Honor and Glory of War

Honor motivates all the characters, and determines whether they are worthy of respect. The novel primarily depicts the Trojan War, and does not condemn or criticize the war-leaders who began it, despite the 10 long years of suffering it causes. The entire Trojan war begins from the suffering of only one person: King Menelaus who is abandoned by his wife Helen due to Paris’s interference. Rather than civilly address the dispute, or accept that Helen made her decision, Menelaus feels that he has been dishonored greatly and that the best way to address the honor is launching warfare. All the kingdoms of Greece support him, at the request of the high King, and despite the irrelevance of Helen to the other Greeks lives, they all commit 10 years of their lives to fighting Menelaus’s battle. This commitment is only possible due to...