Justin Stuppy
World of Ideas
The Iliad
Throughout the great Trojan War, many different kinds of heroes appeared that showed their own sense of style. Achilles, Hector and Agamemnon were the most iconic and also shared many of the same characteristics, as well as having their own that set them apart from everyone else. Their attributes may have been seen differently depending on whose point of view you were using, but in the end they each had their own part of a hero within them. One of the things that set each of these heroes apart were the situations they were put in. When forced to come up with a decision to their situations, each hero had acted differently.
Achilles is the main hero found in the Iliad and his number one attribute is that he possesses superhuman strength. Just like any brute, Achilles has a flaw where he is very arrogant and his rage cannot be controlled. This is proven when Agamemnon demands that Achilles gives him Briseis because Chryseis was taken from him by Chryses. After this incident, Achilles lets his pride take over and refuses to fight any more for the Achaeans. Not only is he dishonoring his king, but Achilles is leaving his comrades to die. He continues to pray for all Achaeans to be destroyed in battle and shows no remorse. This continues to goes on until Hector kills Patroclus. At this moment, one of Achilles flaws comes out and his grief and rage take over his previous thoughts. He then agrees to rejoin the battle with Agamemnon and take on the Trojans. None of the Trojan warriors then wanted to fight against him in fear of a brutal defeat, which proves his heroic qualities. Hector then almost followed his comrades, but was tricked into fight against Achilles. The fight did not end in Hectors favor and also was proven to be brutal even after death. The choice of Achilles to drag Hector’s body around the city was another flaw that could later on get him in trouble. His pride to not let Hector get off easy could have caused the gods to then interfere with the matter, but Achilles did not take it that far. He soon came to his senses after Priam pleaded to let his son be returned to him for a proper burial. Achilles is then seen as an empathetic and has the ability to see past his pride and be reasonable. In the end, Achilles is mostly seen as a less than heroic, anti-hero who is flawed and does not have admirable qualities. Although, it wasn’t until the very end where he could be redeemed in some peoples eyes as a classic hero when he had mercy on Hector. The next hero on the list is Agamemnon, who is the leader of the Achaean army and king of Mycenae. His main flaw is identical to Achilles, his pride and short temper prove to be a major burden for him throughout the story. He starts off in the Iliad by making a grave mistake in taking away Briseis from Achilles because Chryseis was taken from him by Chryses. This choice was made purely because his prize was taken away so he wanted another one and did not care who he had to take it from to get another. He did not care to ask for Achilles woman, but demanded that she was given to him. Without thinking about the consequences of his actions, Agamemnon followed through with these demands and it caused him many defeats. With Achilles sitting on the bench in the result of Agamemnon's actions, he not once thought about giving Achilles back Briseis. One thing that sets Achilles apart from Agamemnon is that he gets even more fired up after his pride takes a hit, as whenever Agamemnon's pride takes a hit he makes sure that everyone else pays for it. He does this by taking more from others around him, even though he takes the fewest risk when it comes to battle. This shows that he does not have what it takes to become a great leader and keep his cool when something goes wrong and fix it. He ends up just exploiting his weakness and makes it more vulnerable for others to attack. When it comes down to it,