#izenberg

During what is dubbed as the Homeric age, the people of Ancient Greece lived by certain values in their everyday lives as what is now called shame culture. This shame culture differs from modern-time's guilt culture, which justifies actions by judging whether a course of events is right or wrong. Shame culture, on the other hand, justifies actions by judging whether it will bring honor or shame upon their reputation. The value of honor was placed above all else and was deeply flawed in the sense that lead all to believe that all fighting equated as being "heroic". The valiant as well as the coward will fight to death for there is a sense of honor that is received, whether through success or death, that retreating or surrendering lacks. Such as the brilliant Hector, who turns a blind eye on family values due to the shame he is to receive if he chose to retreat from battle. He fought until his last breath for he would rather risk life for either kudos or kleos than to risk living a life of shame. 

Shame culture then lead to many prolonged disputations for neither side would surrender due to the lack of honor it would display upon them. This is probably the reason why the Trojan War lasted ten years fighting over what might have been just over a girl, Helen, before it finally came to an end. Humanity took a step forward as it converted into the modern guilt culture. No longer was society to be constituted by the judgement dependent on outside forces constructed by society, but rather by what comes from within human consciousness and critical thinking. However, early attempts of this new culture within the Americas deemed to be unsuccessful as it lead to the infamous Salem WItch Trials. People were accused of witches and led fight a war between them and their neighbors. This lead there to be a hostile environment in which no one could be trusted for they had it backwards. It was not until much later that the U.S. Constitution proclaimed that the accused is innocent until proven guilty rather than guilty until proven innocent. 

The evolution of shame culture to guilt culture ultimately lead to the dismay of prolonged warfare for honor is no longer placed above all else, but rather by moral and logical justifications concluded by sound reasoning.A sense of human agency and individuality is essentially what corrected honorable band wagon culture. 

WORKS CITED

Homer. The Iliad. Trans. Robert Fagles. New York: Penguin Classics, 1991. Print.

Izenberg, Oren. “Aristos Akhaiôn (Best of the Achaeans): Value and Cultural Contradiction in The Iliad.” Humanities Core. University of California, Irvine. Irvine, CA. 13 October 2014. Class lecture. 

Miller, Arthur. "The Crucible". New York: Penguin Books, 1976. Print.