Narrow road leads to life essays

Narrow road leads to life essays All humans have once dreamed of becoming a hero and living a heroic life in the paradise they establish. Why do these heroes struggle and suffer on the troubled path with many hardships instead of doing something easily on a simple and plain path? Because in order to reach the heroic life, they must first learn to purge a few of their negative qualities. The heroes in Homer ¡Ã‚ ¯s Iliad and The Mission by Roland Joffe share similarities in their heroism and in their process of becoming established as a hero. In the Iliad, Achilles is a strong warrior who has ability to cope single-handedly with an infinite army of enemies; he values pride, honor, glory, and fame very highly. As his king Agamemnon takes Achilles ¡Ã‚ ¯ war prize Briseis away, Achilles develops a wrath and decides not to help the king with advice or action in the war, for he feels that Agamemnon  ¡Ã‚ °has wholly deceived and beguiled [him] ¡(109). Briseis is not the reason for Achilles ¡Ã‚ ¯ ate, blindness; the feeling of disgrace and the insult to his pride, which torments his heart, is the true cause of his ate. Similar to Achilles, Rodrigo Mendoza in The Mission goes through the experience of his mistress leaving him for his brother. In a rush of anger, shame, dishonor, and jealousy, he loses his temper and commits an action that he will regret for rest of his life, killing his own brother. These two men are blinded by their wrath and hubris, unable to look beyond and seek the true definition of being a hero an d unable to live a glorious life. Clouded by ignorance, selfishness, and individualism, Achilles makes a mistake by sending his close friend Patroclos to the battlefield with his armor instead of him. He still does not see that if others suffer, then he will also suffer. When Achilles receives the bad news that Patroclos has died,  ¡Ã‚ °he [sweeps] up the dust with both hands, and [pours] it over his head and [smirches] his handsome face, till the black dirt...