HUMAN 1A Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Kleos, Thersites, Odysseus
Document Summary
Thersites (worst of the achilles) is the name of all the unnamed soldiers. Present by his words+body the problems of the culture. Achilles" superiority to other men has made him holy and projects his shame to others. Does not make him the right man to order men. Pauses - cut/break of the flow of the poem. A challenge that affects the best of the best. Kleos: glory, fame in death, immortality: kleos aphthiton. The culture at risk creates a new value at its highest and first (friends, family, love) Achilles tells us he loves bryseis and wants to go home rather than go fight. Bryseis is a prize he has won and let agamemnon have her. He cannot put any other value than riches. The culture that achilles" fight to preserve made him a hero. Kleos is granted to the dead in compensation to the fact they put their lives in a risk, but surrender their lives.
