The Iliad Discussion Questions

The Iliad Discussion Questions/ 10H World Lit. / J.Fishbein

Book 1 (textbook) The Quarrel—Agamemnon vs. Achilles—Booty Calls. 1. Who is more in the right? Agamemnon or Achilles? Why? 2. How does Agamemnon exhibit hubris? 3. Who do the people and the gods seem to side with? 4. Does Achilles make the right decision to leave the Greek army? Explain. 5. What do you make of the fact that Achilles cries to his mommy to intervene with the gods to side against Greece?

Book 6 (handout) HECTOR = the 5th greatest hero in the Trojan War. The greatest of the Trojans. (Achilles, Ajax, Diomedes, Odysseus (tactician/diplomat/wily)…) 1. How does Agamemnon exhibit excessive cruelty in battle? 2. What is significant about the exchange of armor between Glaucus and Diomedes? 3. Who is more brave Hector or Paris? Explain. 4. Why does Hector rebuke Paris? 5. Why isn’t Paris entering the war? 6. What is Helen’s role in this scene? Does she want Paris to fight? Does Homer assign blame to Helen or does he portray her sympathetically? Explain. 7. Why is Hector stopping home before re-entering the battle? (2 reasons) 8. What internal conflict does Hector face? 9. Where do we see that Hector willingly accepts his fate (Amor Fati)—the fate that Troy will lose ? 10. Why is Hector willing to fight even though he knows he will probably die in battle? (2 reasons) 11. Why doesn’t Andromache want Hector to go back to the war? (2 reasons) a) What happened to her parents? b) How did Achilles exhibit noble behavior during the incident? c)What will happen to her and Astyanax if Hector is killed? 12. Why does Astyanax cry when he sees his father with his helmet on? 13. Andromache’s plea to Hector to remain with her and their child is one of the most poignant in all of literature. What would you have done in Hector’s place? Would you have stayed with her or would you have gone to battle? Explain. 14. How does Homer display a brilliant sense of objectivity in Book 6? What do you think of his portrayal of “the enemy”?

Book 9 (handout) The Embassy to Achilles. The Achillean Choice—live a long life of obscurity vs. a short life of fame and honor

1. How do the Greeks try to convince Achilles to rejoin the war? Cite 4-5 answers. 2. Why does Achilles spurn the gifts/ reject the offer? 3. What is Phoinix’s (a.k.a. Phoenix) relationship to Achilles? 4. Why did Phoinix have to leave home? What transpired between him and his father? 5. Why is Phoinix grateful to Achilles’s father, Peleus? 6. What is Phoinix’s advice to Achilles? 7. What is Achilles’s response to Phoinix? 8. How does Aias (a.k.a. Ajax) view Achilles? 9. What is Diomedes’ advice? 10. What 2 destinies must Achilles choose between? Which would you choose and why? 11. Is Achilles’s decision (not to re-join) right or wrong? What would you do? Why? The Iliad Discussion Questions continued p.2

Book 18 (handout) Achilles’s Shield

1. Why does Achilles decide to re-join the battle? 2. Why is Achilles so upset by Patroclus’s death? (More than one reason) 3. How do the Trojans treat the body? Why is this such a big deal? 4. How do the Greeks get the body back? 5. Who is now wearing Achilles’s armor? 6. Who will make a new shield and armor for Achilles? 7. What is Polydamas’s advice? 8. How does Hector respond? 9. Whose suggestions seem more valid? Why? 10. Predict what will happen next.

Book 22(textbook) The Death of Hector

1. Hector: How has he exhibited excessive, foolish pride? Does he realize his mistake? Why does he insist on fighting? 2. How do Priam and Hecuba react to Hector’s decision to fight? Lines 44+ 3. Does Hector make the right decision here? Explain. Lines 120+ 4. How do this books portray the horrors of war? (minimum 3 examples) 5. Do you think Hector is a coward for running away from Achilles? Explain. 6. How does Athena deceive Hector? Why is Zeus unable to save Hector? 7. What is your opinion of Achilles’s refusal (and the manner in which he refuses) to grant Hector’s dying request? What does his behavior reveal? 8. Who is fated to one day avenge Hector’s death? 9. What is your opinion of the way Hector’s body is treated? How is it like a rape / gang-bang? What does it reveal? How would the Greeks have viewed this treatment? 10. What bold decision does Priam make? Why? 11. What fate lies in store for Andromache and Astyanax?

Book 24 (textbook) Priam and Achilles

1. How does Priam get Achilles to relent? (Hint: has something to do with EMPATHY) 2. Where do we see that Achilles experiences an internal conflict over his decision? Can we consider him to be a dynamic character? What new aspects of his character are revealed? 3. Why is the story of Niobe interjected at this point? 4. How does Achilles ultimately display nobility of character? How is he even more noble than Agamemnon? 5. What is so ironic about the fact that Briseis lies next to Achilles at the end? 6. Why does Helen weep for Hector? 7. Some critics of the Iliad assert that the central theme of this work is the idea that people must exercise generosity with one another—that if people behaved with reason, they might be able to live together in peace and harmony. Which portions of the epic support this theme? (Cite at least 3-4) Do you agree that it is the central theme of the work? Why or why not? 8. Compare and/or contrast Achilles to Hector:

Point of comparison: Achilles Hector