Compare and Contrast
The heros of the Poetic Epics of ancient times encompass in some cases for generations to come the particular societys ideals and morals. From the vain to the valiant the epic hero was in constant contact with the gods of their world adding to their somewhat immortality, strength of character, and in some cases their arrogant nature. Both Aeneas and Achilles are such heros in that they had the favor and the vengeance of the gods over their heads and through this essay I will compare and contrast both the method and nature of these heros.
Aeneas of the epic Aeneid was not only comfortable with his godly lineage but resigned himself to using it as an excuse for the gods to mold and guide him through the totality of his quest. Aeneas is bread of the Trojan war of mythic times. Fleeing Troy with what people he could gather and what remembrance of Troy there was as the city burned. Though this refers greatly to Homers Iliad and Odyssey at least from the fate of Troys standpoint the methods of Aeneass escape and the loss of his wife in the horrors show a darker side to the Grecian victory.
The burning of Troy is the beginning and basis of Aeneass quest. With no place to call home Aeneas and his followers and moved by the gods to find the future sight of Rome where they will make their home before the arrival of the roman founder Romulus. Aeneas though not as courageous as other heros or as arrogant showed honor in many of his actions throughout his journeys beginning that he recounts to Dido when they reached Carthage. Carrying his father on his back to the rendezvous sight in Troy, running back into the city for his lost wife who he only encountered as a ghost, and the rescue of the Greek Achaemenids from the island of the Cyclops where he was left behind. It is through these actions that some of Aeneass character is built.
Though he is at times a puppet of the gods following their will even against his own, his own honor is his defining characteristic. Aeneas also being a great warrior shows his prowess in the second half of the epic with his battles against the Latins with the assistance of the Etruscans. The end of the war again shows Aeneass nature when he refuses to take any sort of kingdom and only wishes to finish his quest and give his people a home to start their lives again which will also be the beginning of Rome.
Achilles also being half god used his talents and divine blood for the fury of battle and through the Iliad he is seen as not only a proud and great warrior but also a arrogant murderer who lets his pride have not only his own soul in times but the lives of several of his allies.
Achilles known as the greatest warrior of Greek war effort has only one journey to make which is a more spiritual quest then that of Aeneas. His pride and anger against Agamemnon which caused his refusal to battle in the name of the Greeks cause the deaths of thousands which only added to the fury of his ideals and the strength of his resolve to abandon the Greek cause and pray for the annihilation of the Greek forces at the hands of the Trojans. It is with the death of Patroklos that the heart of Achilles turns from rage to grief and his decision which seals his fate his made and his is destined to go into the battle to avenge Patrokloss death along with his own demons for abandoning his friends and allies.
Achilles ferocity is inflicted on Hector who falls in battle but without being sated Achilles anger drives him to attaching Hector to his chariot and driving around the burial mound of his lost companion. Through all of these actions the character and bloodlust of Achilles becomes apparent. Through his lack of honor he has lost that what he valued most and would in the end lose his life. Through his journey he had turned from a solider into a murderer and the redemption of his soul seemed impossible. In the end of the Iliad which was far from the end of Achilles but the end of his journey the king of Troy Priam overwhelmed with grief over not only the death of his son but the treatment of his body after death goes to Achilles which he knows could mean death by the warriors hands to beg for the body of his son so he could be laid to rest. It is in this that Achilles heart softens which drives him to allow Priam to take the body of Hector. In this the end of his journey Achilles has come full circle emotionally and philosophically but has destined his fate to death and now must accept and embrace that fate.
Achilles and Aeneas though both half god are in many ways polar opposites. Aeneas fights and leads not for himself but for his people and for the will of the gods that lead him. Throughout his journey he is accosted with the wraith of the gods but does not falter in his ideals even when he is told to leave Dido and resume his journey when he could have had a pleasant life in Carthage. Achilles who is given the choice several times through the Iliad to recall his troops and leave Troy in order to have a life of love in his home refuses the choice not on a moral stand point but on the lack of glory of such a life and the fact that leaving would forever forfeit his name in history. The two heroes are similar on in their resolve though not by the means. Achilles resolve was to be remembered for all time and to strike the vengeance in his heart not only on the Trojan people and Hector but on himself. Through this his mother Thetis tried to dissuade him telling him of his fate if he stayed in Troy but it was unwavering.
The two warriors though different in every way achieved their goals in the end of both of their epics. Aeneas found his home for his people and was able to give them the chance to thrive after the destruction of Troy. While Achilles souls journey achieved its place in the end as he realized that all that happened the deaths of Patroklos and his other allies had been on his head. Also through this he was pained by the memory of his father and what his father would think of the man he had become. Though this realization was mostly on Priams prompting it was a strong example of the heart of Achilles.
Though the Aenid and the Iliad share many common themes their heroes are anything but common in that their divine bloodlines drove them to pathes outside the understand or desire of mortal man and that the effect of the gods on them both pointed them and moved them in the direction of their own fates be they good or bad.
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