Page 19 - GALIET THE WALL, THE SPEAR, THE ROSE AND THE QUEST FOR THE 4 CARDINAL CORNERS: Hektor of Troy IV

Hektor’s suffering, and hence of all Trojans, is due to the personal spite of Hera. Hera offers to sacrifice her favourite cities in exchange for the destruction of Troy (18.356-357) because she is equally outraged by Paris’ judgement, by Zeus’ love for Ganymede and by Zeus’ constant philandering. Therefore, Pope does not view Hektor’s flight necessarily as a sign of cowardice or as a testing the limits (Mueller) or as tragic limitations (Schein). In this regard, we can deduce that Hektor’s choice to remain and confront Achilles and Athena is an act of wisdom and courage. Hektor’s knowledge of his own errors gives him the final confidence to act wisely and bravely; not too distant from Protagoras’ own claim that “knowledge increases one’s confidence and hence courage.”9 Not only is Hektor deeply aware of the inevitability of his death, Pope admits, but also, on that precise second where a man’s action brings him greatness or shame, he chooses to “fall gloriously” adding that that is “all that a man can do” (p.1035). Moreover, Hektor’s respect for moira, his apportioned fate, shows that even in this last moment, he observes and respects the will of the gods and this sense of fatality, highlighted in his speech to
9 Plato. Protagoras. 350b-d. Plato. Protagoras. Trans. By G.M.A. Grube. Cambridge: Hackett Publishing, 1992.
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