Wednesday

Vocabulary

Pell-mell
Propitiate
Raze
Redoubtable
Restive
Requite
Serrated
Succour
Unsay
Vie
Vouchsafe

THEMES:

What is heroic behavior?  What motivates heroic behavior?
How best should we mortals live our lives especially in the face of imminent death?
What does an individual owe to society?
Is the human condition one of shared suffering?
Is the Iliad an anti-war poem?

Characters to know:

GREEKS

Aias
Diomedes
Menelaus
Agammenon
Achilles
Nestor
Briseis
Chryseis
Patroclos

TROY

Hector
Paris
Idaios
Helen
Priam
Hecaba
Andromache

GODS

Thetis
Aphrodite
Zeus
Poseidon
Apollo
Athena
Hera

SYMBOLS: Helen, Walls, the Burial of the Dead, friendship/respect of enemies on the battlefield

Parallelisms: Paris vs Menelaus - Hector vs Aias (1-on-1 combat); Paris/Helen vs. Hector Andromache; Achillis vs. Briseis vs Agammenon/Chryseis; the Death of Patroclos vs. the Death of Hector.

Achilles movement towards disillusionment and death to reach new clarity about human existence.