Grendel and Lucifer: Both Grendel, Essay

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Studying the Iliad shows the reader that war, even in the long past, was not always viewed as glorious. The Greeks viewed it as an evil necessity. That is why when Thresities suggests that the Greeks leave and go home, he is condemned by Odysseus. But the war is never a joyous pursuit, and many of the warriors, such as Odysseus, regret ever being forced to participate in the war at all, no matter how many titles and spoils they might win. The Iliad teaches the reader that hatred of violence is not something new to our modern society, but has existed since the beginning of time.

Paradise Lost teaches a similar lesson, showing the evils of war dramatized in the persona of Satan, who, even after being defeated by God is still determined to inflict his evil upon the world:

What though the field be lost?

All is not lost; the unconquerable Will,

And study of revenge, immortal hate,

And courage never to submit or yield:

And what is else not to be overcome? (Book 1)

Courageously, Milton makes Satan a seductive and complex character, so the reader both sympathizes with him, but ultimately sees his folly of believing that war is better than peace to achieve one's own ends and ambitions.

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In Satan and Achilles, a reader is also able to see the folly of the idea being a warrior means one will live a happy life. Also, both show the falseness of the idea that 'I matter most.' Both of these characters put their own ambitions and needs above the needs of others -- Satan when he rebels, and Achilles when he refuses to fight because his 'spoil of war,' a slave-girl is taken from him and claimed by Agamemnon. Even if society does not treat them fairly, the actions of these self-interested individuals who embody so many of the faults of our modern 'me first' era have much to teach us today: greatness is no excuse for bad….....

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