfully. Hector believes in placing one's needs second to the needs of one's country, which Paris clearly did not. Still, Hector knows his nation is besieged, so he must fight. His efforts at brokering a peace prove futile. He knows that Paris has brought shame and dishonor upon Troy. But Hector does not use this as an excuse for cowardice: although he would like to live a long life, caring for his wife and child, he accepts his fate and obligation to be a warrior, even though he believes his city is doomed.

This sense of acceptance of fate is the most profoundly 'Greek' character trait shared by both Achilles and Hector, more so than their bravery and prowess in fighting. Just as Hector knows that the side for which he fights cannot win, Achilles knows that he will die after Hector falls on the battlefield. Their foreboding would not be seen as defeatism in the eyes of the Greek audience of the poem: as the myth of Oedipus shows, the Greeks believed that accepting one's fate was wise, rather than attempting to futilely resist the will of the gods. Additionally, although the Trojan… READ MORE

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