Achilles set the model for a kind of heroism still immensely influential in the imagination of the West. His rage, egotism, and the motives that drive his tragic, obsessive behavior are compelling. Who is the true hero of the Iliad – Achilles or Hector? 2. Both Achilles and Hector are heroic, courageous, and vulnerable. Both realize that they are fated to die, although they are helped by the gods. The proud runner and the Trojan warrior have strengths of character and possess positive characteristics as well as flaws. Compare and contrast these two Homeric heroes. 3. Consider the presentation of the gods in Homer’s epic poem. What is the gods’ role? Do they control humans? Do humans have free will? Are the gods simply fickle, or do they support some essential order? 4. Although Medea is a woman, Euripides has presented her as a figure previously thought of as exclusively male – a hero. Analyze her character in the play as a combination of the salient qualities of Achilles. 5. Sophocles’ Antigone is both admirable and troubling as a heroine, and despite characters’ statements to the contrary, she reveals the power and influence that women in the Greek culture held.
Who is the true hero of the Iliad – Achilles or Hector?
