Examples Of Strengths And Weaknesses In The Iliad

Throughout the Iliad there are many cases shown that a man’s greatest strength is also his greatest weakness. Many characters have certain strengths but they also have many weaknesses. Even some of the gods have weaknesses in all their glory, for example Zeus did not want to anger any of the goddesses so he made Paris give the golden apple to one of them. Some of the character that have the biggest flaws are Achilles, Paris, and Patroclus. The first character whose greatest strength was also his weakness is Achilles. In the Iliad Achilles has more strengths and than weaknesses, but his weakness in the end is what gets him killed. One of his strengths is that he is an excellent leader and warrior, that everybody that he goes against fears him. For example the Iliad says “Fear grabbed Hector’s heart, and he fled”(Iliad p.147). This shows that even one of the Trojan’s greatest fight, Hector, was afraid …show more content…
One of his strengths, which ends in a weakness, is that he is a great leader. The reason that it was a strength was because it allowed him to fight, and begin to win the war against the Achaean Army. Which was all before Achilles joined in. Hector’s weakness is showed when he doesn’t take the advice of Polydamas, who know that it is no longer safe to stay by the ships and return to their walls. Instead, being the great leader that he his, Hector decides to stay by the ships because he believes that they will be able to beat the Achaeans. Instead at dawn the Achaeans and the Trojans began to fight, with Achilles in battle. Since Achilles was going for revenge, he showed no mercy and was able to push the Trojan Army back. If Hector would have listened to Polydamas instead of trying to be the best leader and defeat the Achaeans at their ship, he would have had more time to prepare and would have been better protected. For these reasons, Hector shows a strength that ends up being his greatest