CLA160H1 Study Guide - Final Guide: Iliad, Calchas, Impermanence
Document Summary
Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work. One can make a strong argument that the iliad seems to celebrate war. Characters emerge as worthy or despicable based on their degree of competence and bravery in battle. Paris, for example, doesn"t like to fight, and correspondingly receives the scorn of both his family and his lover. Achilles, on the other hand, wins eternal glory by explicitly rejecting the option of a long, comfortable, uneventful life at home. The text itself seems to support this means of judging character and extends it even to the gods. The epic holds up warlike deities such as athena for the reader"s admiration while it makes fun of gods who run from aggression, using the timidity of aphrodite and artemis to create a scene of comic relief. To fight is to prove one"s honor and integrity, while to avoid warfare is to demonstrate laziness, ignoble fear, or misaligned priorities.
