On the side: The Iliad cont'd...

On second thought, it’s as though the story of The Iliad is not necessarily concerned with the battle between the Greeks and the Trojans – but with that of its characters.

The Iliad symbolizes character development in the way of psychological maturation. There is a contrast between characters who virtually represent and believe-in the same things. This is seen between Achilles and Hektor as they are depicted as the main “heroes” of the Iliad.

Where they may share this common bond of heroism, they are very different. They are so different that they are “extreme” in their differences. Achille’s is an extreme warrior with horrific anger and a suffocating ideological pride. Hektor is a man of “the people” – he is one with his community. He is an outstanding warrior, but he fights for a collective purpose. He fights fair, and he is just. Homer depicts him as the ideal warrior.

There are many hero’s which are evident in the book, but regardless of their capabilities, they are used mainly as vehicles to create a deep contrast between the main characters.

Among the many themes which are evident in the book, the most outstanding is the character insight which is seen with Achilles. His character in unveiled through his actions, and his development as a “human” is plotted throughout the course of the book as he is exposed to, and reacts against, various situations.

His pride is not a “heroic” pride but a selfish pride. It appears immature and child-like. His temperament supports this as he becomes irrational and enraged; all of his senses and sensibilities become consumed by his anger.

A person with such outstanding capabilities in combination with a debilitating instability is a very dangerous person.

Throughout the course of The Iliad, Achilles develops as a human being. He matures from an ignorant, self-indulgent, aggressive, and borderline psychopathic individual, into a more compassionate and logical human being.

Homer’s characters represent many of the psychological instabilities of today. They are unbalanced, extremist personalities who are in control of a vast number of people (some would say, much like a modern government).

The gods have a very important and significant role in this because they act like an “alter ego”. They might represent the idea of “the human conscious”. Because god and religion is such a dominant force, perhaps Homer was alluding to “the voices of the gods” as being a “human conscious”, because this was a “new” and more modern idea. Then, it would have made sense that “the gods were talking” when really, “the gods” represented the conflict of interest in which we all (we, today) use to deliberate the good and the bad in every situation.