Author: Chang Bin

Homer's epic, composed of Iliad and Odessa, is the oldest existing Greek literature, which marks the glorious beginning of Greek literature. It faithfully reflects some social development forms as far away as ancient Greece, and art reproduces the culture at that time. The Iliad mainly tells the story of the Greek siege of Troy, in which many vivid heroic images have been successfully created, including hector, Odysseus, Ajax, Agamemnon, Menelaus, philoctetes and Arrhenius. Among them, the image of the Greek hero Achilles impressed me the most.

Judging from the origin of Achilles, alois is a hero in the epic, and like other ancient Greek heroes, he has the characteristics of demigod. Because the social science and technology culture was not very developed at that time, people participated in some natural phenomena that could not be explained at that time. If there are many outstanding people among ordinary people, people at that time are generally regarded as descendants of God, that is, heroes. So, first of all, when we appreciate the characters in Homer's epic, we should not combine them with the characters in the literary works we see today, or even the idealized giants in the Renaissance, but pay more attention to the culture at that time to analyze the characters at that time.

Achilles is one of the central figures in the Iliad and the greatest hero in the Greek Coalition forces. He is a brave and loyal friend. First of all, he won almost every battle on the battlefield and killed countless Trojan heroes. From the comparison of the different reactions of the Trojans in the Greek Coalition without him and those in the Greek Coalition with him, we can see that he is brave and good at fighting. For example, when Patroclus, wearing alois's golden armor, attacked, the Trojans saw him from a distance and thought it was Achilles, that is, he was frightened, confused and trampled to death. During the Achilles War, the Trojans gained the upper hand in several attacks, and they all attacked Greek warships. If it weren't for the heroic resistance of Ajax and other Greek heroes, the Greek warships might have been burned by hector. Later, Achilles caught up on the battlefield, and the Greeks gained the upper hand again. Hector, the first hero of Troy, was killed by Achilles, and the Trojans were greatly weakened. Secondly, Achilles is loyal to his friends. When Patroclus was killed by hector, he sincerely regretted Patroclus' sacrifice and was determined to avenge him. So he stood up on the battlefield, killed hector, tied his body to a chariot and marched in procession. Although this is the embodiment of Achilles' cruelty, it is also the embodiment of his loyalty to his friends. Therefore, Achilles is a brave warrior and loyal to his friends.

Achilles also has his weaknesses. For example, when commander-in-chief Agamemnon invaded Achilles' booty, Achilles publicly reprimanded him for harming others and refusing to fight. He was right to denounce Agamemnon's selfishness, but his stubborn attack was inappropriate and brought great losses to the Greek Coalition forces. After he killed hector, he nailed his body to a chariot and drove in a parade, completely ignoring Troy's sadness. How cruel the means were, which conformed to the characteristics of tribal leaders in primitive society who were in transition to slave society at that time. Later, he attacked Troy, ignored Apollo's dissuasion, and made rude remarks to Apollo. Finally, Paris shot him with an arrow in the dark. As can be seen from the above three cases, Achilles is also a cruel, willful and stubborn person.

At the same time, it is not difficult to find out from some details that Achilles is also a kind-hearted, compassionate and life-loving person. For example, Priam agreed to the other party's request when he redeemed the body of his son hector from Achilles. For example, when Agamemnon boasted that his archery offended Artemis themis themis, the hunting goddess, causing Artemis themis themis to force Agamemnon to sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia to her, otherwise the Greek fleet would not be allowed to advance. Achilles also risked being scolded and came to rescue Iphigenia. After the Trojan War, Odysseus, king of Ithaca, who had been drifting at sea for many years, came to the underworld to look for the soul of tiresias, the prophet of Thebes, and asked him about his future fate. He happened to meet the soul of Achilles, who told him that Achilles was respected like a god before his death and must be a great ghost after his death. When he was happy, Achilles said to Odysseus, "I would rather be a slave on the earth than." It shows his attitude of loving human life. Judging from the above three cases, Achilles is a kind-hearted, compassionate and life-loving person.

In a word, Achilles is a very successful character in Homer's epic. His personality is distinct and multifaceted, and his image embodies the characteristics of the social hero of the ancient Greek clan.

Guizishan, Wuchang, June 5438+065438+1October 7, 2005.

Achilles is one of the heroes who described the Trojan War in the Ilion, and he has distinct personality and characteristics. Under the soil of a culture, a specific hero image is often born, and different heroes also have their own performances. To this end, I compared it with the heroic images of other countries and found that there are many cultural differences between them, which is quite interesting. Achilles, son of Palius, was brave and good at fighting, and played an important role in the Trojan War. He fought bravely and invincible, but he was willful and conceited, and he withdrew from the front line for a moment of humiliation regardless of the overall situation. Dragging the body after killing hector fully shows the cruelty of character. However, due to the complexity of human nature, he still had compassion, so at the request of hector's old father, he returned his son's body. As a result, a complex and profound hero image jumped from the page. Hector was Achilles' biggest opponent in the Trojan War, and both sides were brave and heartless ordinary people. Especially hector knows that the city can't keep it, but he still wants to go out of the city to fight it. Apart from the heroism in his character, the decisive factor should be the background of the times. At this time, the purpose of war is plunder, which has been regarded as a normal behavior, "even division of labor" (English). Under such circumstances, this idea of "being proud of war" naturally takes root in people's hearts. This is also the case. Many honors are distributed according to their performance on the battlefield. It is not difficult to see the author's praise from the article: "The generals of both sides are the greatest and most glorious, Achilles is invincible, and hector is like the rising sun,,,,," so it is no wonder that he insists on fighting. Of course, we have to admit that the objective reality at this time also determines the necessity of fighting in hector to a great extent, because the simple weapons and equipment make the victory or defeat of the war in the hands of these "ordinary people" to a considerable extent. However, Siegfried in Song of Nibelungen is quite similar to Achilles: both of them are tribal princes, almost invulnerable, brave and good at fighting, and both of them are stabbed to Achilles' achilles' achilles' heel. These experiences make them have many similarities, but Siegfried is a mythical hero of medieval Germany after all, and more of a color of the times at that time. Moreover, in the process of spreading, many political disputes, hierarchical concepts, loyalty to the monarch,,,, and, all of which left a deep imprint on him in the feudal era. On the contrary, Achilles was in the transitional period from primitive clan society to slavery society. He had to obey the public opinion at that time, accept the moral norms at that time, and put the interests of clan and tribe first. So when the Greek Coalition forces lost frequently, he had to continue fighting. His act of dragging a corpse to vent his anger was also condemned by the author and even ordinary soldiers. So even invincible heroes should obey their own times. Throughout the ages, without exception. Hercules is the most famous hero in ancient Greece and the patron saint of sports and commerce. He is a god in people's eyes and Achilles is a god in people's eyes. The latter seems to be more "noble" if it only says "bloodline", but what we see in ancient Greek mythology is more the powerful power of these demigods when they are "people". For example, the 12 incident of Hercules was completed before his ascension to heaven. Needless to say, Achilles always fought on the battlefield as a tribal prince and a Greek allied general. It is not difficult to see that although the ancient Greeks quite agreed with God, they did not worship God blindly. They also care about God and maintain the cultural spirit of people-oriented. At the same time, they realized their own abilities, and people also had the ability to resist when there was a conflict between God and man. Even Hercules once beat Hera to flight. This fully embodies the ancient Greeks' affirmation of human beings and their pursuit of reality. This also makes their image more real. The birth of the hero image is deeply rooted in the culture in which he lives. Whether in legends or in literary works, he is inevitably discredited by the spirit of the times. In the process of communication, the mainstream ideology transformed them for various reasons, which not only enriched their images, but also made them more complicated. Perhaps this is the typical meaning of Achilles.

I think anyone who has read Homer's epic will be impressed by Achilles in Iliad, right? Achilles was a great hero. He is young, handsome, brave and powerful. He is invincible ... but these are just one aspect of Achilles' behavior. Another aspect of the epic is that Achilles' temperament and feelings are no different from those of ordinary people. The epic reveals many aspects of the hero's character through a series of plots and details. Achilles loved his mother Tethys; On the way to follow Agamemnon's eastward expedition to Loya, because the beloved female prisoner Brisser was taken away by Agamemnon, she cried bitterly and had a quarrel with Agamemnon, feeling that her honor was damaged, so she retreated to the tent and did not participate in the battle for a long time. He is the closest friend of Paquillo Cruz and Ann Teelock. When Pacquiro Cruz was killed by Trojan general hector, Achilles had to avenge his beloved friend before coming out to fight. He trusted his faithful old servant Phoenicia and let him sleep at his feet; At Pacquiro Cruz's funeral, he paid the highest tribute to Niesto, an old man in the army. In battle, he easily gets angry and flies into a rage. He is very vindictive and fierce to the enemy. For example, after he died in the war in hector, he tied hector's body to the back of his chariot and dragged it around Troy three times. However, when Pulaia, the old king of Troy, came to the Greek barracks and saw Achilles, he asked for the body of his son hector to be returned to him. Achilles, who was fierce and violent at that time, relented. He secretly missed his old father and held out his hand to the weeping old Pleah. ...

You see, Achilles, the hero born in the epic, is such a complex and emotional hero. He has love for his mother, for the elderly, for his friends and for the weak. He resisted the strong and was cruel to the enemy ... Imagine that this celestial Achilles would undoubtedly be more "deified" according to the "three outstanding" theory of the Gang of Four. Achilles, the hero in Homer's works, has many aspects of human character and extremely rich feelings. From this point of view, not only "tall and complete" heroes can't compare with Achilles, but also many less successful heroes can't compare with Homer's heroes.

Of course, the heroes in Homer's epic can't be compared with the heroes in our literary works today, because the times are different, and they not only have different characteristics of the times, but also have different class characteristics. The multiplicity of proletarian heroes' personality and emotional richness are restricted by class nature, and both of them have distinct proletarian nature. However, there are many things in Homer's epic that are worth learning and learning from, so that the heroes in our literary works today have strong artistic vitality. What should we learn from Homer's epic when it comes to creating heroes? I think there are three points: first, writing people; Second, write the multi-faceted character of heroes; Third, write about the emotional richness of heroes.