Two of the main characters in Homer's The Iliad, Achilles and Hector, compare very differently in many ways. Although they were both war heroes, they came from different sides of the battle and fought each other under different beliefs. These two brave warriors fought to the death in Book 22, where Hector eventually lost to Achilles. Even though Hector lost the fight, the war still raged on, even less merciful than before. These two warriors were similar in a few ways, but mostly very different.
These two warriors were similar in some ways. The most obvious were that they were both fighting in the same war and that they were both male warriors. They were also very renowned fighters for their troops, and are both very strong. They both had very high confidence in themselves at the beginning of the fight; feeling that they could both beat the other in a fight.
Achilles tending Patroclus wounded by an arrow, id...
English: Triumphant Achilles: Achilles dragging th...
English: Picture 47 of the Ambrosian Iliad, Achill...This opinion changed, however, shortly into the battle, where Hector began to feel less and less confidant as he slowly lost. The reason they fought was for a just cause, they both believed, although their causes were quite different. These two warriors were not too similar, but they were very different.
One of the most obvious reasons that these two men were different was that one was fighting for the Troy, the other for Greece. Hector, the Trojan, not only had different reasons for fighting with Achilles; he was also very different in his personality and personal traits. The reason that Achilles was fighting was to avenge his friend Patroclus' death, who was killed by Hector. Hector was not fighting back to "authorize" the death, but only to defend his and his people's honor. Like this difference, Achilles and Hector also differed in the fact that Achilles was a lot more brutal and cruel than Hector. Achilles had a strong mindset, and could not be "won over." He has no forgiveness for even Hector told him with his this last dying breath: "I see you now for what you are...iron...your heart is." Hector differed from this because he did not seem quite as brutal or violent as Achilles, but he was not a sweet, innocent man, either. Hector was also a brutal killer, for he killed Patroclus.
The two warrior's strengths and weaknesses differ greatly as well. Achilles weaknesses consisted of friendship that blinded him, extreme brutality, and no forgiveness. Although he won the fight, his attitude eventually brought an end to him. If it were not for his strong friendship that he tried to avenge, he would not have came back to the war and ended up dying prematurely. Hector's weaknesses consisted mainly of his mortality, his bravery and his not-so-quick thinking. If he were not so brave, and was smarter, he would not have come out to fight in the first place. He could have stayed behind the palace walls and spared his own life. Achilles had the primary strength of being almost immortal, which basically helped him win the fight. Hector's primary strength was that he was more reasonable than Achilles, although this did not seem to help him in the end. These two opposing warriors were definitely very different.
Overall, the two Iliad warriors were extremely different. Although they were similar in a few ways, the differences much out-weighed the similarities. Even though they were both warriors in the same war, and were both "famous" fighters for their own sides, the similarities pretty much stopped there. They had different beliefs, different strengths and weaknesses, and almost a whole different mindset. In the end, their differences killed them both.
Hector Guimard
Scene from Book XXIV of the Iliad: Hector's corpse...
Hector Guimard