A Comparison of Hector and Achilles
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2 A Comparison of Hector and Achilles For the Greeks, pinnacle of human virtue was describin the word !arete"# $his essentiall% means an individual who has e&celled and achieved the peak of human potential" 'n a modern sense, it is what the creators of the (arine recruitin commercial described as )bein all that %ou can be") *ne part of this is what we would call heroics" +hile Achilles and Hector are both considered reat men and reat warriors, the% are different in a number of wa%s" oth are seen as heroes b% their respective peoples, but their motivations for fihtin are completel% different" +hile Hector fihts for famil% honor and his homeland, Achilles fihts for himself and his own lorification in battle" -ven in the area of death in battle, the two men have ver% different attitudes toward their own mortalit%" +hen Hector leaves for battle, the warrior in him is overshadowed b% his feelins for his famil%" He is reluctant to leave his child and his wife, but reali.es he is fated to be a warrior and a face Achilles" Achilles, on the other hand, is eaer for battle and the lor% and honor he derives from it" For the most part, other considerations mean nothin to him" You onl% have to look at book 22 / of the 'liad to see sinificant differences in the behavior of Hector and Achilles" For instance, when the Greeks approach and all the other warriors retreat inside the walls of $ro%, Hector chooses to remain outside the walls" -ven when Hector0s father, 1riam, sees the Greeks advancin and insist that his son come back inside the walls, Hector refuses" Hector0s pride and sense of dut% plan maor role in preventin him from retreatin from a direct confrontation with Achilles and the other Greeks" Hector0s initial determination to face is fated death and destin% is 3uite heroic and in keepin with the Greek concept of arete" However, he also later commits the ver% human and somewhat ordinar% act of fleein from Achilles, which is not what one would e&pect from a hero, either then or now" $hese two incidents reveal a ps%choloical internal battle between the desire to do the riht thin and natural human fear and instinctive behavior that drive one to run awa% from daner" /
Homer, 4obert Fales, and ernard 5no&" $he 'liad" New York, NY, 6"7"A"8 9ikin, /::;" 1rint"
< 'n this incident, these two heroes respond differentl% in their confrontation" +hile Hector decides to %ield to his human instincts and runs awa% from Achilles, Achilles instantl% chases him and %earns for battle" From a Greek perspective, this is definitel% not livin up to the ideal of arete" *nl% the fact that Athena appears in disuise and pretends to be Hector0s close friend convinces Hector to stop his fliht from Achilles and turned to fiht" 6nfortunatel% for him, Athena almost immediatel% disappears as Achilles arrives" $his scene wonderfull% illustrates the dichotom% of the hero, with his human side and heroic sense of dut% in conflict" +ithin Achilles first came to the war, he did so for several reasons" He wanted to eno% the lor% of battle, to assist the leader of the e&pedition =Aamemnon> and to ain rewards, such as captured slaves and wealth" All of this was perfectl% acceptable in the Greek conception of heroics" However, after Achilles friend was killed in his place, Achilles motivations chaned from those above two a desire for veneance" $hus, in Achilles, we have a heroic character who has been driven mad with desire for revene" As a conse3uence, when he does finall% catch up to Hector and kill him in book 22, he does so with unrelentin and unnecessar% cruelt% and enthusiasm" 2 -ven with Hector0s death, Achilles thirst for revene is not satisfied" For this reason, Hector ties Achilles bod% to his chariot and dras it up and down the beach in order to mutilate the corpse" *nl% the intervention of the ods prevents an% damae from bein done to the bod%" 'n doin this, Achilles demonstrates that he is willin to o to the ultimate limit and full% fulfill his destin%, which is in keepin with the idea behind arete" *therwise, his behavior is ver% far from what the modern idea of what %ou should e&pect from a hero, which is enerous and decent behavior toward a fallen foe" $he Greek view of heroics was ver% different from our own modern conception" Greeks placed a reat deal of emphasis on the importance of revene and settlin old scores" Achilles initiall% shows himself to be entirel% unconcerned about the feelins of the $roans who 2
Homer, 4obert Fales, and ernard 5no&" $he 'liad" New York, NY, 6"7"A"8 9ikin, /::;" 1rint"
? have watched the battle and Achilles treatment of Hector" *n the contrar%, the fact that he has done these thins in full view of them makes it clear he wants them to Hector0s bod% bein desecrated" *f course, it is perhaps also important to point out that warriors or soldiers would been involved in battle campains for %ear after %ear can become so traumati.ed b% it that the% can lose touch with their own sense of humanit% and empath%" Atrocities in war are hardl% uni3ue to ancient times" -ven toda%, soldiers miht wipe out an entire villae of civilians simpl% to punish them for their supposedl% wron doins" 'nterestinl%, throuh the intervention of the ods aain Achilles ultimatel% decides to show compassion toward Hector0s ain father and %ield the bod% to him for honorable burial" He does this after 1riam actuall% visits him in his tent and pleads for his son0s bod%" Here we have a suestion of another aspect of Greek societ%, which is honorin the uest" Greeks stronl% believed that hosts were forbidden to mistreat their uests, which would0ve also been a factor in Achilles thinkin in treatin the old man kindl% and turnin over the bod%" 'n conclusion, we can see that heroics can mean different thins to different people" 'n a modern liht, Hector can be seen as ver% heroic =if flawed>" *n the other hand, this same perspective makes Achilles looked like a absolute barbarian at times and hardl% the epitome of the selfless and compassionate modern hero" However, when looked at from the perspective of Greek culture and Greek literature, both characters take on a ver% different meanin" Hector, with his desire for famil% and safet% often overwhelmin his sense of dut% and veneance, would probabl% have seemed ver% weak and non@heroic to the Greeks who oriinall% heard the stories" Achilles, with all the characteristics that we find so repunant toda%, would have been seen b% them as virtuall% the ideal hero"
iblioraph% Homer, 4obert Fales, and ernard 5no&" $he 'liad" New York, NY, 6"7"A"8 9ikin, /::;" 1rint"
