The Wrath of Johnny Castle -- Part 6

This post follows Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5.

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The Greek epic poem The Iliad, written by Homer is sometimes called "The Wrath of Achilles". In the Greek language, the epic's very first word is the Greek word for "wrath". The first stanza has been translated by Ennis Rees as follows:

Sing, oh Goddess, the ruinous wrath of Achilles,
Son of Peleus, the terrible curse that brought
Unnumbered woes upon the Achaeans and hurled
To Hades so many heroic souls, leaving
Their bodies the prey of dogs and carrion birds.

Homer wrote the epic in order to teach the Greeks about the national consequences of their leaders' wrath. After the Trojan War, in which the epic takes place, the Greek nation declined into a Dark Age that lasted for centuries.

Homer illustrated such disastrous wrath with the example of the Achaean (Greek) warlord Achilles. After one battle, he had been awarded a captive young woman, named Briseis. Soon afterwards, however, Briseis was taken away from him by the King Agamemnon. That confiscation caused Achilles' wrath, and he therefore refused to fight further in the Achaean army against the Trojans.

Because of Achilles wrathful refusal, the Achaeans' war against the Trojans dragged on, and many more Achaeans died. Although the Achaeans eventually captured Troy by trickery, the Achaean nation could not recover from the war's losses and dissensions.

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The following video clips from the 2004 movie Troy depict how Achilles took possession of the captive Briseis but then had to turn her over to Agamemnon.

The following video summarizes the entire epic.

The following is philosopher Gregory Sadler's first lecture in a series about the theme of anger in ancient literature.

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Comparing Dirty Dancing to The Iliad, I make the following rough analogies.

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Johnny Castle is like Achilles

Both these characters are extraordinarily masculine men, but both are troubled by angry resentments.

Johnny's violent anger endangers his fantasy of joining the Houseman family.

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Max Kellerman is like King Agamemnon

Max's prohibiting Johnny from romancing the female guest is like Agamemnon's taking Briseis from Achilles.

Johnny knows he will be fired if he is caught being sexual (or merely romantic) with Baby.

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Robbie Gould is like Hector, the Trojan's best warrior

Whereas Johnny is the handsome young hero of the movie's Gentile tribe, Robbie is the handsome young hero of the Jewish tribe.

Johnny beats up Robbie, just as Achilles killed Hector in battle.

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Penny Johnson is like Helen of Troy

The Gentile beautiful young woman Penny is seduced by the Jewish rogue Robbie, just as Achaean queen Helen was seduced by the Trojan prince Paris.

The two seductions happen before the two stories take place, but cause the main conflicts in the two stories.

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Lisa Houseman is like Andromache, the wife of Hector

Lisa's being the traditional, loyal girlfriend of Robbie is like Anromache being the traditional, loyal wife of Hector.

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Baby Houseman is like Briseis

Baby is the object of struggle among older men, just as Briseis is the object of such a struggle.

Briseis is a young woman who -- because of unusual circumstances -- comes under the control of Achilles.

Baby is a young woman who likewise comes under the control of Johnny.

Briseis's father and Agamemon struggle to remove her from the control of Achilles.

Baby's father and Max struggle to remove her from the control of Johnny.

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I make the above analogies just for fun. They are not worth arguing about.

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I will continue this article in Part 7.