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In The Iliad, many of the male characters display heroic characteristics
consistent with the heroic warrior code of ancient Greece. They try to win glory
in battle, yet are often characterized as having a distinctly human side. They
each have certain strengths and weaknesses, which are evident at many times
throughout the conflicts described in The Iliad. Prime examples of such
characters are Achilles and Hector. These two characters have obvious
differences in their approaches to fitting the heroic mold to which they both
try to conform. However, despite their differences and the fact that they are
fighting for opposing armies and meet each other with hatred in battle, they
also have numerous similar traits that logically lend themselves to a comparison
between the two men. They both display behavior that could be described as
heroism. The first way in which Achilles, who fights for the Greeks, and Hector,
who fights for the Trojans, act differently is how they approach war and the
inevitable violence and death that accompany it. Although Achilles knows that he
is fated to be killed in battle, when his faithful and devoted friend Patroclus
is mercilessly and dishonorably cut down in combat, he puts aside his pride and
chooses to temporarily forget about his previous feuds with Agamemnon that have,
up until now, prevented him from participating in the war.
He joins the fighting
with a deadly and vengeful mindset that will likely play a major factor in the
outcome of the war. Today, this lust for revenge might be considered a glaring
character flaw. However, this passion for retribution undoubtedly conforms to
the heroic code of Greek society. Meanwhile, Hector is full of indecision and
reluctance about whether to take part in the war. He too believes that fate has
dictated that he will be killed in battle. He spends much time with his pleading
wife Andromache, who begs him not to go to war, both for his sake and for his
family’s. He does not want to die and thus widow Andromache, leaving her at the
loom of another man. Indeed, when he bids farewell to his young son Astyanax,
clothed in his shining war gear with gleaming helmet complete with plume crest
(the quintessential picture of a bold Greek soldier going off to battle, which
today is a symbol of courage, bravery, and true heroism), Astyanax cries with
fright, showing that bravery and heroism in war cannot coexist with the care and
love that a father shows to his son. Thus, while Hector is indeed heroic is his
departure for the war, his human side is overshadowed by this. Another situation
in which Hector and Achilles use different approaches to behave as heroes is in
Book Twenty-Two, the main section in which Hector and Achilles and their
separate personalities and character traits interact. Hector, now courageous as
ever and boldly confronting his fate, decides to remain outside the ramparts of
the fortified city, within which the rest of his supporters that might defend
him are safely secure. Priam, Hector’s father, upon seeing the advancing
Achilles, implores Hector to retreat behind the safety of the walls, but to no
avail. Pride and honor play a role in preventing Hector from backing down.
Hector’s fearless confrontation of his destiny is an extremely heroic action.
However, then Hector flees from Achilles, behavior quite unlike that of a hero.
One might infer that now Hector’s human instinct of survival is playing a role.
This illustrates a seemingly-common conflict among characters who might be
considered heroes: the internal contest between the heroic code within the
character and the human emotions and instincts that sometimes present
contradictory impulses to the heroic code. Each hero responds in a different
manner to this conflict. Hector, in this case, decides to react upon his human
impulses and flees from Achilles, who instantly gives chase. After a cunning
trick by Athena which causes Hector to decide to stand his ground and fight,
perhaps the most conspicuous contradiction between a warrior’s heroic code and
the warrior’s human side is evident. Achilles, vengeful and bloodthirsty, kills
Hector in a manner, which, by today’s standards, would be unnecessarily cruel
and barbaric. He allows Hector to die a slow and agonizing death, after which he
shamelessly desecrates the body, without caring in the least about the feelings
of Hector’s family and supporters. These actions are undeniably consistent with
the heroic warrior code of the Greeks, which puts tremendous value on valiance
in battle and merciless retribution. Nevertheless, even the most valiant and
stonehearted soldier must have a human side, which definitely must object to the
savage and brutal killing that is ubiquitous in war. On the other hand, when
Achilles and his soldiers get some type of obscene pleasure and glee from
repeatedly and grotesquely stabbing Hector’s lifeless and bloody corpse, another
kind of human emotion is being displayed. This is the pent-up anger and
hostility that builds up during one’s quest for revenge or simply battle, being
directed towards the most apparent figure or symbol that represents the source
of this hatred.
So, it might be concluded that the heroic code and the human
emotions might not conflict with each other after all. When Achilles decides to
return Hector’s body to his father, Priam, so that it might be honorably buried,
he is violating the unfeeling and uncompassionate heroic code to which he
earlier tried so hard to conform. He has decided to act upon the nobler human
quality of pity and sympathy and another’s loss, even when the loss is that of a
hated enemy. Truly, in this scenario, Priam had to simply draw on the common
bond through which all humans feel linked, for no amount of rational thought
would have swayed Achilles to make this compromise of principle. Ultimately,
this is an excellent way to end the narrative of The Iliad, for it shows that
Achilles, the character with which the reader most often identifies, has
exhibited his independence from the heroic code and that he is capable of making
decisions that have no basis in precedence, and that he is able to choose his
own destiny and live his own philosophy, and one who accomplishes this is truly
a hero by anyone’s standards.
A careful comparison of the actions and thoughts
of the two characters provides the reader with a perhaps unexpected insight. It
seems that while Hector is indeed possessive of a human side, in that he is
afraid of dying in war, he loves his wife and family, and does not at first want
to accept his fate, Achilles is, in fact, the more human one. He uses both his
human emotions and the warrior code that he learned since childhood
appropriately and in proportion, so that there is the least friction between the
two and so that the resulting actions are indeed admirable and praiseworthy. He
is able to construct a perfect formula containing both the heroic code and the
human mind that presents the most ideal result. Achilles seems to have
successfully navigated his way through the heroic progression in this manner.
Thus, both Hector and Achilles behave as heroes throughout The Iliad. While they
both try to win glory in war for their families, their country, and themselves,
they both have certain strengths and weaknesses in their character that dictate
their very different courses of action and their thoughts. They are both
presented with conflicts and dilemmas throughout the story, the resolutions of
which must be made using both their intuitive human side and their aggressive
heroic side, and it appears as if Achilles meets with the most success in this
difficult task. Therefore, the heroic warrior code and the human conscience
present certain contradictions to which the characters must respond in order to
survive and in order to achieve their goals.
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