Page 18 - GALIET THE WALL, THE SPEAR, THE ROSE AND THE QUEST FOR THE 4 CARDINAL CORNERS: Hektor of Troy IV

However, Pope also points to other crucial factors beyond his social responsibility or “aidos”. Pope posits that Hektor remains outside the gates by the “will of heaven” for “destructive fate bound Hektor to remain” (180 p. 1034). Pope’s argument suggests that the true reason for Hektor’s flight is becoming aware that Zeus abandons him after realizing that Athena has tricked him. Hektor flees from Achilles as a result of Hektor’s sudden realization that he will not be able to impale Achilles’ “impenetrable armour” protected by Athena. Zeus does not send Apollo, a second time, to rescue him or to revive him as he had done in Book 15 for, in Eustathius words, “the hour of Hektor’s death was now come and... Apollo, or Destiny, forsakes him” (277 p. 1038). Pope, consequently, sees Hektor’s flight not as an act of delusion or even cowardice, but as an act of dread towards a “hostile heaven” for Achilles counts with Athena’s blessings.
This hostility reflects the antagonism between Zeus and Hera; where Zeus, in many ways, by dreading Hera’s wrath, accedes to her and to Athena’s will in the end.
justice, order and destiny.” Hektor accepts the order of the world as it is, he does not question whether events are just or unjust, instead his self is the object of the instructions of thymos. Paz, Octavio. The Bow and the Lyre. Trans. Ruth L.C. Simms. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1956.
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