Book VI (Hector Returns to Troy)

Hector Returns to Troy; the other side. Notice that the Trojans are similar to the Greeks; they don't live by different rules; there's is a shame culture, they live by the Heroic or Warrior Code; they have the same fatalism about death, the same desire to give their life some meaning through achieving fame and glory. The fact that the Trojans are so much like the Greeks makes me believe in the scholars who suggest that the end of civilization in this part of the world and the ensuing Dark Age was not because of barbarian invasions from far away parts of the world, but it was because they fought each other. The Trojan War is more like a civil war than anything else. Oh yes, to be sure, maybe the fighting amongst themselves weakened their greatness so much that they became vulnerable to invasion from others, but was it ultimately their own fault? Is that what Homer is getting at?

Hector's talks with the members of his family show the reader what kind of man he is.

His mother: VI, 168-92. Homer establishes Hector's piety and duty. He's such a religious man that he will not make an offering to the gods when his hands are dirty. He is so dutiful that he will not drink wine for fear of relaxing and losing his battle edge.

His brother:VI, 244-58. Hector takes the time to help his brother, symbolically lounging in the bedroom, do the right thing which is to return to battle. He's worried about his brother's reputation and he does not reproach his brother for causing the war.

Helen: VI, 272304. Helen establishes herself as scheming and seductive; Hector resists her, but he does not chastise her for her part in the cause of the war.

His wife, Andromache: VI, 348-86. Hector is alive to her desperation. He does not regard her as mere property.

His son: 423-39. Hector delights in his son.

Through these relationships with his family, Homer establishes Hector as the quintessential "good guy." Dutiful to his country, loyal to his family -- even to the brother who caused the war -- loving to his wife and son, and religious.

But, but: Hector cares most for glory: VI, 387-98

Hector is fatalistic: VI, 445

  What Homer shows the reader with the character of Hector is the quintessential heroic code warrior. Unlike Agamemnon, Hector is a dutiful and brave man who is sensitive to his family, but also ambitious of glory. At this point he seems a better hero than Achilles who is willing to sacrifice his men for the pride that causes him to withdraw from the war.