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Running head: THE ILIAD: A VERY BRIEF ETHICAL CONSIDERATION

The Iliad: A Very Brief Ethical Consideration

Márcio Padilha

College of Southern Idaho

ENGL 257 – Carpenter

Fall/2012

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The Iliad: A Very Brief Ethical Consideration

In his account of events pertaining to the Trojan War, Homer’s The Iliad (James,

Lawall et al., 2005) exposes readers to an archetype wherein immortals, demigods and

mortals coexist. In a construct of conceptual relativism (Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia),

present day readers are confronted with dogmatic reports of fantastic events and

interactions between the parties. Thus, it seems only consequential that readers start

perceiving peculiar ethical issues as the narrative develops.

As an example of such structural feature, Hera is credited to have addressed Zeus at

a moment when he contemplated interfering in the outcome of the mortal combat to be

waged between Sarpedon and Patroclus by saying:

“Son of Cronus, what a thing to say!A mortal man, whose fate has long been fixed,And you want to save him from rattling death?Do it. But don’t expect all of us to approve.”(Homer, Iliad 16.477-480)

Thus, while Hera’s irreverence towards Zeus’s ethos (Homer, Iliad 16.477) may,

from a normative perspective (Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia), be allusive of a state of

anarchy within The Iliad’s construct, it is the continuance of her speech (Homer, Iliad

16.478-480) that, under meta-ethical scrutiny (Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia), seems to

provide greater indication of The Iliad’s paradoxical reality wherein boundaries between

the physical and the metaphysical seem inexistent. As such, by referring to Sarpedon as a

“mortal man,” Hera explicitly exposes readers to an attitudinal postulate which dictates

that mortals are to be held at a lower status. Hence, one’s status of mortal, demigod or

immortal becomes an important factor which dictates that the degree of one’s mortality

determines the direct preponderance of one’s status before the gods. Thus, regarding the

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meta-ethical issues, the reader may wonder why the degree of one’s mortality should play a

role in the quantifying one’s degree of merit. In addition, one may wonder how such

judgment may impact the epic as a whole. Next, Hera, opposing Zeus, further states that

this man’s “fate has long been fixed” (Homer, Iliad 16.478), thus causing a conundrum to

emerge. Considering that “Zeus is contemplating to intervene in the outcome of a man’s

fate” and considering that “fate is defined as ‘a predetermined state or end’” (Merriam-

Webster), Zeus’ suggestion would necessarily seem to compel an existential nihilism

against fate’s very essence. Next, with no seeming interruption of thought, Hera further

censures Zeus’ judgment by declaring that Sarpedon’s mortal status does not, or should

not, render him meritorious of such a reprieve (Homer, Iliad 16.479); leading to a slight

variance within the same meta-ethical issue: what confers Hera the right to judge? And

how does her judging affect the story, Zeus and ultimately herself? Furthermore, while

Hera’s defiant attitude strengthens The Iliad’s anarchical hierarchy precepts which exist

between mortals, demigods and immortals, it further reasserts the nihilistically existential

imposition against fate’s essence in that, by stating “Do it!” (Homer, Iliad 16.480), she

corroborates the very possibility that Zeus has the power to intervene and, consequently,

change someone’s fate; in turn, making fate devoid of its essence.

The philosophical construct of The Iliad is a complex one that leads the reader into

what seems like an infinity of circular thoughts that ultimately lead the reader to try and

assert what the normative behavior of the depicted construct is, or should be, if there is one

and what lack of perceived boundaries between the different realms the players are in

might mean.

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Works Cited

James, H., Lawall, S., Patterson, L., Spacks, P. M., & Thalmann, W. G. (Eds.). (2005). The Norton Anthology of Western Literature (8 ed., Vol. 1). New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.

Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Retrieved from Fate: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fate[1]

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Retrieved from Normative ethics: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normative_ethics

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Conceptualism. Retrieved from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conceptualism#cite_ref-Conceptualism_0-0

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved from Meta-ethics: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meta-ethics

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Zeus. Retrieved from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeus