What does a tragic figure mean? In my opinion, it means a person have to lost or sacrifice something and have no choice to do his deeds because of his responsibility. As you can see, these people usually are great and famous. But although they are brilliant in their life, they still make mistakes in judgment. At last they will suffer by the mistake they made. The two great warriors in Iliad, Achilleus and Hektor, had become a tragic figure by Homer. They are consider as a tragic figure because they are famous and had sacrificed or suffered due to their decision. Referring to the topic, I think Hektor is more tragic than Achilleus because he has no choice but fight. And it is not only for his own pride, but also his family, and his country. .
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To Achilleus, he was the greatest warrior in the Achaian army and even the whole war. Like other peoples in the society at that time, the main reason for him to fight is to win time, which is the honor of men. He did not allow other people to take away his honor. Therefore he quitted the Achaian army during the war since he was insulted by Agamemnon, who is the king of Mycenae. Achilleus was angry because Agamemnon took away his prize of the war, Briseis. He saw this treat by Agamemnon as an outrage of his honor and lost of time. So he step aside even though the Achaian army were losing, getting killed by the Trojans. He even hoped the Trojans kill more of his fellow. At this point I cant see any manner that a warrior should have since it is his responsibility to lead his army to fight. Although he might be struggled in his mind about to leave or stay and pay a lot of concern about his comrades but he couldnt show it due to his pride. He chooses to leave the battle. I think that this is a very selfish decision. He just care about himself but not his fellows, soldier, and country. Also it is the setup of the later scene why he returned to the battle to revenge for his closest friend, Patroklos.
