Hektor Is A Greater Hero Than

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VI, ll. 26). The “better man” to whom she refers is Hektor. Hektor also receives praised at his burial ceremony when the women of Troy speak in his honor. Here, his wife, Andromache, says, “There were so many Achaians/whose teeth bit the vast earth, beaten down by the hands of/Hektor”(book XXIV ll. 286-289). Andromache makes it very clear that Hektor fought bravely and dominated the Greek forces. Even the gods concede Hektor’s greatness in their speeches. In book XVIII, Thetis warns Achilleus that Hektor has great strength and that Achilleus should not go to fight him without divine armor. Homer’s description of Hektor’s power and strength lays a solid foundation for proving that Hektor’s heroism exceeds that of Achilleus because he is the greatest of the Trojans. Priam does not fight due to his age and Paris does not help the Trojan forces, so Hektor burdens the entire weight of the war on his own shoulders. He gives his help ...

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to the ancient Greeks, living and dying with honor was of prime importance to one’s heroic status. The Iliad discusses Hektor’s honorable life and death twice. In Hektor’s conversation with Andromache, Andromache says she wants him to stop fighting because he is fated to die. Hektor replies, “I would feel deep shame/before the Trojans, and the Trojan women with trailing garments,/if like a coward I were to shrink aside from the fighting”(book VI ll. 117-119). Hektor clearly would rather accept his fate and die than be dishonored and not fight. The mindset of Hektor in book XXII when he is at the Skian Gates and debating whether to retreat into the city ...

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