In the beginning of the Iliad and the Gilgamesh epics there are similarities in the behavior of the leading characters. Gilgamesh and Achilles both have problems managing their emotions. For Gilgamesh the issue is in the form of sexual conquest and abusing power. For Achilles it is pride and fury that causes problems for the hero. It could be said that these behaviors show how the heroes deal with and internalize feelings as well as emotions. Another similarity is how the loss of their comrades
But unlike these other heroes of the Iliad, who were locked into warlike patterns of behavior, Odysseus occupies an unchartered place in the pantheon of Greek heroes. Markedly, what Homer does with his refashioned representation of Odysseus is give the reader a glimpse of what it means to be
So report back to him everything I say, and report it publicly-----get the Greeks angry" (265). In the ninth book of the Iliad, Achilles lets his emotions impair his judgement because he is obviously upset from the words Agamemnon said to him previously. Also, in this book the strong and mighty Agamemnon began to weep because he thinks the war is lost. As the text says "Agamemnon
expectations. In The Iliad the gods directly communicated with men and even adopted human forms to participate in their affairs. Hesiod’s early poem Works and Days does not include the gods as active characters but this was not because religion had become less predominate in the lives of Greeks or because the gods took a lesser interest in men’s affairs. Despite the lack of direct interaction between men and the gods, the gods were still perceived as considerable forces with the power to make mortal men
In a volume of Bloom's Literary Themes, Shakespeare's Hamlet is considered as the 'supreme literary portrait' of alienation, whereas for some, Achilles in the Iliad. Other literary works portrayed as dealing with the concept of alienation are: The Bell Jar ( 1963), Black Boy (1945), Brave New World (1931), The Catcher in the Rye (1951), The Chosen (1961), Dubliners (1914), Fahrenheit 451(1953), Invisible Man (1952)