Achilles shows his suffering throughout the Iliad as he prolongs his sulk and anger. But he particularly suffers in Book 1, when his pride and arrogance are used against him sparking the catalyst to both himself and Agamemnon’s quarrel. Because Achilles is quite an arrogant character, his pride gets hurt a lot, “I see no point in staying here to be insulted,” these words of Achilles imply that because his pride is hurt, as he has been, “robbed” of his prize, he feels the need to cover his hurt by being arrogant. Achilles knows he is a valued warrior and therefore threatens to leave the battlefield. He acts as if he doesn’t care, but later in book 11 we see that this is in fact not the case as Homer tells us that Achilles, “had been watching the uphill work of battle” This proves that in Book 1, Achilles was just suffering from his pride. He didn’t want anyone to see his pride is hurt thus pretending he didn’t care to fight. But here in Book 11, Homer tells us that Achilles can’t stay away from the battle so he watches from afar. He is actually interested, only his pride remaining intact is his full priority at this moment in the Iliad.
However, one of the glaring differences between the two warriors is their motive for battle. Achilles is a self-centred warrior, and his motivation for fighting is only for glory and Kelos, as we see in Book 9 when he states one of the reasons why he won’t fight, “Cowards and brave men are given equal respect.” This annoys Achilles because for him, ‘the brave man’, fighting is all about Kelos and being brave. Hector on the other hand is not fighting for fame or glory; he is fighting only to protect the people he loves. We see the main source for Hectors motivation in Book 6, in a scene with his wife Andromache, "But may the earth be piled high over my dead body before I hear your cries as they drag you off." this quote allows us to see into the true character of this loving and caring man. He truly loves his family and does not want any harm
to come to them when he is dead; this is clearly the driving force behind Hector’s ferocious fighting spirit.
Achilles and Hector appear to have different values when it comes to family as well. There is no suggestion to Achilles commitment to his family, as we see in Book 9 when Odysseus try’s to persuade him by mentioning the advice Achilles father has given him, “Avoid destructive quarrels” you would have thought Achilles would have abided his fathers advice but instead he has done quite the opposite from the start of the Iliad. This lack of respect for his elders and family highlights the difference between himself and Hector. Hector is obviously a devoted family man and loved dearly by all. A good example of this is in Book 6, Hector has a brief discussion with his brother Paris. Hector tells Paris, “It distresses me to hear such shameful things said about you by the Trojans, who are suffering so much on your account.” The way Hector has carefully addressed his loved brother with this issue we see that no matter how angry he was about Paris’ inability to fight, “we will make up for anything…” - he still loved him. Hector is truly devoted to his family.
The warriors have both, similarities and differences. However, I feel personally that theses differences play more of a significance in the importance of their characters actions in the plot. Pushing the obvious aside, both being mighty warriors, Achilles is still a ‘long-haired’ Greek and Hector a ‘Horse-taming Trojan’. These warriors are branded by their own armies; they have their own families within their camps. They collide because they are so different in the Iliad and have their own men, in the case of hector, to think about. I do not think that Achilles and Hector, “have more in common with each other than they do with their own people.” for those reasons.