ntage" of epic as a narrative strategy, however, is that its scope and length "increase the weight of the poem, and give it the merits of grandeur, variety of interest, and diversity in its episodes" (Aristotle 67).
Morner and Rausch make more than does Aristotle of the fact that epic action tends to be organized around the figure of the epic hero, who embodies the cultural values that are articulated in the text. But the heroic figure cannot be dispensed with in an effective epic--a point that, as will be shortly seen, Simone Weil picks up in her essay on the Iliad. Epics, explain Morner and Rausch, deal with "heroic characters and deeds important in the legends and history of a nation or race" (64). The climate of grandeur is suited to producing the epic hero and lends moral weight to the portrayal and judgment of human nature. In that regard, Rieu (vii) describes the Iliad as a tragedy, contrasting it with the romance-adventure of the Odyssey. The Iliad does not achieve power solely because it deals with Achilles' killing of Hector but instead because
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