Who Do You Consider to Be Most Responsible for the Outbreak of the Trojan War?

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I personally believe that Paris was most responsible for the outbreak of the Trojan war. There are several reasons why I believe that this makes him most responsible for the war. Firstly, Paris gave the apple of discord to Aphrodite. This makes him responsible as he chose the shallowest reward of the three he was offered, and chose by far the worst and most risky option of the three. This not only makes Paris responsible for the outbreak of a long, devastating and all-round unnecessary war, but also shows him to be a shallow man. Had he chosen the offers that Hera or Athene made, Paris would have not have suffered as much and would not have been responsible for war, death and anguish. Another reason is that Hera and Athene made far better offers to Paris. Hera offered him a large kingdom, and Athene offered him military glory, both of which are better offers than a beautiful woman. Had Paris accepted Hera’s offer, then he would have become one of the most powerful men in the world, and had he chosen to accept the offer made by Athene, Paris could have become a hero that rivalled Odysseus in his glory. However, through choosing Aphrodite’s offer, he threw much of the Greek world into chaos and created an easily avoidable war. Also, Paris should have been able to somewhat predict what would happen when he took a King’s wife. As the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen had many suitors before she got married, and all of them would have vowed to protect her if she was in danger. For Paris to take Helen away, regardless of whether she left willingly or not, was an incredibly stupid thing for him to do for this reason. However, there are also other people to blame for the outbreak of the Trojan War. Eris is partially to blame as she was the one who started the argument over the Apple of Discord. Had she not created the apple, there would have been no reason

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