Who is the Better
Hero, Achilles or Hektor?
The Iliad focuses on
the 10th and final year of the Trojan war, in particular focusing on
the several months up until Hektor’s death. Homer portrays his idea of a hero
through the two main characters of the Iliad, Achilles and Hektor. Both share
some clear characteristics of what it means to be a typical Greek hero as well
as both having some clear flaws. Although the two characters appear to be
complete contrasts of each other, the do share some similarities in their
personalities and their actions.
The Iliad begins
with the argument between Achilles and Agamemnon over Achilles telling
Agamemnon to give back Chryseis to her father which Agamemnon sees as Achilles
insulting him as a leader. From this argument we get a clear understanding of
Achilles’ character and how he will behave throughout the remainder of the
Iliad. At first we would agree with what he is saying: “You now let the girl go
at the God’s will: and we Achaians will recompense you three or four times
over.” This seems to be a highly rational and fair bargain to make and shows
Achilles’ good leadership skills which are good characteristics for a hero to
have. However, things start going more awry when pride gets in the way for both
Achilles and Agamemnon. As soon as Agamemnon refuses Achilles’ offer, Achilles
becomes rather insulted and starts throwing insults at Agamemnon such as “dog
face” and “shameless creature”. These sudden outbursts of anger make Achilles
seem rather childish and disrespectful to his leader. Despite this being
something we would see as a bad trait in modern heroes, arrogance (of which
Achilles has plenty) in a Greek hero is seem as completely normal so in this
sense he shows clear signs of being a stereotypical Greek hero.
However, there comes
a point in this scene where we start to lose our respect for Achilles; he
refuses to fight, essentially allowing for many of his men to die simply
because of this argument. “I swear now there will come a time when the loss of
Achilleus will be felt by the whole number of the sons of the Achaians.” This
sheer disregard for the well fare of his men is unforgivable as a Greek hero
and leader especially over something so petty. It is because of his actions
that Patroklos dies as well as many others and it is only at this point that
Achilles begins to feel regret. In contrast, Hektor would never abandon his men
even in the face of death. “Nor is that what my own heart urges, because I have
learnt always to be brave and to fight in the forefront of the Trojans, winning
great glory for my father and myself.” He puts his people first which is a very
heroic thing to do despite knowing in his heart that Troy will fall. In this
sense, Hektor is the better hero as he is the one that cares about and looks
after his people whereas Achilles is a very selfish man who only decides to
fight because he wants revenge on Hektor for killing his friend.
In battle, both are
renown for being extremely good at fighting. Achilles is feared among most men
when it comes to his fighting abilities. There are many epic similes for
Achilles for example, “as he rushed on over the plain like the star that comes
in late summer… it is the brightest of stars, yet a sign of evil, bringing much
fever on poor mortals.” There is a lot of foreboding in the way Achilles is
presented as this terrifyingly ruthless man and in this sense he is a powerful
hero as he has such a high reputation as to demand this kind of kleos. There
are a lot of comparisons drawn between Achilles and Hektor when it comes to
their strength. Although both are highly praised, Achilles without a doubt is
the greater in strength and fighting ability. “Hektor, please, my dear child,
do not face this man alone… because he is far stronger than you.” Even Priam
doesn’t believe that Hektor will survive fighting Achilles and tries to
persuade him to do otherwise. We see full confirmation at how frightening
Achilles really is when Hektor loses his nerve and runs away despite himself
being one of the great warriors. “Now he no longer had the courage to stand his
ground where he was, but he left the gates behind him and ran in terror: and
the son of Peleus leapt after him, confident in the speed of his legs.” The
fact Hektor runs away is such a blow to his heroic persona and makes Achilles
the better hero in this scene.
Hektor is the more
respectful hero. He understands the importance of burial rights and attempts to
make a deal with Achilles that they will respect each other’s bodies after one
of them dies. Despite the fact that they are enemies, he is still willing to
put aside all the hate and do what is morally right. Achilles however is not so
compassionate. “Do not talk to me of agreements, you madman. There can be no
treaties of trust between lions and men; wolves and lambs share no unity of
heart, but are fixed in hatred of each other for all time.” Achilles is
slightly insulting to Hektor here in the way he compares the two of them to
wolves and lambs. Wolves are the more vicious and dangerous animal that hunt
the useless lamb that has to be taken care of by a shepherd and its only real
purpose is to be eaten. Achilles then goes to completely disrespect the body of
Hektor after his death by dragging it on the ground around Troy. This act would
be seen as unacceptable and loses Achilles a lot of respect from the
audience. Because of this, we would say
that Hektor is the better hero as he is a lot more respectful.
One thing both of
the two characters have is the help from the Gods. Athena is a consistent help
for Achilles and intervenes a lot. One example of this is when she disguises
herself as one of Hektor’s brothers and convinces him to stop running and face
Achilles. Equally, Hektor also gets help from the Gods such as from Apollo who
breathed his glory into Hektor so that he could lead his men to reach the Greek
ships. Hektor was also favoured by Zeus however he tried to stay neutral
throughout the war. Having the Gods on your side was a highly heroic thing for
the Greeks as it meant you were to some extent on their level or at least
deserved to be recognised and therefore both Hektor and Achilles can be seen as
equally heroic in this way. However, there are times when Achilles commits hubris
which is an awful thing for a hero to do and can often by their fatal flaw. One
example is Achilles attempting to fight the river god after it calls for help
to stop Achilles throwing Trojan bodies into the river (which in itself is a
very bad thing to do). These acts of hubris would cast a bad light on Achilles
for a Greek audience and so he is less heroic for this as disrespecting the
gods is one of the worst things a hero can do.
One typical thing we
find in Greek heroes is that their character develops more throughout the story
which happens with Achilles. He starts the poem angry and irrational, making
silly decisions that result in disadvantaging those around him. However, we see
his character develop into one that is able to regret his bad decisions which
is a major thing as many Greek heroes are not able to do this. When Achilles hears
about the death of Patroklos in book 18 he laments on his actions. “Since I was
not a saving light to Patroklos or my many other companions who have been brought
down by godlike Hektor, but sit here by the ships, a useless burden on the
earth.” We cannot help but feel quite sorry for Achilles as he truly regrets
his decisions. This is in a way heroic as he is learning from his mistakes and
becoming a better developed character.
Overall, both
characters have a lot of heroic qualities and equally they lack in other heroic
qualities. They are almost like opposites of each other and come from
completely different ends of the heroic spectrum. Achilles is the more typical
arrogant, brutish hero that’s greatest success is their strength in fighting
whereas Hektor is more what we would expect from a modern hero as he is
compassionate, thoughtful (much like Odysseus), respectful and generally a
nicer person. Hektor is still strong and respected for his successes in the
battlefield however he is not as strong or as feared as Achilles. Both
characters have flaws like all heroes do: Achilles lets his pride and anger
cloud his judgement whereas Hektor can succumb to fear and make foolish
decisions for example, when he makes the disastrous battle plan of not
retreating to the city which proves foolhardy. Although Achilles has a lot more
flaws than Hektor, he has more qualities that signify a typical Greek hero. He
beats Hektor, he has the stereotypical arrogance, he develops as a character,
has the support of some of the greater Gods such as Athena and he is the
stronger and more feared of the two. For these reasons, he is the better hero.
This question scored 46/50 giving me
a grade of A*
To improve my teacher suggests I make
my introduction stronger by discussing different criteria for being a hero and
giving an indication of what you will argue.
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