The Two Kinds of Heroes

Achilles and Hector are the great heroes in the Greek epic poem The Iliad. They are the brave
warriors who fought against each other in the Trojan War. Achilles is on the Greek side while Hector is
on the Trojan side. They are the strongest warriors in their respective countries. You can see a lot of
characteristics of being a hero from these two warriors such as courage, but they also differ a lot in
terms of beliefs, experiences and character.

Hector is the prince of Troy and a true warrior. Amongst all the soldiers of Troy, he is the bravest
and strongest. The Trojan people respect him for his acts of heroism. He is a courageous warrior who
fights for his country and doesn’t speak ill of his opponents. He is not only a fierce warrior, but also a
loving husband and father. He always cares for his wife, Andromache, and his son. He is also a dutiful
son to his father, King Priam. He even treats Helen with kindness, even though she is the main cause of
the war. He is a figure that every warrior should emulate. He is an example of a real hero.

Achilles, on the other hand, is the strongest warrior of Greece. He is the central character of the
story, and also a demigod. Unlike Hector, Achilles doesn’t fight for his fellow Greeks, but only for
himself. He is a war-hero who only fights for the glories of battle and his reputation. Just because of his
dislike of Agamemnon, he refuses to join the war, leaving thousands of his fellow Greek warriors to die
on the battlefield. He hates Agamemnon so much, that he even asked his mother Thetis to convince
Zeus to help the Trojans in the war. He only joined the war later in the story to avenge Patroclus, not to
help the Greeks. He is also a merciless warrior, which can be shown in his fight with Hector, the one
who killed Patroclus. After Achilles killed Hector, he tied the body of the Trojan prince into his chariot
and dragged it across the city of Troy for all the Trojans to see the dead body of their greatest defender.
Despite his negative traits, he also has compassion, honor, respect, and empathy, which was shown in
his conversation with King Priam about bringing Hector’s body back. In my opinion, Achilles is only a
hero in the eyes of the Greeks, due to him being a powerful leader to them.

Overall, the two great heroes in Homer’s The Iliad differ in a lot of things. Hector fights for the
good of the community while Achilles fights for the good of the individual. They differ because of their
circumstances and experiences. Unlike Hector, Achilles was born a demigod, which resulted in his
overconfidence. Unlike Achilles, Hector has a family to take care of and shares a lot of burden. I would
say Hector is a better hero than Achilles because one quality of being a hero is fighting for the others.