Comparison/Contrast Between Achilles And Hector Essay Example

Taking into consideration the literary work Iliad, by Homer, one can analyze two of the main characters, Achilles and Hector, and perform a comparative description between these two personalities.
Achilles is a true leader in this story, having great respect by his peers and being followed by them. He is the one who leads and guides the troops and inflames the hearts of the soldiers into the battles. He also appears as a caring leader, who worries about his troops when they are dying of plague and, to please the god Apollo and cure them, returns what he took to King Agamemnon.
Regarding his character, though, Achilles is a proud and very masculine man, who takes his honor as the thing he most treasures. Thus, when disgraced by King Agamemnon, by taking Briseis away from him, Achilles is enraged with fury and seeks revenge from this shame and from the King, forgetting about his men and their safety, blind with hurt pride and will to prove and reaffirm his value and honor. It takes him into war and, because of it, drags his friend Patroclus to death, by the hands of Hector.
The sympathetic Achilles is also transformed into an outraged, mad with fury one, when he meets Lyacon, brother of Hector, selling him for slavery in the first time he catches him, and losing all sense of reason in the second one, after losing Patroclus, by killing him with no mercy, taking death as the fate for every Trojan, just like it is for himself. Furthermore, is infuriated madness, with no kind of mercy, is shown when he kills Hector and drags the body on the back of his chariot for all Troy to see, and not returning it for burial, so that it would be eaten by dogs and stabbed by the troops when passing.
Being such an inflamed and madly infuriated character, however, Achilles’ kindness stills shows in between this bloody war with the Trojans and within himself because of his certain death. A sign of pity and of sympathy is shown when he orders for the body of Hector to be bathed and anointed, and returns the body to Hector’s father, Priam, for making him realize that his own father, Peleus, will not be able to see him when his time to die comes and that Priam should have this same right.
Hector, on its turn, was an apparent fighter for his family and for the Trojans. Holding the line against the invading troops until the very end, even with no more resources, he courageously leads the troops into a final drive to try to send the Greeks away from the shore. He is, indeed, the true leader of the Trojan troops until the very end.
As a human being, Hector is portrayed in the Iliad as a devoted son, brother, father and husband, who dedicates himself to the family; furthermore, his humanity is highlighted by him admitting his fear to fail his wife and his family. Opposing the infuriated rage of Achilles that is mixed with moments of humanity, Hector has, throughout the whole story, a very human side, of someone who is always worrying about his family and about his own fears.
As a hero, Hector shows courage when facing Achilles alone outside the gates of the city, knowing he has to kill that man to save his family and people, or if failing, be killed by him. His courage is even more brought up, when Hector is outarmed by Achilles, but still fights him, even knowing that he will die and that the gods no longer protect him.
Much like Achilles, there is a side of Hector that is portrayed as being a man that cares for, fights and defends the ones he loves, who is a protective leader of his people and a courageous leader who does not quit, even in the face of certain death. In contrast with Achilles, Hector also seems to seek the ultimate glory of a hero for himself, i.e. making sure the way he is killed is the right one to be marked in history, and according to Greek ways, as a true hero and great warrior. Maybe this can be seen as an attempt of seeking the same glory that is seen in Achilles.
In resume, Hector seems to be man that is divided between two main objectives that keep him torn throughout the story of the Iliad: on one hand his human side remains always present, with all his sensitivity and vulnerability, by caring and worrying about his family and also his people, and by admitting, also throughout the whole story, his own fears about that battle, about his own death, about himself and his character; on the other hand, there is also another side of him that shows his solid care for the way he will die in the arms of his enemy, Achilles, so that it may fit the Greek archetype, or concept, of what makes a hero and a great warrior, who reaches his final glory and a mark in history as such.