In this chapter, Homer goes full soap opera. Knowing there’s a good chance he will be killed and Troy will fall, Hector goes to see his mother, his brother, his wife, and his infant son. This is the first time Homer devotes a whole chapter to Hector, and he comes off well.
He refuses his mother’s offer of a glass of honeyed wine for fear that it will dull his mind and blunt his purpose; instead, he tells her to go pray to Athena for the salvation of the Trojans.
Then he sees his brother, Paris, who gives such a whiny wimpy rationalization for why he’s not on the field of battle along with the rest of the Trojan men that I wanted to shove Hector’s twelve-foot bronze spear up his ass. Paris just sits by and polishes his fancy unused armor. Hector attempts to persuade him to get off his butt, and I’m thinking if this whole Valiant-Defender-of-Troy gig doesn’t work out for Hector, he could make a good living giving corporate motivational seminars.
Finally he visits his wife and son, who have already fled their home. I was struck by the relationship between Hector and his son. It seems very modern in the telling. Hector, bristling with armor, scares the child, who starts crying. Hector laughs gently, takes off his helmet, and begins tossing the boy up in the air, much to his delight. It’s an intimate scene, and though I’m no expert on classical literature, it seems rare to have a major character so physically involved with the rearing of an infant. Usually when we see father/son relationships, the boy is at least old enough to pick up a sword. There’s a tearful parting, as Hector pours out his fears that his wife will be abducted by the Achaeans when Troy falls and taken away to work as a slave. You’d think that Hector would want to buck up his wife’s spirits, to tell her not to be afraid, but instead he spills out his sorrows, doubts, and anxieties. Again, this strikes me as surprisingly modern.
Meanwhile, Hector’s mother has dutifully prayed and made offerings to Athena in hopes she will spare Troy, but Athena spurns her pleas. It’s hard to know what to make of Athena. All these gods and goddesses seem capricious. And while Athena has been an admirable character in previous chapters, here she comes off as a cold hard bitch.
Finally, Hector leaves the city and at the very end of the chapter, he is overtaken by his brother, Paris, who’s finally grown a pair. It’s a cinematic scene, with thundering horses and gleaming armor and the two brothers reunited on the battlefield as brothers-in-arms.
This chapter verges on–but never quite topples into–melodrama. It engaged me much more than the previous chapter which had lots of action and no feeling. I kept expecting Hector to go for a quickie with his wife, but apparently he’s too noble for that. I’m sure if HBO does an Iliad miniseries, there will be a sex scene put into the script there.
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