In comparison with Hector, Achilles resembles something of a mama's boy; in fact, we see him crying to his mother Thetis that the gods have not done enough for him by punishing the Greeks. Sounding like a little boy, he tells her how sad she should be for the wrongs done to him:I wish you had gone on living then with the other goddesses/ of the sea, and that Peleus had married some mortal woman./As it is, there must be in your heart a numberless sorrow for your son's death, since you can never again receive him/ won home again to his country. (Lattimore, 1967:377) He behaves like a selfish, immature child and also resembles a horrific beast in his actions. However, great irony exists in Achilles' obsessive desire to kill Hector and avenge the death of his friend Patroklos, since as Thetis reminds him, "It is decreed your death must come soon after Hector's." Being a demigod, Achilles does not possess immortality, and the fatal flaw in his makeup (his mother held him by the ankle when she dipped him in the water) means that he will die someday. Yet after killing Hector in the great fight scene that concludes his struggles, Achilles does not hesitate to defy the gods and sneer at the threatened curse of Apollo: "Die: and I will take my own death at whatever time/ Zeus and the rest of the immortals choose to accomplish it" (Lattimore, 1967:445). In achieving his revenge for the death of his friend, Achilles shows us that he truly does feel compassion for humans and reveals one of his more endearing qualities; loyalty. Like Achilles, Odysseus has weaknesses of character, but behind them lie a keen intelligence, wit, and steadfastness of purpose. In the Trojan War, Odysseus had been a secondary character, notable mainly for his role in the episode of the Trojan horse. In The Odyssey, however, Odysseus assumes the dimension of a true epic hero, surviving a long string of adventures and calamities before finally making his great homecoming ...
