Iliad Books 5-9 (March 4)

• Reading the Iliad
  • Remember that it is poetry: In each part of the story, ask what the poet is trying to accomplish with the images, similes, speeches, and descriptions. Especially, how is perspective on the action created?
  • Today's lecture will be a series of exercises in practicing this kind of reading.
• Diomedes: Book 5, pp. 351-353
  • The simile of lines 6-18: Why is the image appropriate to what it describes in the action? Consider specifically what details in the simile correspond to what details in the action.
  • How do the gods fit into this simile? Into the action? How can we see the role of the gods here?
  • Does the second simile (p. 353) fit into the interpretation you gave for the first simile? How?
• Hector and Andromache: Book 6. What is Hector's view of the future and of the world?
  • his (apparent/initial) knowledge that Troy will fall, that Andromache will be enslaved
  • Hector's baby: his two names (Skamandrios, named after the river Skamander, as Simoeisios was named after Troy's other famous river; Astyanax, "Lord of the City"); his fear; a source of laughter and tears
  • Hector's attachment to the values he was taught (p. 355) and his prayer for his son to follow the same values (p. 356)
  • A blend of laughter and tears (p. 356)
  • A balancing scene: Hector and Paris (pp. 356f.). Paris as the cantering horse who laughs and sprints up to where Hector is still standing after the difficult conversation with his wife. Note that, talking war with Paris (p. 357), Hector now seems to believe in some possibilities for the future.
• Achilles: Book 9.
  • Achilles' bitterness (p. 166: "portion's equal," "I've seen blood...")
  • At this point, Achilles considers life more attractive than fighting for the riches of Troy (p. 386; cf. the two destinies, p. 369).
  • Achilles eventual glory as therefore almost involuntary: only the death of Patroklos provokes him to it. And only pity for the dying Greeks leads him to send Patroklos to fight in the first place.
• The Many Sides of Achilles' Bitterness: A look ahead at the overall shape of the Iliad. Achilles is quite articulate in expressing three distinct attitudes towards participating in the war:
  • Book 9: bitter rejection of war as pointless killing vs. peaceful life at home
  • Book 21: Achilles' implacable thirst for revenge: life is now pointless, and war can be embraced with a perverse enthusiasm based on this bleak view. (For example, see the harsh speeches Achilles makes to Lykaon, pp. 366f.)
  • Book 24: Achilles finds pity even out of the depths of his grief.
• Blade Runner: The replicant Roy Batty as Achilles?
  • Programmed to die in the very near future, Roy wants revenge and wants to toy with his prey, lashing out at the pointlessness and grief of his situation (also, a slain companion). (Cf. Iliad, Book 21.)
  • But Roy eventually experiences pity and even "humanity" in this very situation. (Cf. Iliad, Book 24.)
• Our class meeting for Thursday, March 6, 2003, will be cancelled. Meanwhile, our Homer readings will continue on schedule. Here are a few links to amuse you while I'm out of town:
  • Jonathan Shay, a clinical psychiatrist who treats war veterans at the VA clinic in Boston, has written a book, Achilles in Vietnam, in which he argues that the character of Achilles and the ethical concerns of the Iliad make a lot of sense when considered beside the experiences of modern combat veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
  • On a lighter note, Rob Henderson will help you sing your way through the Odyssey to the tune of your favorite Beatles songs.
  • If that's not silly enough for you, answer the question, What robot are you? This is yet another one of those internet quizzes. But maybe you're curious about whether your profile will match that of Roy Batty, the Achilles figure from Blade Runner whom we met at the end of today's lecture...