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Iliad— The Trojan War
投稿類別：英文寫作類
篇名：
Iliad— The Trojan War
作者：
劉亦倫。國立彰化女中。二年十三班。
指導老師：謝淑芬老師
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Iliad— The Trojan War
I. Preface
I had a lecture on Greek Mythology in school, and I found myself fascinated by the
rich and imaginative stories in the Mythology. By a coincidence, Father had just
bought Homer’s renowned epic— Iliad and odyssey. I started from Iliad, which was
based on myth and history. With poetic words, it told a magnificent tale of The Trojan
War. I was caught up in the book and searched for related information. The more I
learned about the epic, the more interested I became. I found something worth noting
and analyzing, and I wanted to express my viewpoint and share with others this
masterpiece that had touched my heart.
II. Thesis
1. The cause of the war
It all began on that charming wedding day of Thetis and Peleus, All the gods and
goddesses were asked to attend their wedding, except Eris, the goddess of discord.
Things went beautifully until Eris furiously rushed in, throwing a golden apple on the
table, on which inscribed “For the Fairest.” The wedding was then marred by the three
powerful goddesses’ (Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite) scramble for the reputation “The
fairest.” Paris, a prince of Troy was the judge of the contention.
Once, when Paris was still in his mother’s womb, the queen of Troy had had a bad
dream which indicated that her baby would destroy Troy, so Priam, the king,
abandoned Paris in the mountain of Ida. Nevertheless, a shepherd found him and
brought him up into a handsome young man. After all those years, the old king was
pleased to discover that his son hadn’t died, and he merrily took him home.
Back to the contention, each goddesses offered Paris a gift to ingratiate him, Athena’s
gift was victory, Hera’s gift was power, and Aphrodite’s gift was the most beautiful
woman and the wife of Menelaus— Helen. At last, Aphrodite won the reward and she
was going to keep her promise.
Paris went to visit Menelaus, king of Sparta, and with the help of Aphrodite, he
abducted Helen to Troy. This act incurred the anger of Menelaus and he called a lot of
Greek kings to form a strong army against Troy. Those kings were once Helen’s
suitors, and they had vowed to protect whoever became Helen’s husband. Thus, for a
woman, an enormous battle broke out.
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Iliad— The Trojan War
2. The Heroes of the War—Introduction and Character Analysis
A. The Greek heroes
˙Achilles
Achilles was the son of Thetis and Peleus, Prophecy had it that he was to be an
extremely outstanding hero but died at an early age or he should live peacefully
without remarkable achievements. To make her son immortal, Thetis dipped Achilles
in Styx, a river underground when he was just an infant. She held him by the feet so
his heels were his only vulnerable part of his body. Thetis also wished his son could
live in safety and peace. Yet no matter what Thetis did to protect Achilles, he couldn’t
escape his fate. Distinctly, Achilles chose the first option of living gloriously. and
inevitably fell into a sad fate. It was said the Greeks wouldn’t succeed without
Achilles. Whether he took part in the war was always a crucial factor for the upper
hand in war. He was always the winner, so-called Ares of the Greek’s army. His
victories and his mythological fate brought him immense confidence and also, bravery.
He was definitely not a gentleman; instead, he was arrogant and unbridled; even rude
sometimes. He was powerful and he would be commanded by no one, acting as he
pleased. In addition, he was a loyal friend to Patroclus. Their friendship played a
turning point in the war, for Achilles returned to the battlefield to combat Hector in
revenge. His performance was mighty and madly this time. It was a combat full of
grief and bitterness for both sides.
Living a short life, though, Achilles had great exploits. He was one of the greatest
warriors on the battlefield. He died young but remained a heroic figure for everyone
to remember.
˙Agamemnon
Agamemnon was the King of Mycenae and a very important hero in the Trojan War.
He was mighty without doubt, yet he had his own flaws in personality and family.
During his voyage to Troy, he offended Apollo by taking the wrong captive. The
troops were therefore struck by diseases. However, reluctant to return the beautiful
captive, Agamemnon made an outrageous request that Achilles should gave his own
captive to him to compensate for his loss. This made Achilles so angry that he
retreated from the battle. In this case, he was a bit selfish and peremptory.
On the other hand, Agamemnon’s family was doomed to be disharmonious. The
discord of Agamemnon’s family could be traced back to his grandfather, Pelops, who
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Iliad— The Trojan War
killed his own father. Since then, there were always mutual slaughters in the family.
During the war, Agamemnon’s wife, Clytemnestra fell in love with his cousin and so
betrayed her husband after he came home. The once great hero was killed by his own
wife.
˙Odysseus
King of Ithaca, a hero of wits and braveness. Homer emphasized his shrewdness and
prudence. He played an important role in the last step of destroying Troy. The wellknown strategy of the wooden horse came up from him. He was, too, a powerful
speaker. When Achilles withdrew from the war, Odysseus gave a speech that aroused
the Greek army. He was also selected in persuading Achilles to return to fight but
failed.
Initially, he did not want to join the battle though there was a prophecy saying Troy
would not be taken without Odysseus’ participation. Odysseus wouldn’t want to leave
his wife and son for at least twenty years or even forever. He pretended to go mad but
was exposed by Palamedes, so he later drew Palamedes to his death.
All in all, Odysseus was not a typical Iliad hero who regarded honor and strength as
beyond everything. Instead, he used wits and strategy to win and survive.
Though cunning, we couldn’t deny him as one of the greatest heroes. With a strong
and witty mind, he survived from the war and his long voyage home. His voyage was
written into another magnificent epic— The Odyssey.
B.
The Trojan heroes
˙Hector
Hector was the Prince of Troy, Paris’ big brother and the commander of the Trojan
army. Inspired by Zeus and Apollo, He was certainly fearless and mighty but also a
little rash, so he had made numerous successes in the war and few errors as well.
He had fight in single combat twice. Once he challenged the Greeks to fight him in
single. He drew Ajax and therefore, gain Ajax’s belt as a gift. The other time, he
fought in a duel against Achilles. Hector knew it was unlikely to win such a skillful
and powerful opponent as Achilles; still he stood out and fought to the last minute. I
think this showed a greater courage than that of Achilles’, for Achilles was the top
warrior among all. He wouldn’t need to be afraid of anyone. But to Hector, facing the
furious Achilles in a duel was like facing death. He must had real courage to confront
that challenge. In the end, Achilles killed Hector in his rage; he even dragged his body
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behind the carriage to mutilate it. The old king, Priam ransomed his body from
Achilles. And the Iliad ended in grief and eulogy for the respectable hero.
3. Gods and Goddesses’ position
A.
Greeks’ side
Hera\ Athena: I think they were on the Greeks’ side probably because they fail to get
that golden apple.
Poseidon: Poseidon and Apollo were once punished by Zeus to work for King
Laomedon of Troy. Poseidon built the walls, but when the work was complete,
Laomedon refused to pay what he had promised and even threatened to sell them into
slavery. Poseidon had never forgotten the insult. That’s why he fought on the side of
Greece.
B. Troy’s side
Aphrodite: She got to stand at Troy’s side because she had made her promise and
earned the prize. Besides, Aeneas, her son, was a Trojan warrior.
Apollo: There’s a saying that Achilles’ killing Troilus, some said whom was Apollo’s
son, on the altar of Apollo’s own temple had angered the God. So Apollo was on the
Troy’s side during the war.
Ares: I don’t know clearly why he helped the Trojans, but he was always against the
Greeks. In Myth, he stands for the violence in war.
4. The Gods and the Destiny
I feel that Gods in Mythology are much like human; in fact, they are immortal beings
with extreme might and nature of human, or perhaps it’s human with the nature of
Gods. They made me think of powerful nations influencing international situations.
Nations gathered in groups and that caused the World War I. Though Gods’ taking
sides wasn’t the main cause of the Trojan War, but later during the war, their position
became critical. They could lead the war into any direction they liked. Rather than a
war of men, I’d say it’s in fact a conflict of Gods. The cause and the course of the war
were all directed by Gods, and Gods’ aid or hinderance depended on their preference,
benefits or old conflicts, and sometimes they also considered if their actions would
lead to a mess or prompt another discord. For instance, when Thetis pleaded Zeus to
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help the Trojans till Achilles return to Battlefield to give her son the grandest honor.
Zeus didn’t promise her at once. He knew that if he promised her, he would be against
Hera. He hesitated for a while. And when his son, Sarpedon was going to be killed, he
didn’t save him after thinking deeply and rationally. His discreet decision making was
just like how the strong nations decide their interference in international events. Greek
Mythology was really fun since it doesn’t avoid putting both bright and dark sides of
human in their stories. It reflects truly what the world we live in is really like.
Gods were amazingly powerful; the mortals could not compare with them or at least
went on their way without any intervention. Even the heroic ones, such as Diomedes
and Achilles, whose outstanding performances, were the gifts of Gods who were fond
of them. Strong as Gods were, there was still one thing that even Gods couldn’t do
with. It was Destiny. Most great heroes in war were doomed, doomed to death or
doomed to survival. Sarpedon, Zeus’ son, was no exception. He was doomed to be
killed by Patroclus. Though Zeus wanted to save him and was capable of doing so, he
gave up after considering Hera’s advice. He let his son died because he knew what
would happen if he broke the rule of destiny. Fate in Greek Mythology was like an
unmovable and the strictest law. It had been there for so long that it was already a
tradition. Everyone was used to obeying it. The mortals couldn’t deny it. Even Zeus
couldn’t reject it. Though he was not able to obey it, doing so would break the
tradition. And the tradition was not allowed to be broken. For once it was broken, all
the Gods and Goddess would try to save their doomed kids in the battlefield and
everything would be out of control.
And maybe it’s this Destiny that filled the epic with an air of tragicalness and
heroicalness that stir the readers’ hearts.
5. The Human Natures in Trojan War
During the war, fatherhood, motherhood, friendship and companionship were more
obvious than usual, and those human natures had made the tragical scene even more
heartbreaking.
A.
Honor:
The great heroes in the Trojan War always put their honor in front of their lives.
Achilles knew clearly that he would die on the Trojan War’s battlefield, but for
honor’s sake, he still chose to join the war. In fact, Achilles was extremely unhappy
when he announced his retreat from the battlefield, for he would probably lose the
chance of gaining honor from the war.
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Iliad— The Trojan War
In addition, Ajax’s suicide partially had to do with his pride; that is to say, he held the
high place for Honor. To me, it’s not necessary to kill myself for the foolish act of
massacring a few cattle. However, for honor’s sake, it had drawn him to death.
Another example of how the heroes valued their honor could be seen in Hectors’
taking up Achilles’ challenge. His parents begged their dear son not to fight Achilles,
for somehow they knew, and perhaps Hector knew it too, who would be the winner.
Still, Hector stood out bravely. He said to himself in the fight “Death is now near,
there’s no hope for survival. Gods might had known and expected this result long ago.
Now that I must die, but I can’t die cowardly, no, I will make the posterity glorify my
heroism.”
B.
Fierceness:
I found that Heroes in the Trojan War didn’t have to be merciful or always did the
right thing. In fact, they were mostly strong and fierce, sometimes even cruel. When it
comes to Achilles and Agamemnon’s discord, I wasn’t happy to see Agamemnon
acting so unreasonably. He was insulting his ally. I was also surprised to find that
Achilles almost decided to kill Agamemnon out of his anger, and as an Akhaioi,
Achilles actually wanted Zeus to help the Trojans so that Agamemnon, that proud and
unreasonable king could learn his lesson. Indeed, Agamemnon offended him, but I
couldn’t approve of this, for many Akhaiois were going to die for the two’s argument
if Achilles’ wish was answered.
Reading through the epic, I found there were many passages describing the miserable
sight on the battlefield and the force and bravery of the great heroes. Those heroes
bore down the enemies, killing numerous people. And when their enemies pleaded
them to let go, they wouldn’t show any pity. When Hector was going to fight Achilles,
he asked Achilles to promise that they would both return the loser’s corpse to their
men. But Achilles replied “There’s no vow between a man and a lion, as there would
be no vow between you and me.” As he had said, he refused to return Hector’s body
and even drag it through the ground.
Heroes in Greek Mythology were praised and honored for their bravery and strength,
whether they were kind enough seemed not that important.
6. Relationship between Enemies
Though being enemies, sometimes Trojans and Greeks built friendship and showed
respect for one another
After Hector was killed, old king Priam went to Achilles to get his son’s body back.
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With sincere words, his fatherhood touched Achilles. They reached an agreement that
Achilles would return the corpse in return of Priams’ ransom. Priam stayed there for
dinner. While they sat by the fire and enjoy the feast, Priam and Achilles, the two
heroes, studied each other with great admiration. Despite the war and sorrow, they
showed respect for each other.
During the war, Diomedes and Glaucus’ turning from rivals to friends also revealed
the subtle relationship between enemies. And so was Hector and Ajax’s exchanging
armor for the combat ended in draw.
In addition, at Hector’s funeral, Helen mourned for his death with true and sorrowful
words. He was among the very few people who were friendly toward Helen in Troy.
III. Conclusion
What impresses me the most in Iliad is its grand and heroic atmosphere.
It didn’t emphasize morals but heroism, filling the epic with an air of grandness and
power. I find this feature very similar to Greeks’ artifacts and the works during the
Renaissance, full of energy and beauty. Besides, some people had a certain adjective
describing them. Those adjectives were most beautiful and magnificent. For example,
“the distinguished warrior” or “the brightest among women,” This added to the great
momentum of the Trojan War.
In my view, mythology in all nations had one thing in common; that is they were
merely stories, creative, lively and true ones, without many serious lessons. They
were something to feel rather than to reflect on, The Trojan war to me was like
mythology. It was composed of stories woven with history, legend and theatricality. It
sang of everything the real universe had, humanities, quarrels, wars, allies and
negotiations, and everything in the real universe was just what made the Trojan War
amazing, touching and breathtaking.
IV. Reference
http://www.tglin.idv.tw/essay/essay_books02.htm (The cause of the war)
http://www.timelessmyths.com/classical/trojanwar.html#Origin (Throughout the
report)
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