How Is Hector Good Or Evil

David Denby’s statement, “the Greeks and Trojan aristocrats of the Iliad experience the world not as pleasant or unpleasant, nor as good and evil, but as glorious or shameful” is in accordance with the way Achilles and Hector interact with each other. People, heroes in particular, in this time are thinking of the glory or the shame they would receive after a battle, not whether or not the battle itself and the acts one commits are good or evil or pleasant or unpleasant. Achilles and Hector exemplify the truthfulness of the quote in the way they act throughout their battle, in the way Achilles gives his glory speech as Hector is dying and how Hector reacts, and in the way how Achilles treats Hector’s body after he kills him.
As the scene opens
First, his men each take turn stabbing Hector’s body; then, he strips his body of his armor and prepares Hector for his next atrocious act. Achilles pierces “the tendons, ankle to heel behind both feet, he knotted straps of rawhide through them both, lashed them to his chariot, left the head to drag”. This shows that Achilles does not care about returning Hector’s body to his family, which would be the honorable thing to do, but that he also does not care about the unpleasantness of the task as long as he reaps his glory. Achilles mus not seem weak in any way, shape, or form and he must also get revenge for the wrongdoings placed upon his best friend Patroclus. So, to avenge his friend and to show he is mightier than the “breaker of horse” he must detory Hector not only by killing his physical self, but also by tarnishing his name. The more Achilles drags out Hector’s death the more glory he will get which is why he does so.
Denby wonderfully and appropriately states how the Greeks and Trojans perceive life in his quote, “the Greeks and Trojan aristocrats of the Iliad experience the world not as pleasant or unpleasant, nor as good and evil, but as glorious or shameful”. This quote relates to Achilles and Hector’s behavior towards each other throughout their battles and how they react after the battle has ended. These two men of noble birth do not care what they must endure or what acts they must