When reading the first half of Homer's Iliad, I could not help but think of the movie "Troy." The first section, called Of How the War with Troy Began, left me with a few thoughts. One of which was about Helen and the other about Agamemnon. My first impression of Helen was that although she was beautiful, she was incredibly disloyal. After selecting Agamemnon as her husband, she quickly left him to run away with Prince Paris, a man she just met. Not only did she leave the man she chose to wed for a man she just met, but she left knowing the war to come. Although I feel bad for Agamemnon, he is dumb for starting a war for a woman who clearly doesn't love him anymore. The fact that Agamemnon couldn't let go of Helen and had fought for nine years to get her back is sad and is terrible leadership.
As I continued to read, I found that almost every character was childish. Paris refused to fight for the woman he stole and even put his innocent brother Hector's life in danger. Hector seems to be the only character with any honor, and was willing to die fighting for his brothers lover. Even Achilles was a baby. He cried to his mom about a girl he won being taken away from him as if a child's sibling had taken away their toy. While crying to his mom, he also wanted her to make sure the Greeks realized how important he was. Achilles acted like a spoiled child.
Overall, I really enjoyed the stories. It went into sufficient depth into most of the characters to where I could understand them as a person. There was both action and drama, and I could visualize every scene.
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| (Thetis and Achilles, by Tiepolo) |
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