How Does Homer Portray War in the Iliad?

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War, one of the main theme and action which was described and portrayed most in the Iliad by Homer. Homer portrayed them by four parts, in the similes which helped the oral tradition; the description of Achilles' shield; the conversation of the great warriors and the laments of women. Similes, the most common style of describing by comparing it to the nature is used by Homer to portray war. For example, in Book 4 the death of Simoisius, "he crashed...like a poplar...trunk trimmed... branches sprouting... to make... a beautiful chariot..." The simile was portrayed by showing to the audience that there is hope in the after life and it will be with glory and beauty, moreover war results of the death of fine young men in their prime which results in the suffering of their loved ones. In Book 16, Patroclus and Hector are compared as lions , "two fought... like a pair of lions... hungry and fearless..." in this simile both of them are fighting over the dead body of Cebriones, as one side needs the body for glory and the other sides prevent them to have it. This shows the tragedy of war, as most warriors fight for glory and honor, and which most of them can have fatal consequences at the end. In Book 22 the duel between Hector and Achilles was decribed, "as a hound starts a fawn... until it finds it..." Achilles is compared to the hound and Hector the fawn, it shows that Achilles' charater in the duel, relentless and the strongest of the two, and poor Hector the prey of Achilles. Homer portrayed the hunt down of Hector as a fearful nature and predatory of war, and how brutal that it is. Homer also used another simile in the duel, "like a chase in a nightmare...no one, pursuer or pursued, can move a limb..." Homer shows the audience that in war, fear can have the effect of paralysing one's mind, and nightmare is the by-product of war which warriors need to bear with

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