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Paris: Magnificent Hero or Spoiled Child? Homer uses tone, imagery, epithets, and similes to describe Paris’ character. Outwardly, Paris is a brave person, but inwardly, he is full of doubts and fears. He is like a stallion that has bee ....

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... At first glance, he appears very afraid, hardly the hero he is supposed to be. He “dissolves,” as Homer describes it, a verb choice which implies fragmentation of attitude or feeling. It is as if his famed hero’s will were itself disintegrating on the battlefield. Homer uses the epithet “proud” to modify the Trojan lines, an adjective that intensifies the effect of Paris’ action of retreating by mentioning its opposite. Homer further reviles Paris by calling him, ironically, “magnificent” and “brave,” thereby heightening the indignity of his cowardly retreat. Anothe ...