Scholars

• P. Jones


  Heroes in 'The Iliad' are individualistic and behave as great individualistic heroes should
• P. Jones


  Living in the public spotlight, driven by the fear of failure and shame in the eyes of others, they kill/are killed in the search of 'kleos' which will live on after their deaths
• M. Silk


  Achilles is an uncomfortable and even destructive presence in the heroic world
• R. Sowerby


  The only good thing about Achilles' character is the fact that he excels others in the expertise and practice of fighting
• E. Barker and J. Christensen

  The most important theme of 'The Iliad' is Achilles' growing recognition of his morality
• R. Blondell


  Helen is objectified by the men in 'The Iliad' which helps keep their struggle a heroic one
• R. Blondell


  Helen's characteristic self-blame is an exercise of power in that it wins her sympathy and protection, therefore challenging the idea that she is objectified by the men in the 'The Iliad' to keep them heroic
• M. Clarke


  The driving force behind manhood is the need for praise and admiration which enables soldiers to face death with composure, and to see that their death in war isn't necessarily worse than disgrace
• P. Jones


  There is tension between the hero's natural desire for the 'kleos' and 'time' to be gained by winning, and his obligations to cooperate with others and ensure that their honor isn't compromised by his search for his own
• W. Allan


  Homer celebrates battlefield skill even as it foregrounds the miseries and losses of war, presenting the complexity of it
• B. Graziosi


  Homer makes us painfully aware that every death is the loss of a specific, named soldier about whom there would be more to know, as well as giving extra detail to create pathos
• E. T. Owen


  Paris and his guilt symbolise the certainty of Troy's fall and shadow the coming doom, while Hector contrastingly embodies the tragedy of this and is a pure patriot fighting to save his city, not to defend Paris' guilt
• M. W. Edwards


  Homer sees warfare as a necessity in human affairs to play out the struggle for honour even if it means death, but it's an evil the gods have decreed for mankind and not an opportunity for heroism
• M. Clarke


  The men in 'The Iliad' have the bleak prospect of Hades, no heaven and no reward in the afterlife
• S. Farron


  Homer emphasises how intense male character's emotions and sentiments are but also their little regard for them, therefore the audience sees their desperate helplessness and inability to determine the course of events, including their own lives. In this sense they are tragic figures
• S. Weil


  Force/power is an illusion which its victims are destroyed by, and even those who think they are powerful are being used
• J. T. Roberts


  Agamemnon shows childish, anxiety-ridden behaviour throughout his quarrel with Achilles
• A. Nicholson


  There is something sickening about the gifts Agamemnon offers Achilles in that they miss the point, as Achilles had previously called him greedy and materialistic. He knows Odysseus is there to lie to him
• D. Wilson


  Agamemnon's gifts to Achilles are part of a strategy of domination in a social system in which rank isn't fixed and is under constant negotiation. They are like a "gift attack"
• D. Wilson


  Book 9demonstrates Achilles as a spiritual man in a material world
• W. Leaf


  Inbook 9, Achilles wished not for satisfaction for his wounded honor, because that had been offered to him in the form of Agamemnon's gifts, but for simple unreasoning vengeance
• M. W. Edwards


  Nestor is prolix (tediously lengthy,) because he gives only good and important advice which demands our attention
• H. Roisman


  Throughout 'The Iliad,' Nestor's advice proves either ineffective or seriously flawed yet he is always praised by Homer and/or gains respect from Agamemnon and other characters
• R. C. Hawley


  The gods are often used for comedy, for example Hephaestus inbook 1who can take humiliation because he's immortal/untouchable, but Achilles inbook 1can't
• J. Griffins


  The formulae of repeated scenes and motifs are not building blocks but rather additions to the literary qualities of the epic
• S. Schein


  Through parallels, contrasts and juxtapositions of characters and actions, a dramatic structure is created which forces us to critically consider the traditional heroic world depicted in the poem and the contradictions it has
• P. Jones


  Epithets remind us of lasting attributes/characteristics of the objects/people described and also raise questions (e.g. why is Achilles "swift-footed" when he spends his time sat in his hut?)
• M. W. Edwards


  There are parallels between the scenes Homer creates and the techniques of modern film making
• M. Silk


  Generally, Homer's characters seem to show no capacity for development, which is their most alien feature
• M. W. Edwards


  Achilles is torn between concern for the fighting Greeks, sympathy for Patroclus, longing to return to battle, the desire to restore his honour, the need to stand by his own words and above all, the fear for the safety of Patroclus
• P. Jones


  The central subject of 'The Iliad' is Achilles' heroic behavior and its consequences, including the issues of self-control, power, authority and compromise from which comes the oppressive, complex, extreme and magnificent figure of Achilles
• P. Jones


  It's not Patroclus' fighting ability that will be his undoing, but rather his desire to go too far and refusal to control himself that will kill him
• E. T. Owen


  Homer builds up the description of the circumstances of Patroclus' death, motivating the fury and grief of Achilles. We can sympathise better with these immense feelings because we too have resented the manner of Patroclus' death
• E. T. Owen


  Homer has built up Sarpedon for the purpose of giving glory to Patroclus
• E. T. Owen


  Patroclus' dying prophecy of Hector's death inbook 16foreshadows the similar scene inbook 22when Hector does the same for Achilles. The repetition of this effect shows Homer's confidence in his ability to control and direct the sympathy of his listeners and deliberately takes away from Hector the glory that was naturally his as it took two men and a god to overpower and kill him, but Patroclus has all our sympathy here because we all have a desire to see him avenged
• S. Schein


  The main difference between the two heroes is that Hector is presented as typically social and human, while Achilles is inhumanly isolated and demonic in his greatness
• W. Allan


  The Greek's distinguishable military reminds us that to fully understand 'The Iliad,' we must balance the suffering caused by war against the glory that comes from success in it
• N. Felson and L. Slatkin

  Only after Patroclus' death do the Greeks re-constitute themselves as fighting allies
• P. Jones


  Men who need the gods most are strong and heroic, and gods only support winners. A man is a hero because a god supports him
• P. Jones


  Homer is capable of showing people making up their own minds without divine intervention