A Comparison of Hector and Achilles

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A Comparison of Hector and Achilles
For the Greeks, pinnacle of human virtue was describing the word arete. This essentially means
an individual who has excelled and achieved the peak of human potential. In a modern sense, it is what
the creators of the Marine recruiting commercial described as "being all that you can be." One part of
this is what we would call heroics. While Achilles and Hector are both considered great men and great
warriors, they are different in a number of ways. Both are seen as heroes by their respective peoples,
but their motivations for fighting are completely different. While Hector fights for family honor and his
homeland, Achilles fights for himself and his own glorification in battle. Even in the area of death in
battle, the two men have very different attitudes toward their own mortality. When Hector leaves for
battle, the warrior in him is overshadowed by his feelings for his family. He is reluctant to leave his
child and his wife, but realizes he is fated to be a warrior and a face Achilles. Achilles, on the other
hand, is eager for battle and the glory and honor he derives from it. For the most part, other
considerations mean nothing to him.
You only have to look at book 221 of the Iliad to see significant differences in the behavior of
Hector and Achilles. For instance, when the Greeks approach and all the other warriors retreat inside
the walls of Troy, Hector chooses to remain outside the walls. Even when Hector's father, Priam, sees
the Greeks advancing and insist that his son come back inside the walls, Hector refuses. Hector's pride
and sense of duty plan major role in preventing him from retreating from a direct confrontation with
Achilles and the other Greeks. Hector's initial determination to face is fated death and destiny is quite
heroic and in keeping with the Greek concept of arete. However, he also later commits the very human
and somewhat ordinary act of fleeing from Achilles, which is not what one would expect from a hero,
either then or now. These two incidents reveal a psychological internal battle between the desire to do
the right thing and natural human fear and instinctive behavior that drive one to run away from danger.
1

Homer, Robert Fagles, and Bernard Knox. The Iliad. New York, NY, U.S.A.: Viking, 1990. Print.

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In this incident, these two heroes respond differently in their confrontation. While Hector decides
to yield to his human instincts and runs away from Achilles, Achilles instantly chases him and yearns
for battle. From a Greek perspective, this is definitely not living up to the ideal of arete. Only the fact
that Athena appears in disguise and pretends to be Hector's close friend convinces Hector to stop his
flight from Achilles and turned to fight. Unfortunately for him, Athena almost immediately disappears
as Achilles arrives. This scene wonderfully illustrates the dichotomy of the hero, with his human side
and heroic sense of duty in conflict.
Within Achilles first came to the war, he did so for several reasons. He wanted to enjoy the glory of
battle, to assist the leader of the expedition (Agamemnon) and to gain rewards, such as captured slaves
and wealth. All of this was perfectly acceptable in the Greek conception of heroics. However, after
Achilles friend was killed in his place, Achilles motivations changed from those above two a desire for
vengeance. Thus, in Achilles, we have a heroic character who has been driven mad with desire for
revenge. As a consequence, when he does finally catch up to Hector and kill him in book 22, he does so
with unrelenting and unnecessary cruelty and enthusiasm.2 Even with Hector's death, Achilles thirst for
revenge is not satisfied. For this reason, Hector ties Achilles body to his chariot and drags it up and
down the beach in order to mutilate the corpse. Only the intervention of the gods prevents any damage
from being done to the body. In doing this, Achilles demonstrates that he is willing to go to the ultimate
limit and fully fulfill his destiny, which is in keeping with the idea behind arete. Otherwise, his
behavior is very far from what the modern idea of what you should expect from a hero, which is
generous and decent behavior toward a fallen foe. The Greek view of heroics was very different from
our own modern conception. Greeks placed a great deal of emphasis on the importance of revenge and
settling old scores.
Achilles initially shows himself to be entirely unconcerned about the feelings of the Trojans who
2

Homer, Robert Fagles, and Bernard Knox. The Iliad. New York, NY, U.S.A.: Viking, 1990. Print.

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have watched the battle and Achilles treatment of Hector. On the contrary, the fact that he has done
these things in full view of them makes it clear he wants them to Hector's body being desecrated. Of
course, it is perhaps also important to point out that warriors or soldiers would been involved in battle
campaigns for year after year can become so traumatized by it that they can lose touch with their own
sense of humanity and empathy. Atrocities in war are hardly unique to ancient times. Even today,
soldiers might wipe out an entire village of civilians simply to punish them for their supposedly wrong
doings.
Interestingly, through the intervention of the gods again Achilles ultimately decides to show
compassion toward Hector's aging father and yield the body to him for honorable burial. He does this
after Priam actually visits him in his tent and pleads for his son's body. Here we have a suggestion of
another aspect of Greek society, which is honoring the guest. Greeks strongly believed that hosts were
forbidden to mistreat their guests, which would've also been a factor in Achilles thinking in treating the
old man kindly and turning over the body.
In conclusion, we can see that heroics can mean different things to different people. In a modern
light, Hector can be seen as very heroic (if flawed). On the other hand, this same perspective makes
Achilles looked like a absolute barbarian at times and hardly the epitome of the selfless and
compassionate modern hero. However, when looked at from the perspective of Greek culture and
Greek literature, both characters take on a very different meaning. Hector, with his desire for family
and safety often overwhelming his sense of duty and vengeance, would probably have seemed very
weak and non-heroic to the Greeks who originally heard the stories. Achilles, with all the
characteristics that we find so repugnant today, would have been seen by them as virtually the ideal
hero.

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Bibliography
Homer, Robert Fagles, and Bernard Knox. The Iliad. New York, NY, U.S.A.: Viking, 1990. Print.