This is my response to NCEA standard 91204. The purpose of this blog is to compare Wolfgang Peterson's 2004 film Troy and Homer's epic poem The Iliad. This will allow me to demonstrate perceptive understanding of the relationship between aspects of the classical world and our culture today.
One of the main elements that unites the movie of Troy with the Iliad is the cast of characters. These characters have many things alike but there are also several differences. This blog post will explore these similarities and differences and explain what they reveal about the individual characters. I will look at the characters of Paris, Agamemnon, Hector and Achilles (Some minor characters may be examined in later posts).
Paris
Paris is the character who in both the film and the poem initiates the war. In the Iliad, Paris (who is also known as Alexandrus) is the son of Priam and brother of Hector. He is known amongst the Trojan ranks as an arrogant coward. He spends little time on the field of battle and much time in the bedroom with Helen. The Trojans despise this fact that Paris hides behind his walls and his army doing his own will while for the last decade the Trojans have been dying for him. His chosen weapon is the bow (while he still has some basic knowledge of the sword and spear) which is considered a coward's weapon. Contrary to how the Trojans view Hector, "they all of them hated him as they did death itself".
In Troy, Paris is a slightly more rounded and justified character. He still uses the bow more than the sword, and still abducts Helen but he is a little bit more honourable. He is played by Orlando Bloom, an actor who has a slight, but tough look. In Troy, Paris is not hated by the people and does not spend all his time away from the front line. Paris is still a slightly flat character in the film, his main role seems to be one of in love but cannot do anything about it. Rather than his behaviour in the Iliad of arrogance and an air of one who does not believe he can do anything wrong, Paris in the film expresses his discomfort with allowing Trojans to die for him many times.
In the Iliad, Book III, the Trojans send forth a champion (Paris) to fight for them. When Menelaus sees Paris he instantly jumps off his chariot, eager to fight the man who stole his wife. Paris then runs back into the Trojan army, terrified of fighting this great warrior. Hector chastises him and Paris agrees to fight Menelaus. There are a couple of things that are interesting about this passage. Firstly, Paris runs the from the fight he knows he cannot win, revealing a significant amount of self-importance (this is also shown when he runs away with Helen). Specifically, the book says: "Alexandrus quailed as he saw Menelaus come forward, and shrank in
fear of his life under cover of his men." The other thing that is revealed is the amount of arrogance of the character. Hector says to him: "Paris...evil-hearted Paris, fair to see, but
woman-mad, and false of tongue, would that you had never been
born, or that you had died unwed. Better so, than live to be disgraced and looked askance at. Will not the Achaeans mock at us and say that
we have sent one to champion us who is fair to see but who has
neither wit nor courage? Did you not, such as you are, get your
following together and sail beyond the seas? Did you not from
your a far country carry off a lovely woman wedded among a people
of warriors- to bring sorrow upon your father, your city, and
your whole country, but joy to your enemies, and hang-dog
shamefacedness to yourself? And now can you not dare face Menelaus and learn what manner of man he is whose wife you have
stolen? Where indeed would be your lyre and your love-tricks,
your comely locks and your fair favour, when you were lying in
the dust before him?" To which Paris replies: "...taunt me not with the gifts that golden Venus has given me; they
are precious; let not a man disdain them, for the gods give them where they are minded, and none can have them for the asking." This shows how 'full of himself' Paris is, swollen with self-importance.
In the film however, Paris is more humble and when it comes to the fight with Menelaus, he actually challenges Menelaus directly, even when Hector, Priam and Helen urge him to not. This shows a much greater depth of character and shows how he is willing to sacrifice himself for his love of Helen and his people. Anothere instance of this desire to save the Trojans is shown in the scene where Paris and Helen are talking in the palace. Paris suggests that they should just run away to save Troy (Helen tears down that idea quickly). This side of Paris is not shown in the book, where Paris only thinks of himself and how he won't give up Helen.
In around the 9th century BC, Homer wrote the Iliad, a poem with over 10000 lines split into 22 Books. It is about a few weeks at the end of the 10 year long Trojan War, a war where the Greek Achaeans sieged the city of Troy in order to save and bring back to Greece their "abducted" queen Helen. In 2004, Wolfgang Petersen released his movie Troy, a movie based on the same war, using the Iliad as a primary source of information. There are many similarities between the two for that very reason, but there are also many differences. The purpose of this blog is to examine the differences in cultures between the Ancient Greeks and Western civilisation today, and I will do this by finding these similarities and differences and then explaining the reasons behind them.
First of all, lets have a summary of how the Trojan War began. In the Ancient World, there was a city on the eastern side of the Aegean Sea called Troy. The King there, whose name was Priam, had a son, but this son was prophesied to cause the downfall of Troy, so he left this son to be exposed (left on a mountainside to die). This son was rescued and given the name Paris by a huntsman. When Paris was growing up, there was a wedding between the sea nymph Thetis and the hero Peleus and all the gods were invited. Well all except Eris, the goddess of discord. She was bitter at not being allowed in, so she threw a golden apple into the wedding which rolled to the feet of Athene, Hera and Aphrodite. It was labelled "For the Fairest". The three goddesses couldn't agree who the apple was for, so Zeus put Paris in charge of a beauty contest. Each goddess offered a reward for choosing them, but Paris chose Aphrodite's offer of the love of the most beautiful woman in the land.
Paris was reunited with his father, who welcomed him with open arms. Paris decided to take a trip to Sparta. The king there, Menelaus had prior engagements with someone in Crete, so he sailed off, apologising for not being able to host Paris. While Paris stayed in Sparta he fell in love with Menelaus' wife Helen, and then before Menelaus got back, Paris and Helen sailed off back to Troy together. Depending on which side of the story you believe, Helen was either abducted or went willingly. The Greeks say that she was abducted and the Trojans say that she came willingly. When Menelaus got back he discovered that his wife had gone and angrily went to his brother Agamemnon, who allied some Greek tribes and they sailed off to Troy with a 1000 ship fleet to get Helen back, beginning the Trojan War.
Over the next few weeks I will show my understanding of the relationship between Homeric Greece with its culture and New Zealand today with our culture, hopefully making some insightful comments along the way. I will explain the Iliad's influence on Troy and the reasons behind the similarities and differences, and then link this analysis to one on the different cultures. Specifically, I will do a character analysis on characters from both texts, followed by an analysis on plot, setting and then a third analysis on thematic material. Then I will explain the reasons for the similarities and differences between each text, referring back to the analyses made earlier and then finally show how this relates to the difference in cultures
