Iliad

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the effect of Paris’ action of retreating by mentioning its opposite. Homer further reviles Paris by calling him, ironically, “magnificent” and “brave,” thereby heightening the indignity of his cowardly retreat.
Another contrast in Paris’ character is represented in his beauty. He is known as one of the most handsome men in Troy, but looks can be deceiving, as Hector implies when he says, “Paris, appalling Paris! Our prince of beauty--/mad for women, you lure them all to ruin!” In this quote, Hector is highlighting Paris’ ability to ruin virtually everyone’s future. After all, Hector’s comment suggests, he is not only an unrepentant heartbreaker, but also a self-centered catalyst for the war. Hector specifically describes Paris as “appalling” and, in another ironic twist, juxtaposes this idea with Paris’s unofficial title as the reigning “prince of beauty.” This contradiction allows these apparently unlike ideas to be embodied in one person—the complicated Paris. On the ...

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