Friendship in Homer's The Iliad and The Odyssey

Want to read the rest of this paper? Join Essayworld today to view this entire essay and over 50,000 other term papers

the path to self-knowledge and personal growth. Similarly, it can be argued that both Achilles in The Iliad and Odysseus in The Odyssey were men whose personalities were shaped by a strong sense of values, friendship, and duty to family, friends and society.

To begin with, the very basis of the Trojan War is the betrayal of Menelaus by Paris and Helen. The epic thus starts with an abuse of love, friendship and trust on the one hand, and a war made possible only by familial and social bonds of loyalty, on the other. As Achilles reminds Agamemnon, "I came not warring here for any ill the Trojans had done me. I have no quarrel with them." (The Iliad, 1.157-158) Reflecting on the nature of the familial and social bond in the Iliad, a clear parallel can be drawn to societal functioning right through the history of humanity. To identify the parallel, all that is really required is to consider the immediate rallying around and closing of ranks by family and friends, when any one ...

Get instant access to over 50,000 essays. Write better papers. Get better grades. Already a member? Login

CITE THIS PAGE: