Page 22 - GALIET THE WALL, THE SPEAR, THE ROSE AND THE QUEST FOR THE 4 CARDINAL CORNERS: Hektor of Troy IV

In the end, gods are fickle. They trap Hektor in the contradictions and powerlessness of human existence (Mueller, Schein, Pope). Hektor, Achilles and Patroklos lack the protection of gods at crucial intersections. Just as Hektor kills Patroklos naked and helpless (Apollo undoes his armour), Achilles kills Hektor helpless (Zeus and Apollo abandon him and Athena deceives him). We are left with warriors who are neither perfect in virtue or vice; yet who are valiant enough to face the wall, the spear and the rose in their quest for immortality 3⁄4 the four cardinal corners 3⁄4 valiant enough to suffer their misfortune through tragic hamartia: the ignorance of a material fact. Thus, Hektor does not know that he shall be abandoned and tricked by the gods; Patroklos, that his armour shall be undone by Apollo; Achilles that Paris’ arrow shall be guided by Apollo to his fatal spot. Yet amidst this danger and despair of the human condition in its struggles between physis and nomos, necessity and liberty, the ideal and the real 3⁄4 what we aspire and what we can actually achieve 3⁄4 we witness, in Book 24, a powerful reconciliation, embraced by meals, sleep and tears; and the shared humanity between King Priam and Achilles that transcends, at least temporarily, all animosity between Achaeans and Trojans by sharing a silent moment of
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