The theme of man's mortality is introduced immediately
into the poem in its opening lines:
Rage--Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus son
Achilles,
murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaceans'
countless losses,
hurling down to the House of Death so
many sturdy souls,
great fighters' souls, but made their
bodies carrion,
feasts for the dogs and
birds,
and the will of Zeus was moving toward its
end.
This will be a tale of
death, with mortal bodies destroyed and souls released to make their spiritual journeys.
Thus man lives in a mortal state, his fate determined by "the will of Zeus." Death will
not be glorified here; broken bodies left on the field of battle will become "feasts for
the dogs and birds."
As the tale develops, however, man's
mortality becomes the state through which he may demonstrate sacrifice, courage, and
heroism. Hector refuses to remain within the safety of the gates of Troy, despite the
desperate pleadings of his wife and parents who fear his death. Achilles welcomes
fighting to his own death, feeling deep guilt over the loss of his dear friend
Patroclus. Priam faces death to bring home his son Hector's body. These characters are
willing to sacrifice their own mortality, with courage, for a good they deem greater
than their own lives.
Throughout the poem, man's mortality
is explored in terms of the capriciousness of the gods who intervene in human affairs.
Humans live or die as the gods determine, and the power of Zeus is
supreme:
. .
. Father Zeus held out his sacred golden scales:in them he
placed two fates of death that lays men low--one for
Achilles, one for Hector breaker of horses--and gripping
the beam mid-half the Father raised it highand down went
Hector's day of doom, dragging him downto the strong House
of Death--
The
Iliad develops the idea that human beings are mortal, their deaths determined
by immortal gods; how they face death, however, is a matter of free will. Human beings
may choose to be heroic.
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