Heroes In Homer's Poetry Research Paper
Xiaoyu Zhou
Heroes in Homer’s Poetry
Helen regards suffering as a necessity for heroes to be qualified to appear in poetry. As far as I’m concerned, it is because suffering somehow forces a hero to complete their characteristics as well as to approach the destiny they are doomed to by Zeus, which is correlative to the two specific functions of poetry: to instruct and to entertain.
In the first place, heroes are godlike. “Preeminent in their particular sphere of power, they impose their will on others with the confidence, the unquestioning certainty of their own right and worth that is characteristic of gods”(45, Iliad). However, they are human, so they will ultimately meet their limits and fail. This contradictive pattern illustrates …show more content…
She cannot control her own fate, or she will lose the gifts Aphrodite gives her, which is all she is famous for. At last she has to obey Aphrodite’s order as well as the arrangements of men. Similarly, Achilles is the fastest runner in the world, where his superhuman greatness lies. When Agamemnon takes his prize away and Hector killed his closest friend, Achilles gets lost in great pain. Through his suffering, he makes it clear that the only thing he longs for is his honor. And when he fights for honor, his limit appears. He can only choose one of the two alternatives, which are going home and living a long life without honor, or fighting for his honor and dying young. Another example is Hector. He is indeed a peace-loving and caring man, but he is born in a war age. This conflict torments him, and he has to protect his homeland and his family by standing on the front line of battle and killing enemies. In the end, he pays back the loss of other people’s lives by losing his …show more content…
When Helen meets Paris, she abandons her husband, her children and her marriage bed to follow him to Troy, without consideration about the serious consequences of doing so. Here, she regards herself as completely independent from the whole community, which shows her lack in a sense of social responsibility. Likewise, when Hector hears his brother Paris’ offer to fight against Menelaus face to face, he “rejoiced and right in the no man’s land along his lines he strode…”(Il. 3. 93-5 [Fagles 131]). He stings taunts at Paris and looks forward to his words mentioned above, showing his indifference to his brother’s fate. His reckless act is an indication of his
Heroes in Homer’s Poetry
Helen regards suffering as a necessity for heroes to be qualified to appear in poetry. As far as I’m concerned, it is because suffering somehow forces a hero to complete their characteristics as well as to approach the destiny they are doomed to by Zeus, which is correlative to the two specific functions of poetry: to instruct and to entertain.
In the first place, heroes are godlike. “Preeminent in their particular sphere of power, they impose their will on others with the confidence, the unquestioning certainty of their own right and worth that is characteristic of gods”(45, Iliad). However, they are human, so they will ultimately meet their limits and fail. This contradictive pattern illustrates …show more content…
She cannot control her own fate, or she will lose the gifts Aphrodite gives her, which is all she is famous for. At last she has to obey Aphrodite’s order as well as the arrangements of men. Similarly, Achilles is the fastest runner in the world, where his superhuman greatness lies. When Agamemnon takes his prize away and Hector killed his closest friend, Achilles gets lost in great pain. Through his suffering, he makes it clear that the only thing he longs for is his honor. And when he fights for honor, his limit appears. He can only choose one of the two alternatives, which are going home and living a long life without honor, or fighting for his honor and dying young. Another example is Hector. He is indeed a peace-loving and caring man, but he is born in a war age. This conflict torments him, and he has to protect his homeland and his family by standing on the front line of battle and killing enemies. In the end, he pays back the loss of other people’s lives by losing his …show more content…
When Helen meets Paris, she abandons her husband, her children and her marriage bed to follow him to Troy, without consideration about the serious consequences of doing so. Here, she regards herself as completely independent from the whole community, which shows her lack in a sense of social responsibility. Likewise, when Hector hears his brother Paris’ offer to fight against Menelaus face to face, he “rejoiced and right in the no man’s land along his lines he strode…”(Il. 3. 93-5 [Fagles 131]). He stings taunts at Paris and looks forward to his words mentioned above, showing his indifference to his brother’s fate. His reckless act is an indication of his