William Chiu

The Ramayana was very similar to the Iliad but didn't live up to the expectations I had for this poem. I was looking forward to a poem with a completely different form and characterization than that of the Iliad. However despite the similarities, the starting of war because of the kidnapping of Rita and Helen was the most surprising. I immediately thought that one of the authors of the poems must have imitated the other in the plot of the story. The second similarity that struck me as too similar would be the heroes of the story. Ram resembles Achilles in every way as a warrior and war ideal except for his nobleness as a human being. This is probably the greatest distinction between the stories. The Ramayana has a deep focus of morality and the way people should function in society as opposed to Iliad which seems to lack such objectives. Ram is almost the Noah of Genesis in the way one man serves to lead by example. Perhaps the authors attempted to achieve the same effect through different ways of teaching. The similarities of the stories makes me wonder if Iliad attempts to be a moral story by teaching its readers through it's depiction of a hero's anger and flaws as an example of the sinful way of living which should be avoided.