The Iliad - Mythology

The Iliad

In in the epic The Iliad, war is pictured as horrible, bloody, and fruitless. Homer makes it where   there   are no clear winners in The Iliad.   The people in The Iliad die in vain because of arrogant and emotional decisions made by men.   Achilles causes the death of his friend for many of reasons.   First, Achilles did not want to fight, then, he leaves the Greeks at a disadvantage, and finally Achilles es poorly gave advise to his friend Patroclus to join the other fighters.   Even the initial cause of the war, Paris' kidnapping of Helen, a Greek woman, is a rash and selfish act (novelguide).
Zeus' will plays a very important part in the evens that happen in The Iliad. Zeus' will is unfailing, so in a way, the events that occur are all bound to happen.   There is a small amount of flexibility as to when the events will happen. This flexibility comes from the intervention of the lesser gods, and the actions of mortal men. Apollo can send a plague on the Greeks, and Aphrodite can rescue Paris from certain death when he is fighting Menelaeus, but in the final outcome, the Greeks will sack Troy, and Paris will die (novelguide).
When the mortals interfere the Zeus' will, the results are much more tragic.   Since they are mortal, their actions have direct influence on their companions, and their lives.   The gods feel pity when they cannot save one of the favored mortal, but that pity cannot compare to Achilles' sorrow at Patroclus' death.
Death and fighting is not pictured as glorious in The Iliad.   The brave warriors get fame, gold, food, and women, and the younger Greek fighters get to thrive on this romantic notion.   A closer look at the text shows that Homer describes many deaths in violent, anatomic detail. Most of these deaths are not important to the plot of the story, but they serve the important purpose of showing the reader that no death is insignificant or easy. These descriptions give The Iliad a "Saving Private Ryan" type of realism...