Homer’s IliadFocused on the Hero and the Epic

Qualities

What makes a hero?• In mythology and legend, a man, often of

divine ancestry• Great courage and strength, bold• Favored by the gods. • Nobility of purpose• Especially one who has risked or sacrificed

his or her life• Someone who fights for a cause• Person who rules, guides, or inspires others

http://www.visualthesaurus.com/?

Book 24 Plot Summary• Achilles ties the body of Hektor to his chariot and drags it around,

but the gods preserve the corpse so that it does not rot. Achilles is grieving the loss of his friend.

• Zeus then holds a meeting of the gods, decide Hektor’s body will be redeemed to be buried properly.

• The gods order Thetis to explain to her son, Achilles, that it is the will of Zeus that he restore Hektor’s body to Priam, Hektor’s father.

• Escorted by the god Hermes, Priam and an old servant enter the Achaian camp that night, unseen. Achilles is moved with Priam’s reminder of the feelings that he has for his own dead father and therefore agrees to accept Priam’s offer of ransom for Hektor’s body. They cry together.

• Achilles has dinner made and a bed made for Priam. He also oversees the preparations of Hektor’s body.

• Although Achilles shows mercy on Priam, he snaps at Priam’s demands.

Aristotle

• Philosopher, scientist, and teacher• Most of his writings are now lost, most of

remains are actually old lecture notes• Studied under Plato

Aristotle’s Epic• “the story should be constructed on dramatic principles:

everything should turn about a single action, one that is a whole, and is organically perfect having a beginning, and a middle, and an end”

• “the poem will arouse in us its own characteristic form of pleasure”

• Most are chronological clusters of happenings, “chronicles”

• Often just a clip of what happened, just a piece of the puzzle

- Aristotle on the Art of Poetry

Epic

• Plot—uninvolved or involved, suffering or of character

• Iliad is an uninvolved plot of tragic suffering

• Epic different from Tragedy—Length (not limited by stage), Metre (stately)

Examining achilles•Achilles has undergone no real change of heart and has learned no moral lesson from his experiences previous to this point

•Meeting with Priam--crucial stage in his moral development.

•In their conversation, Achilles divulges his love for Patroklos and shows he is able to understand another man’s sorrow

•Accepts reality and shows a compassion for others—humane, noble.

•Achilles obeys the gods and reestablishes his morals—capable of change

•Shows temper—when Priam acts suspicious—still harbors irrational traits

Relation to today…

• Every nation needs a “mythos”-basic values and attitudes of a group, transmitted through myths and the arts.

• “Heros” are like “founding fathers”—set good examples, must achieve something

• Must experience it, live it for themselves• Become immortal through the story’s

record• Teaches moral lesson of compassion

To get a visual…

• http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=mythos

• http://www.visualthesaurus.com/?ad=shareasale

• Aristotle on the Art of Poetry

by Lane Cooper, Ginn and Co., 1913, p 77-84.