Roles of Hector

by filetmignonmediumrare

Hector is a family man who loves his wife, Andromache, who cries and begs him not to fight Achilles. Hector loves his baby son, Scamandrius, and kisses him and throws him in the air, he is the light in his life and he prays to Zeus that the baby will be strong and brave like himself when he grows up. Even though Hector loves his wife and son, it is more important to him to have glory and the respect of others both during his life and after death and he ignores his wife’s begging to not go to war.

Hector prides himself on being strong and a leader of the Trojan army. How people view him is critical. People count on Hector to protect Troy and he feels a great amount of responsibility. Hector has fought and killed many men and is ready to step up to Achilles. Hector feels responsible that Troy’s army is in the weak position they are in because of his pride.

Honor is the important thing in life for Hector. He is willing to fight Achilles even though he knows he is very likely to lose his life. He feels there is no way out. If he chickens out, he will lose the respect of his people. Hector feels he will get glory by fighting Achilles, either by winning and killing him, or by dying in honor fighting for Troy. Honor is more important to hector than his own life is to him. Hector tells his wife she will be proud of him when he is dead and the people go on and on about how great he is. Hector pauses and considers taking off his armor, reasoning with Achilles, giving back Helen and her treasures but quickly decides this would be cowardice and that Achilles would immediately kill him as he entered the gates. Hector knows he is doomed but marches to fight Achilles anyway.