Throughout the course of the work, Homer’s Iliad objectifies such attributes of humanity as death, and the intrinsic aspiration for greatness, often portraying them as both malleable and multifaceted. Homer deliberately personifies force, perpetuating an acute opposition from humanity, while emphasizing the extent to which humanity is capable of invoking, controlling, and being controlled by force. Furthermore, it is force that affords the epic a standardizing, overly-subordinate feel, as neither god nor man demonstrates the ability to overpower every force mentioned throughout the course of the work.
Weil’s The Iliad is well decorated with few very powerful and strong words; it consists of a very firm discussion on ‘force’, a word which is mostly used to explain the science of creating a necessity for an action however here the interpretation is more from the psychological point of view. She presents a very detailed discussion about the force as a centrifugal force of driving life of a human and she says that “The true hero, the true subject matter, the center of the Illiad is force.”
Homer’s poem presents force as a quantifiable subject and primarily a reason for the creation of history that human beings are fond of, and most of the great events that take place through the course of time are primarily driven by the ‘force’. The poem holds the mirror of reflection close to the imagination of the Borges story and we get an idea of true Iliad, which is more of an ideal reflection of today in the past. The poem talks about uniqueness of the Iliad, and claims it to be bitter and tender at the same time while commenting on the fact that it surrounds everyone from the human race like the light of the sun surrounds it. With these words that are present, it is clear that there is a strong focus on creating the force in the conversation with the reader and it is well understood that on one hand where ‘Iliad’ is brutal, it is also true and universally present.
Another important discussion in the poem is about “The tempered use of force”, which is primarily stating that it is difficult for the human race to be away from the adverse side of machine based attempts to tamper our own race. There are various efforts which are against the human virtue and cannot be considered as right due to the magnificent indifference between those who use the force against the week rather than the ones use it against the ones who are strong.
Although, the primary purpose of the essay is to provide a forceful, tender however brute side of the world however the moderation in our thinking is able to penetrate the various aspects of emotions attached to the battlefield. Homer presents a systematic view of the shifts of Fortune that take place and move ahead from stony to confused and then finally with impounded thinking. There is a situation of hope and terror which creates and enhances the differences to such a level that the possibility of finding new relations through the course of time fades. On the other hand there are various moments that provide a silver lining even through the ‘dark clouds of violence’, and despite all uneven surroundings; what exists is only the love for one's own family and comrades which results into an existence of chasm.
Force can drag a human to something which is unimaginable and may be able to get the gaps between ourselves and our enemy to perish so that the ultimate violence can be stopped and inconsolable loss can be saved. It is the force that has driven the bloodshed that took place whether for Helen or Troy however the violence was the result of love for one's comrades and hatred for enemies. The escape trajectory has been effectively produced and adopted in the essay where ‘Iliad’, is represented with the thoughts including hope and sorrow.
The poem has given a very important weightage to the understanding of tragedy and mourns and probably has associated this with the Greek culture and its association with force and implementation of the same to the human society. There is a strong discussion related to the part played by education in the war and violence, and maybe it is not directly associated during the course of this essay however it still is imagined to be very closely associated and is represented in the lines “For those wise enough to discern the force at the center of all human history, today as in the past”.
Homer talks about the grossest form of force; it is the aspect which trains a human to kill and primarily turns a man into a stone. The poem utilizes the fact that in order to turn a human into a thing it is important to kill. But force is something which can turn the human being into a thing while he's alive, it is just that the body will remain but the soul will be killed. Although, another aspect to it is that there is no element of nature which is not experienced violence however it depends upon the moment that how much of it resides or accommodates itself into a human by ‘Force’. “For those wise enough to discern the force at the center of all human history, today as in the past”.
Works Cited
Butler, Samuel. HOMER: The Iliad. New Jersey: Orange Street Press, 1998.
Lombardo, Stanley. Iliad. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 1997.
Moffett, Chris. Iliad. 31 March 2010. 26 September 2012
