theme 5- death and mortality Flashcards
perception of death in the lliad depends on the perception of war
The theme of death is strongly linked to the theme of war. What you make of that theme will likely determine what you make of Homer’s presentation of death. If you think that Homer’s view of death is tragic, you will probably argue that he views death as mainly tragic, too. If you thing that he presents war as mostly a matter of glory, you will focus on how he shows that through death, too.
is death important to the lliads meaning. scholar griffins view
GRIFFIN’s (1980) view is that the meaning of the poem revolves around what he considers to be the central question posed by the text: ‘What is it to be a hero?’ He suggests that Homeric duels are designed so as to place emphasis on the core issue: the hero facing death at the hands of another hero and so needing to find ‘greatness’ within in order to triumph.
why does homer present death so graphically
There are plenty of examples of gory Homeric deaths, but it can be useful to know a couple in some detail for the sake of offering examples in essays. See the key passages for examples, and consider especially Peneleos killing Lycon in Book 16. Possible reasons why Homer may have presented death graphically include the drive for tragic effect, simple realism (as GRAZIOSI thinks) and an attempt to entertain the audience.
does homer show death as good for a hero
This question ties in with GRIFFIN’s (1980) view that the central question of the text is, ‘What is it to be a hero?’, because that inevitably means looking at how heroism intersects with the reality of death. Be clear that, in itself, death is not good for anyone in Homer’s worldview. The Homeric afterlife is not good. Even heroes will try to avoid it if they can: consider Achilles (Book 9) and Hector (Book 22). And yet, heroism entails a willingness to die. Hector forsakes heroism for a time when he decides to run (Book 22). Compare Achilles’ indifference to death from Book 18 onwards (because of his thirst for revenge). It makes klēos achievable for him. In fact, without death there is no possibility of heroism. The gods cannot be heroes.
does homer offer ways to cope with death
Apollo suggests in Book 24 that human beings are naturally capable of dealing with death: they grieve but then get over it. Achilles stands out for him as an unacceptable exception. But part of coping with death is to provide proper burial honours. Hence the need for Hector’s funeral (Book 24) and Zeus’ careful instructions regarding the burial of Sarpedon (Book 16). Part of the tragedy of Achilles’ anger is that he denies that vital closure for two books. Note also that his funeral for Patroclus (Book 23) is not enough to bring him closure. Apollo suggests that this failure to find closure is itself disordered and excessive (Book 24)
key passage (book 1 the proem mentions death very prominently)
'’Goddess, sing me the anger, of Achilles, Peleus’ son, that fatal anger that brought countless sorrows on the Greeks, and sent many valiant souls of warriors down to Hades, leaving their bodies as spoil for dogs and carrion birds: for thus was the will of Zeus brought to fulfilment. Sing of it from the moment when Agamemnon, Atreus’ son, that king of men, parted in wrath from noble Achilles.’’
‘‘At this, the ox-eyed queen trembled, restrained herself and sat down silently. All the immortal gods there were troubled, and it was Hephaestus, famed for his skill, who broke the silence, hoping to calm his mother, white-armed Hera: ‘This is a sorry business. It’s intolerable you two should quarrel over mere mortals, and set the gods at odd with one another. What joy in a good banquet if animosity prevails? I advise my mother, who herself knows this is best, to make peace with our dear father, Zeus, lest he reprimand her again and our feast be ruined. What if the Olympian lord of lightening, mightiest of us all by far, should choose to blast us where we sit! Mother, speak gentle words to him, and the Olympian will once more show us grace.’’
key passage (lliad 16 the death of lycon)
Next Peneleos met with Lycon, after their spear throws failed, both hurling them in vain, now clashing instead with swords. Lycon swung at the helmet ridge with its horsehair crest, shattering his sword at the hilt. But Peneleos struck at the neck beneath the ear, and the blade sliced through, leaving the head hanging to one side, held only by a piece of skin, as Lycon fell.
key passage, (lliad 22
‘Oh, Hector, alas for me! It seems we were born for this, you in Priam’s palace, here in Troy, I in Thebe below wooded Placus, in Eëtion’s house. He it was who reared me from a babe, unlucky father of an ill-fated child. How I wish he’d never engendered me! Now you are gone to the House of Hades under the earth, but I remain cold with grief, a widow in your halls. And your son, the child of doomed parents, our child, a mere babe, can no longer give you joy, dead Hector: nor can you give joy to him….’
key passage (lliad 24 achillies declares that suffering, not happiness is the universal morals)
But when Achilles was sated with weeping, and the force of grief was spent, he rose instantly from his chair, and raising the old king by his arm, he took pity on his grey beard and hair, and spoke eloquently to him: ‘You are indeed unfortunate, and your heart has endured much sorrow. Surely, though, there is iron in your spirit, daring to come alone to our ships, and face the man who slew so many of your noble sons? Come, sit here, and we will shut away our sorrows, despite our grief, since there is but cold comfort in lament. The gods have spun the thread of fate for wretched mortals: we live in sorrow, while they are free from care. Two urns stand in Zeus’ palace containing the experiences he grants mortals, one holds blessings, the other ills. Those who receive a mixture of the two meet with good and ill, but those whom the Thunderer only serves from the jar of ills becomes an outcast, driven over the face of the earth by despair, a wanderer honoured neither by gods nor men. See how the gods showered glorious gifts on my father Peleus, from the moment of his birth, wealth and possessions beyond other men, kingship of the Myrmidons, and though but a mortal man, a goddess for a wife. Yet some god brought evil even to him, no crowd of princes, but an only son doomed to an untimely end. He receives no care from me, since I sit here in the land of Troy, far from my own country, bringing harm to you and your children. And you, my aged lord, they say you once were happy, renowned for your wealth and your sons, in all the lands, from the isle of Lesbos, where Macar reigned, through upper Phrygia to the boundless Hellespont. But from the moment that the heavenly gods brought this
wretched war upon you, all has turned to battle and slaughter. Endure, let your heart not grieve forever, Sorrowing for your son will achieve nothing, you’ll not bring him back to life, though life will bring you other sorrows.’
key passage (lliad 17 zeus pities even achillies houses because hey are immoral yet must endure suffering because of their service to a mortal)
Now, far from the battle, Achilles’ immortal horses wept, as they had from the moment they first learned that their charioteer lay in the dust, slain by man-killing Hector. Though Automedon, brave son of Diores, tried gentle words and flicks of his pliant whip, and even threats, the pair refused to return to the ships by the wide Hellespont, or enter the battle beside the Greeks. Harnessed to the ornate chariot, they stood as still as pillars planted over the tombs of the dead, their heads bowed to earth. The hot tears poured from their eyes to the dust, as they wept for their charioteer, streaking their long manes that streamed from under the yoke on either side. And Zeus saw their grief and pitied them, and shaking his head, murmured: ‘Unhappy pair, why did we give you, ageless and immortal, to that mortal king, Peleus? Did we mean you to sorrow with these wretched men? For what is there more miserable than man, among all the things that creep about and breath on earth? Yet Hector shall not mount your ornate car: that I will not grant Priam’s son. It is enough he wears the armour, and boasts of it. I will fill your legs with vigour, your hearts with strength, so you may carry Automedon out of battle, back to the hollow ships, for I intend glory to the Trojans, to kill and kill till they reach those same benched ships, and the sun in setting brings the sacred dark.’
key passage, (lliad 18 thetis laments that she must suffer because she married a mortal)
Thetis, weeping, answered: ‘Is there a goddess, Hephaestus, who has suffered more heartfelt sorrows at the hands of Zeus, than I? I alone of all the daughters of the sea he wedded to a mere human, Peleus, son of Aeacus, and unwillingly it was that I lay with a mortal man. He keeps to his palace now, weighed down sadly by the years, while I suffer further grief. I brought a mighty and peerless son into this world, greatest of warriors. I nursed him like a shoot in a fertile orchard, and like a sapling swiftly he grew. I sent him to Ilium with the beaked ships, to fight the Trojans, but I shall never welcome him home once more to the house of Peleus. And even now, while he lives and knows the light of day, he suffers, beyond my help, though I go to him. King Agamemnon has taken from him the girl the Achaeans gave him as a prize. Wasting his heart in grief for her, he refused to ward off ruin from the Greeks, despite the elders offering him fine gifts, and the Trojans penned them in by their ships sterns, and proved immoveable. Then he let Patroclus don his own armour
and join the battle, with his Myrmidons. All day they fought by the Scaean Gate, and would have sacked the city, if Apollo had not caused the death of brave Patroclus at the height of his success, and granted the final act to Hector. So I have come to clasp your knees, and ask you to give my son, who is doomed to an early death, a shield and helmet, a breastplate and bronze greaves fitted with ankle-pieces, to replace the armour lost when the Trojans killed his faithful friend, for whom my son now lies in the dust struck with grief to his very heart.’
key passage (book 18 achillies’ indifference to death)
So Achilles grieved among the Myrmidons: ‘How idle the promise I gave to Menoetius in my father’s house, as I tried to solace him, that when I’d sacked Troy I’d bring back his glorious son to Opoeis for him, with all his share of the spoils. But Zeus does not fulfil all our plans. And we are both fated to stain the selfsame earth here at Troy with our blood, for I shall not return home either, to be welcomed by Peleus the charioteer, my aged father, and my mother Thetis in their palace, instead this soil shall cover me. And since I’ll go beneath the ground after you, my Patroclus, I shall not hold your funeral rites, my brave friend, till I return with the head of your killer, Hector’s head, and my armour, and before your pyre I’ll slit the throats of twelve fine youths of Troy, to slake my anger at your slaughter. Till then lie here, like this, beside the beaked ships, while full-breasted Trojan and Dardanian women, the ones we laboured with our hands and spears to capture when we took their rich populated cities, grieve for you and shed tears night and day.
key passage (book 16 humour about death, death of cebriones)
With this, the god returned to the field of battle, while Hector turned to warlike Cebriones and ordered him to whip up the horses. Now Apollo, in the midst brought blind panic on the Argives, and paved the way for Hector and the Trojans. The rest of the Greeks Hector left alone, making no efforts to attack them, instead, with his powerful team, chasing down Patroclus. Patroclus at bay leapt from his chariot, his spear in his left hand, a large jagged gleaming stone clutched in his right. Planting his feet firmly, his fear of his foe swiftly dispelled, he hurled it with perfect aim, and struck Hector’s charioteer, Cebriones, a natural son of great Priam, in the forehead, as he grasped the reins. The stone crushed his brow, shattering the bone, and his eyeballs fell in the dust at his feet. He plunged like a diver from the sturdy chariot, and his spirit fled his bones. Then Patroclus, tamer of horses, how you mocked him: ‘There, what an acrobat, how skilfully he dives! So perfectly executed he’d do a fine job aboard ship, fishing oysters from teeming depths, despite the weather. The Trojans it seems make good divers too.’
With this he flung himself at the dead warrior, like a lion wounded in the chest while ravaging a farm, a victim of its own daring. So you leapt for Cebriones, Patroclus.
key passage (book 24 apollos speech, observing how mortals need to cope with suffering)
‘Harsh and cruel you are, you immortals! Did Hector not burn the thighs of unblemished bulls and goats for you, and yet you have not the decency, now he is dead, to rescue his corpse for his wife, his mother, his child to watch over, nor for his father Priam and his friends, who might then swiftly give him to the fires, and enact his funeral rites. You would rather help this brute, Achilles, whose mind is warped, his will of adamant. The man’s heart is like a lion’s, wild and powerful is that creature’s in its urge to slaughter the shepherds’ flocks for meat. Achilles is as devoid of pity, and of the shame that benefits men, urging restraint. Many a man loses someone closer to him than this, a brother born of the one mother, or a son, yet when he has finished weeping and wailing he has done, since the Fates grant men patient endurance. But this man, having robbed Hector of life, ties him to his chariot and drags him round his dead friend’s mound, as if that brought him honour or profit. Great as he is, let him be wary of our wrath; not disfigure the mute clay in his fury.’
