The Cost of War - Iphigenia at Aulis and The Iliad Juliet Johnson College

For every great war, there is a payment to be made- in blood, loss, sacrifice - for the hope of a greater glory. Each person involved gives up something, or many things, for a victory that may or may not come. In The Iliad and Iphigenia at Aulis, the cost of the Trojan war is looming and ever-present for soldiers, leaders, families, and nations. Achilles loses his humanity towards Hector; Agamemnon relinquishes his personal freedom; the families of Patroclus, and Hector, Agamemnon lose loved ones closest to them; Troy and Greece lose parts of their culture to death and grief; and Iphigenia and Patroclus pay the greatest price, giving up their lives, in fulfilling their fate to sacrifice themselves for their country. All these are given in the hopes of achieving everlasting fame. The ultimate, unavoidable price to gain victory in war is sacrifice of what we hold dearest: our humanity, freedom, identity, and even our life. These losses cannot be helped, but an eternal honor can be attained which redeems the sacrifice that was made. This sacrifice can turn mortal life into an immortal one through the realm of stories.

In the Trojan war, hundreds of thousands of men died fighting for a conflict over Helen, the beautiful wife of...