THE ILIAD
BY
HOMER
MADE
FLUIDIC
BY
THE
UNIMANULLAR DUKE
i.e.
PARTHO
MISHRA
In all civilizations and in all spheres around the globe the
thought process of people had been more or less similar, and THE ILIAD is no
exception, if we ponder over religious folk lores or epics written at any time
anywhere around the globe, an underlying similarity and same line of thought
can be traced out. For example, in Bible there is a description of fight between
heaven and hell , beautifully scripted in Milton’s PARADISE LOST, In Islamic
texts, there is a mention of WAR OF KARBALA, in Hindu religious texts,
MAHABHARATA, in Roman texts etc , almost everywhere, so we can infere out that
human minds think alike in all ages in every part of the world. So let us delve
into this one of the greatest written works of literature, more specifically
European Literature (I think literature is not bounded upto any region…..),
composed wonderfully by one of the greatest poets of all time, HOMER, of
Greece, nearly 2700 years ago. The theme of the whole plot,( like every other
great epic or incidences mentioned in any religious text )covers these aspects,
WRATH,FURY, RAGE,DIVINITY and SELF REALIZATION..Let us look at THE ILLIAD through the lens of THE UNIMANULLAR DUKE……….
SOME INSIDER’S NOTES…..(can be avoided at times)
v The
Epic is written as a combination of a number of books with more than 200 or so
characters(but only few of them matter) in DACTYLIC HEXAMETER(this is quite a
technical term, I myself do not understand it completely, so things which are
complex I leave them to the experts, if it is some things other than Physics,
since I HAVE AN AFFAIR WITH ENGLISH BUT I DO LOVE PHYSICS… HA HA !), anyway for
now, I can say that it means,
“A meter which consists of lines made up of
sic feet (here feet means a different thing), each of these feet would be a
dactyl, means consist of a long and a short syllable ”It is also known as
‘Meter of an Epic’, basically it is a rhythmic scheme, nothing more.
v The
name is ‘Iliad’, because in ancient times’ Troy’ where the action takes place
in the epic was known by the name ‘Iilles’ or ‘Iliad’, the whole epic is set
during ‘The Trojan War’. The epic combines everything needed for a great epic,
the drama, etc………… ( which we INDIANS
have heard of since childhood days…)
v The
whole narrative starts in ‘medias res’(into the middle of things), this is one
of the intelligent tools which smart authors, dramatists etc(just like me J) use to reach directly to the things they want
to convey(Shakespeare also used this in “Hamlet”), so the epic starts in the
middle of action and gradually the characters and the plot are revealed….
Ø
THE PLOT
IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER
I AM WRITING IT
WITH ARROW HEADS INSTEAD OF
PARAGRAPHS SO THAT YOU MAY SCROLL
THROUGH IT AT ONE GO………..
v The
story unfolds in the middle of ‘The Trojan War’ between ‘The Trojans’ and ‘The
Greeks’(also reffered to as THE ACHAEANS).
v Two
girls had been held captive ‘CHRYSIES’AND ‘BRISEIS’(daughter of Apollo priest
and The Greek General Achillese’s love interest) by the King of Greece
‘AGAMEMNON’
{EVERY
WAR IS FOUGHT BECAUSE OF MALE DOMINATING THOUGHTS AND CRAVING FOR FEMALES}
v The
priest offers money, to get his daughter back, most members of Agamemnon’s
court agreed, but he did not (HE WAS A
LUSTY FOOLISH MAN)
v Greek
god(have been written in bold fonts all throughout the document) Apollo(I HAVE GIVEN REFERENCES OF ALL
GODS AND GODESSES AT THE END ALONG WITH CHARACTERS) causes a plague to inflict
Greek army, on priest’s request.
v Everyone
gets surprised, after nine days leader of Myrmidon Contingent, ACHILLES, calls
an assembly to deal with problem, under pressure AGAMEMNON returns the priest’s
daughter, but takes ACHILLES’s love interest, so for obvious reasons, ACHILLES
and his men decides not to fight for AGAMEMNON.
v The
plague ends when ODYSSEUS(another member of GREEK TROOP), returns
CHRYSIES.ACHILLES was upset , he calls his mother THEITIS to ask for help from ZEUS and urges to bring Greeks to the breaking
point by the Trojans so that his value can be realized….(REVENGE DOES NOT PAY
ALWAYS AS HE WILL LOSE EVERYTHI9NG AT THE END)
v ZEUS sends a dream to
AGAMEMNON to attack TROY, he tests his army’s moral and then finally The Greeks
decided to attack , The Trojan Army is led by KING PRIAM.
v The
two armies approach, PARIS, the son of PRIAM , offers a duel with MENELAUS,
brother of AGAMEMNON.It is decided that the duel will decide the winner, armies
will not fight, both sides agree. PARIS was beaten , but APHRODITE rescues him before he can be killed.
v Due to
hatred of HERA for Troy, ZEUS
arrows MENELAUS, and the vow is broken and the battle begins again(HERA AND
ZEUS WERE BUSY SHOWING CHILDISH LOVE TOWARDS EACH OTHER EVEN IN THE MIDDLE OF
THE WAR, HA HA H! J)
v DIOMEDES(another
Greek hero), defeated many Trojans, starts fighting with Gods, APOLLO warns, gods on each side starts
fighting and interfering the war.
v HECTOR(a
Trojan army leader) duels with AJAX(Greek armymen), but night descends and
fight stops.. The Greeks decide to burn their dead and raise a wall, The
Trojans who held captive a Greek Princess HELEN, refuses to return her.
v ZEUS instructs the gods not
to interfere and so happens. The Greek army feels the need of a potent warrior
since their army is being thrashed by HECTOR, AGAMEMNON realises his fault and
sends his cabinet members to bring back ACHILLES, he angrily refuses(IN INDIA
WE CALL IT “BHAAW”)
v That
night , Odysseus and Diomedes kills TROJAN DOLON (a spy, sent by the Trojans to
keep an eye on Greek ships), obviously Trojan army gets infuriated by this and
the war goes on its peak the next day.
v War
goes on and HERA seduces ZEUS and hence , he goes to sleep, POSEIDON helps Greeks as there is no
one to look after the war rules in absence of Zeus(THIS IS CRAZINESS, AND ALSO DEPICTS THAT EVERYTHING IS FAIR IN
LOVE AND WAR).War continues , he wakes up and sends APOLLO to help The Trojans, to establish an act of balance between
power outflow.
v PATROCULOUS(friend
of ACHILLES), ignores his friends’s advice and goes to the war wearing ACHILLES’s
armour, he is killed by HECTOR, takes away the armour from his body.
v ACHILLES
becomes mad and sighs in revenge, vows to take vengeance on HECTOR,he stands
next to the GREEK wall and roars in rage, PATROCULOUS’s loss is mourned, and on request of ACHILLES’s
mom’s request, a new armour is bestowed upon him by HEPHAESTUS.
v AGAMEMNON
returns all the gifts to ACHILLES, but he was in WAR MODE, he does not eat
anything and straps his armour, takes his horse XANTHOS and drives towards battlefield, ZEUS lifts all the bans on gods(THIS
WAS THE FATE OF ALL WARS EVER FOUGHT, NO RULE ONLY SLAUGHTER).
v ACHILLES
starts slaughtering everyone around and throws into river SHAMANDROS , breaks the gates.
v All
Trojans enter the city except HECTOR, he is being chased around in the city by
ACHILLES, after a brief dual fight HECTOR is stabbed by the neck.HECTOR reminds
that ACHILLES is also destined to die, PATROCULOUS’s body is buried , THE
GREEKS WIN….
v ACHILLES
repeatedly abuses HECTOR’s body,led by HERMES, KING PRIAM, takes his wagon out
of Troy,clasps ACHILLES through knees and pleads HECTOR’s body.
v ACHILLES
returns the body and finally both of them have self realization of great losses
in the war and both of them mourn and sob at last……….(DESTINY OF MORTALS AND
FATE OF EVERY WAR)
THE
MAJOR THEMES
NOSTOS-
THE CELEBRATION OF HOMECOMING OF A HERO
KLEOS-EARNING GLORY ,
WHICH IS DECIDED BY WHAT OTHERS SAY OR HEAR ABOUT A HERO
(TWO OF THE MOST COMMON FEATURES OF EVERY EPIC OF
THIS WORLD).
TIME,
WRATH, FATE
(AS ALREADY MENTIONED)
THE LESSONS WHICH CAN BE LEARNT
Solely my inference when I read it in
class 10, opinions may varyJ
1.
GOOD
LEADERS MUST BE SERVANTS.
2.
THE
NATURE OF NARCISSISM IS SOCIALLY DESTRUCTIVE.
3.
EVIL
HAPPENS TO THOSE, LEAST DESERVING, IN WARS.
4.
BRUTAL
FORCE CAN TAKE ON A MAN’s SENSES.
5.
A TRUE
LEADER OR HERO SHOULD RESPECT THE BEST,
ERASING HIS /HER EGO.
6.
REVENGE
IS NOT THE BEST CHOICE , IT BRINGS MISERY,
7.
ALL
MORTAL BRAINS WOEK IN EXACTLY SIMILAR WAY AROUND THE WORLD.
8.
THE
BEHAVIOUR OF GODS LIKE HUMAN BEINGS SHOW THAT THE CONCEPT OF GOD IS A FICTIOUS
ONE CREATED BY HUMANS THEMSELVES, TO HAVE A RULE OF AUTHORITY.
9.
THE
GREATEST RELIGION ABOVE ALL IS HUMANITY.
10.
FEMALES
SHOULD BE RESPECTED , BECAUSE THEY ARE THE CAUSE OF EVOLUTION AS WELL AS
DESTRUCTION.
THE LIST OF
IMPORTANT CHARACTERS AND DIVINE FIGURES (This I listed from the internet
because I had no record of all the names, it is not necessary to keep record of
all the names, just few important ones are enough)
·
The major deities:
·
The minor deities:
- The Trojan men
- Hector – son of King Priam and the
foremost Trojan warrior.
- Aeneas – son of Anchises and
Aphrodite.
- Deiphobus – brother of Hector and
Paris.
- Paris – Helen's lover-abductor.
- Priam – the aged King of Troy.
- Polydamas – a prudent commander whose
advice is ignored; he is Hector's foil.
- Agenor – a Trojan warrior, son of
Antenor, who attempts to fight Achilles (Book XXI).
- Sarpedon, son of Zeus – killed by Patroclus. Was
friend of Glaucus and co-leader of the Lycians (fought for the Trojans).
- Glaucus, son of
Hippolochus – friend of Sarpedon and co-leader of the
Lycians (fought for the Trojans).
- Euphorbus – first Trojan warrior to
wound Patroclus.
- Dolon – a spy upon the Greek camp
(Book X).
- Antenor – King Priam's advisor, who
argues for returning Helen to end the war.
- Polydorus – son of Priam and Laothoe.
- Pandarus – famous archer and son of
Lycaon.
- The
Trojan women
- Hecuba (Ἑκάβη, Hekabe) – Priam's wife, mother of
Hector, Cassandra, Paris, and others.
- Helen (Ἑλένη) – daughter of Zeus;
Menelaus's wife; espoused first to Paris, then to Deiphobus; her
abduction by Paris precipitated the war.
- Andromache – Hector's wife, mother of Astyanax.
- Cassandra – Priam's daughter.
- Briseis – a Trojan woman captured
by Achilles from a previous siege, over whom Achilles's quarrel with
Agamemnon began.
·
Achilles – son of Peleus, foremost warrior, leader of the Myrmidons and King of Phthia,[5] son of a divine mother, Thetis.
MERRY
GRASPING!
