In the Iliad, Homer highlights how it is human nature that individuals are susceptible to malevolent intentions, no matter how deeply rooted their own moral compass, thus allowing the Iliad to be considered a moral drama. The Iliad is also considered a moral work mainly due to the fact that there are characters other than the protagonist who demonstrate the embodiment of virtue and corrupt behavior. The show also offers the audience the opportunity to get moral advice. It is the sum of these characteristics that allows the Iliad to be considered a morality play. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay An important moral of the Iliad is associated with how the failure of reason and lack of control over human passion prove to be the root cause of discord and tragedy. If man behaves irrationally, irrational situations will happen to him. Nature and the gods come together to reinforce this irrationality and then tragedy results in the question of who and what is responsible for man's fate. The fundamental belief of the ancient Greeks was that man was at the mercy of forces much stronger than himself and was at the whim of those forces or more specifically subservient to the will of Zeus at the same time. There are also issues of personal responsibility and men must make decisions in which they balance their passions with reason. Achilles' main concern that manifests itself most frequently in the epic is anger and is the source of much suffering on the part of his fellow warriors. He refuses to join their fight out of pride and they endure many losses and deaths due to his selfish decisions. In the case of Achilles, it is his vengeance and anger that flood him and ultimately cause him to succumb to his fatal, untimely death. The purpose of the Iliad is to show the importance of man's life in this same struggle. Achilles is a hero because he emerges from this fight a better man. Initially he goes through phases of pride, fury and revenge, all caused by a state of anguish. He is stripped of his honor and loses his best friend due to his irrational behavior, but when he finally rushes into battle knowing he is destined to die and is moved by Hector's father's touching pleas to return Hector's body, he suffers a 'important transformation. He acknowledges that there are forces greater than himself and comments that men are miserable things and Gods who do not care have woven pain into the very pattern of people's lives. It is with this awareness that he develops a genuinely tragic view of life and becomes a true tragic hero. This transformation offers the audience the opportunity to be encouraged to live a righteous life and gain moral guidance, thus making this epic a moral work. The Iliad also contains several characters who accurately depict the virtuous and corrupt traits that appear throughout the epic. Odysseus is an intelligent character, yet his actions reflect his misguided moral judgment. He appears to be using deception and dishonorable warfare tactics to get ahead in the Trojan War. His intelligence and lack of honor allow him to get ahead in life, however it is known that he will pay for his actions later on during his journey back to Ithaca, as made evident in the Odyssey. The principle of punishment for one's actions is made evident through Odysseus and other characters in the Iliad. There are many themes and messages in the Iliad: one of the themes is justice which operates in a very brutal way in the story and most of the time men find themselves confused,.