Iliad by Homer - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages... On an internal and personal perspective Athena, the goddess of wisdom, is shown in the poem as persuading Achilles to cut Agamemnon with words and insults rather than his sword. The gods which are shown through invocation they play a significant role in the issues of death, life, peace-violence and comic relief. The relationships between the gods and the people’s way of life have some connection in respect to the quarreling between the gods, Zeus and Hera, is more like the as the intense exchange between Agamemnon and Achilles. Apart from the gods were immortal and possessing powers, use of invocations portrays the gods to be more susceptible to human irrationality than the characters in the poem. For example, Zeus promises to help the Trojans because he owes Thetis a favor and not because of it being a moral concern. This is also shown by the god Apollo in his action towards Agamemnon because of an insult to him (Francis 46). The invocations show the importance of the family in fiction. The gods in the Iliad behave like a family. In Iliad, the family quarrels develop a link between the actual world of the audience and the fictional world of the poem. This can be easily understood through Zeus response to Thetis’ request is determined on how his wife will react (Hawkins 17). The gods in the Iliad are shown as familiar to the people as a family but have extraordinary powers and can use them to promote their extreme egotistical desires such as the actions of the god Apollo. They enhance the theme of conflict often resulting in the destruction of human life such as the warriors fighting in the war. The gods in this case view divine favor and divine destruction as arbitrary. Divine intervention is considered important in the issues of human behavior shows how the warriors in the war should respond to the ...Download file to see next pagesRead More