THE ILIAD!

The Iliad is an epic poem by Homer that tells the story of Achilles. Achilles’ story centers on the attempt of Achilles and the Greeks to conquer the city-state of Troy. This has been a difficult piece for me to analyze; I’m not sure what Homer’s purpose was in writing this tale. He offers a war story while injecting pastoral scenes and motifs into the tale. He then spends considerable time describing a shield, and his conclusion features the exchange of a body for a wagon of treasure. After carefully considering the text, I found interesting examples of the tension between free will and the will of the gods, as well as symbolism in Hephaestus’ shield.

In the first portion of reading, there is a moment where Hector’s wife despairs that Hector will soon be killed in battle. Apparently in an attempt to comfort her, Hector informs his wife that the gods have already decided if he will survive, and there is no escaping the edict of the divine powers. Therefore, avoiding battle does not necessarily guarantee longevity. This highlights the contrast between free will and fate. Hector trusts fate while his wife hopes that exercising free will would enable an escape from death.

This concept of fate is present in many Greek plays, including Sophocles’ tragedy Oedipus the King. In the play, Oedipus attempts to avoid his unfortunate fate, but is unable to avoid what the gods have ordained. Oedipus strives to exercise free will while Hector submits to fate. Both end up in unfortunate circumstances, leading to feelings of pity for the tragic characters. Even the hero, Achilles, is subject to fate.  Achilles gets to choose between two choices, but he is subject to the fate he chooses. Why does Achilles get to choose between two fates? Perhaps because he is a demigod he is slightly above mere mortals. He is allowed to decide between two unfavorable choices, giving the semblance of free will. However, his options were limited by the gods. The gods in Greek literature consistently deliver unsavory, unavoidable fates regardless of background or submissiveness to the gods.

Perhaps Hector believes that if he does the gods’ bidding, those he loves will be recompensed and left alone by the gods and their whims. He does this by encouraging the women to sacrifice to Athena, by rousing Paris to fight, and by willfully submitting to his fate. He pays these taxes to the gods in hopes that they will be appeased and allow the continuance of what he loves: Troy’s freedom and his family. The gods later repay this devotion by causing his body to be pristine after Achilles kills him and drags his body behind a chariot.

Later in the poem, Homer relates a shield made for Achilles in great detail. What is the purpose of this? Unless Homer was simply enamored with complex shield design, the shield is explained in such detail because its description has some deeper meaning. The shield features two cities and several pastoral scenes that are described in detail. The second city described features an army attempting to invade. Homer explains one of the attacking army’s problems stating, “. . . two plans split their ranks: to plunder the city or share the riches with its people” (Homer 594-95.) The army in the second city symbolizes Achilles and the indecision foreshadows events in the poem. Later in the epic, Achilles is faced with a decision regarding the body of Hector. He could keep the body for the sake of vengeance, and “plunder the city.” Or, he could allow the king to take Hector’s body (share the riches). Achilles decides to share the spoils, but the decision of the split army in the shield remains ambiguous. This may be because in the shield and after Achilles’ decision, the war carries on regardless.  

I may be over-analyzing Homer’s motives in this work. The shield of Hephaestus was probably meant to symbolize society or something big. Personally, I prefer the theory that Homer was simply a shield nerd. Also, the motives I attribute to Hector, his wife, and the gods may be completely off the mark. This is simply the interpretation that I see. I am curious to hear other interpretations in class, because everybody will understand the story in their own way.