Homer, Medea and Bhagavad-Gita
Throughout history, violence has been a matter of public fascination. Humans were determined to discover when the use of violence is appropriate by looking at the nature of the violence and the context in which it occurs. In the epic poem, Iliad, Homer uses the Achaean warrior, Achilles, to show the destructiveness of injured pride that, led by the self-centered need for glory, produces unimaginable rage. Euripides, in his tragedy, Medea, presents suppressed rage of a submissive woman motivated by revenge and selfish need to alleviate her pain through violence. However, the Hindu epic, The Bhagavad-Gita, introduces Arjuna, the warrior and the king, that refuses to fight a civil war because of his religious believes, but is forced into the pursuit of violence as the only way to preserve social order and fulfill his secret duty. While Achilles and Medea choose to use the violence because their ego obliged them to take actions that promote their self-interest, Arjuna is forced to use the violence for the benefit of his society and religion. Therefore, from these examples the violence emerges as a dangerous tool that should be used free from selfishness to be classified as acceptable by the society.
For his uncontrollable nature the only stimulus that will return him to the battlefield is the death of his friend that Achilles describes as: "Patroclus-the man that I loved beyond all other comrades, / loved as my own life-I've lost him -Hector killed him," (Iliad XVIII. 95-96). Led by the desire to avenge Patroclus and appealed by winning the eternal glory, he ultimately decides to enter the battlefield again. His thoughtless rage and frustration, which were stirring from his previous incident with Agamemnon, makes Achilles kill the Trojans to satisfy his bloodlust and fury. After slaughtering Hector, he ignobly mistreats his corpse allowing even the rank and file of his army to indulge in his feast. Here, it becomes obvious how destructive are the emotions that drive human beings to seek revenge by using violence. Achilles' wrath, obsessive concern with reputation, and overwhelming aspiration to confirm his existence through unnatural brutality testify how easily self-centered desires became the instrument for gratuitous cruelty. Achilles proves that his egotism blinded his consciousness and made him utterly disrespect all warrior ethics that constituted the society to which he belonged. Violence is an everlasting phenomenon that is an inevitable companion of human development. When we look at Achilles' decision to use excessively violence to satisfy his injured pride, we are reminded of vanity of many contemporary leaders. His violation of all norms of his society to satisfy his ego raises serious questions about the actual progress of out modern civilization and the ways men with the power today handle their rage. By using basic human psychology and the claim that women are the victims of society's expectation to sacrifice them on the altar of social acceptability we can explain Medea's indecision to pursue violence. Although reasons for her brutality can be explained, contemporary society still have many women committing horrible murders that includes killing of their own children. Finally, Arjuna's case testifies, how with the help of religion, humans try very often to explain that the usage of violence is regulated by the God and serves as a means to preserve harmony in the societies. However, the cruelty and numerous victims of man
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Approximate Word count = 1525
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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