Warfare In The Illiad

Warfare

Warfare is either acceptable or non-acceptable to people. It can be portrayed as glory for a civilization or as unnecessary violence. Homer, the author of the story Iliad, celebrates warfare and the values of the warrior. Homer emphasizes warfare and the values of warriors through emotions and fate. What a warrior can win in combat defines his worth to the group. By demonstrating his skills over other men, the warrior gives himself value and purpose. It also gives self- confidence that his life has a meaning. His value to his peers and his sense of himself are based on his ability to carry out the actions required in warfare, such as: god-given physical attributes, the number of soldiers he leads, his past successes, his family's reputation, the quantity and quality of his weapons, and knowledge

Almost all the warriors, even the ones not important, are introduced to the reader before they die. Each of them has a name and family identity. The knowledge of the warriors create an dark emotion for readers when they are killed. These warriors are doing what they have always been doing and what they will continue to do. There has been no clear beginning to all this, and there will be no clear end. What has just been destroyed is a specific part of a human family and community.

Some of the warriors express a wish for a world without warfare or a different arrangement where they do not have to kill others and risk the chance of dying. But there is no altering the given conditions of the world. Since the world they live in is contained with conflicts they have no choice but to face their destiny which is to fight.

War also prompts human beings to live up to their most glorious potential, to manifest some of the highest virtues of human experience. The stress of combat challenges a man to stand up courageously in the face of danger. Homer's warfare creates in men a powerful attitude,