Page 17 - GALIET THE WALL, THE SPEAR, THE ROSE AND THE QUEST FOR THE 4 CARDINAL CORNERS: Hektor of Troy IV

Consequently, Hektor, as suggested by Schein, is a “hero of aidos” (p.178). He has a social responsibility that has to conform to what is expected by others which is suffused in the heroic belief-system that it is nobler to die with glory than to live with dishonour. This fear of condemnation is what makes Hektor fight bravely and it mirrors Sarpedon’s “let us kill or be killed, win glory or let it go to others.” The only instance in the Iliad that may indirectly suggest Hektor to have a glimmer of hope is when Hektor, in trying to avenge his brother Polydorus, tells Achilles: “I know that you are great and that I am far weaker than you are. But all this rests on the knees of the gods, and I may yet, even though I am weaker, rob you of life with a cast of my spear, since my weapon too has before now been found sharp” (Book 20.434-7). Clearly, this passage suggests that Hektor’s hope rests on his confidence on the gods rather than on being greater than Achilles. Furthermore, it also suggests Hektor’s knowledge that where gods are involved, human ultimately do not know the outcome of their affairs: where man proposes, gods disposes. This is not a delusion or illusion; instead it shows a Hektor who is profoundly aware of his place in the order of the cosmos.8
8 According to Octavio Paz (El Arco y La Lira), “the realm of the heroes and the gods is not distinct from human beings: it represents a cosmos whose movement is
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