Reviews

The Iliad by Homer

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irenegoddess's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

sidharthvardhan's review against another edition

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5.0

I first met Greek gods in ‘Hercules’ the animated cartoon series, which I loved watching as a kid. Then there was Wikipedia and then Ovid’s Metamorphosis. My point being I really had high expectations when I started reading Iliad. I expected it to be a more complete account – beginning with ‘Apple of Discord’; may be even before; then Paris’ judgment that Venus was fairest of three goddesses, then oath taken at Helen’s father’s place and then Helen’s seduction or rape (whichever version you prefer) and only then war. I was also expecting it to end with the whole Trozen horse story. What it actually turned out to be was a few macho guys fighting over some Greek blonde.

There are a lot of characters just there to die or kill and the fact that characters are often refered as son-of-this, son-of-that leads to confusion. Moreover, Achilles is such a cry baby – ‘Mamma, Agamemnon stole my girl’, ‘Mamma, Agamemnon insulted me’, “Mamma, I won’t fight’, “Mamma,. Hector killed my friend’, ‘Mamma, I’ll fight’, ‘Mamma, I drown!’ and so.

Gods and poetry

What made it work for me was the poetry in it. By making the divine interference the rule of the day; Homer ~~Simpson~~ makes a very clever use of gods, using their names to stand for forces they own – God of war constantly changing sides, sea calamities being wrath of Neptune, heavy rains or storms being wrath of Zeus, warriors felling prey to Apollo’s arrows and so on.

My favorite is the conversation between Venus and Helen. Helen reproaches Venus for deceiving her by coming to her as a servant:

Then is it still thy pleasure to deceive?
And woman's frailty always to believe!

Look at the other meaning in the reproach. She is remarking on the way beauty would decieive a woman in belieiving she is there to stay. Venus reply is equally poetical:

Should Venus leave thee, every charm must fly,
Fade from thy cheek, and languish in thy eye.
Cease to provoke me, lest I make thee more
The world's aversion, than their love before;
Now the bright prize for which mankind engage,
Than, the sad victim, of the public rage.

Also he is incredible in his portrayal of gods. Forget the little cat fight between goddesses; just look at how he gave Zeus that godfather like coolness of a powerful figure by talking about power of a simple nod from him:

He spoke, and awful bends his sable brows,
Shakes his ambrosial curls, and gives the nod,
The stamp of fate and sanction of the god:
High heaven with trembling the dread signal took,
And all Olympus to the centre shook.

Hero-worship, not so much

‘And for the king's offence the people died.’

It is kind of difficult to know what Homer really thinks of war. While he is constantly talking about achievements of warriors and who-killed-whoms (which got boring for a while when Zeus made that no-divine-interference law); he seems at same time showing the stupidity of whole thing. May be, he didn’t do so more directly as it might have meant reproaching ways of his own society:

“For I must speak what wisdom would conceal,
And truths, invidious to the great, reveal,
Bold is the task, when subjects, grown too wise,
Instruct a monarch where his error lies;
For though we deem the short-lived fury past,
'Tis sure the mighty will revenge at last."

A pacifist might not have been favorite of people even in Homer’s own time. So he probably had to mask his arguments.

None of the heroes are without defects while heroes of opposite side – especially Hector are presented in as good light as his own if not better; which is not the kind of treatment expected from a hero-worshiping bard. We have talked about Achilles’ who looks like a spoiled child of god rather than anything else; both Hector and Ulysses are shown to be fleeing from battle grounds at least once.

Achillies ‘ choices to quit and return to the war are both taken under anger rather than thoughtfully. He even forgot the oath he had given to Helen’s father when he decided to quit.

Also, Homer would remind you that physicial strength is not the only virtue that a man possess. Virtues like physical strength, ancestory etc. which bring honor to individual; are repeatedly shown to be matters of fate rather than merit.

When Achilles quit the war for a while, he made quite a few good arguments as why one shouldn’t fight (reminds you of Arjuna at beginning of Bhagwad Gita). In fact, his choice from among destinies offered to him – a long prosperous life or glorious death of a hero; forms the key theme of book. I personally don’t think he chose smartly.

Also it is ended when characters are mourning for Hector. Her wife’s laments are the most moving words throughout the epic:

“The day, that to the shades the father sends,
Robs the sad orphan of his father's friends:
He, wretched outcast of mankind! appears
For ever sad, forever bathed in tears;
Amongst the happy, unregarded, he
Hangs on the robe, or trembles at the knee,
While those his father's former bounty fed
Nor reach the goblet, nor divide the bread:
The kindest but his present wants allay,
To leave him wretched the succeeding day.
Frugal compassion! Heedless, they who boast
Both parents still, nor feel what he has lost,

May the lucky one win

Anyway one point that Homer makes clear beyond any doubt is that victory has nothing to do with such silly things like bravery, courage etc. It is all about fate and (divine) connections. The ultimate fight between Hector and Achilles (who could have already been dead – a couple of times, was it not for gods) is a mere formality; gods won’t let anything to happen to Achilles, it could only end in one way.

'Tis man's to fight, but heaven's to give success

Hector is in fact the one who comes as true hero - presented in best light, choosing to fight even when he knows that he stands no chance (despite making a number of other blunders). The third mourner over his dead body was Helen, whom his brother had kidnapped. He had reproached Paris for his stupidity in kidnapping Helen and for cowardice he showed in duel against Menelaus; but never reproached Helen for their miseries – which is very opposite to what other Trozens (except the king and Paris) did. His reputation is purely based on merit and it is so good that even gods who were teamed in killing him wouldn’t let his dead body be insulted.

“Prayers are Jove's daughters, of celestial race,
Lame are their feet, and wrinkled is their face;
With humble mien, and with dejected eyes,
Constant they follow, where injustice flies.
Injustice swift, erect, and unconfined,
Sweeps the wide earth, and tramples o'er mankind,
While Prayers, to heal her wrongs, move slow behind.
Who hears these daughters of almighty Jove,
For him they mediate to the throne above
When man rejects the humble suit they make,
The sire revenges for the daughters' sake;
From Jove commission'd, fierce injustice then
Descends to punish unrelenting men.”