51 pages • 1 hour read
Steven PressfieldGates of Fire
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1998A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
The True Nature of Courage
The ever-looming threat of Persian invasion sends periodic waves of panic throughout Greece. Dienekes, as an ambassador trying to bring other Greek city-states into the alliance against Persia, is constantly confronted with the results of this fear, prompting his frequent musings upon the nature of fear and how it can be overcome.
Although there are examples of warriors who have no innate fear of battle, such as Polynikes and Rooster, Dienekes discounts this type of andreia, or courage. For Dienekes, true courage is the overcoming of fear, rather than the absence thereof, and he puzzles over the question of how to overcome one’s fear.
Throughout the novel, it is hinted that it is fear of failing one’s comrades that allows a man to overcome his fear. This view is represented early in the story by Bruxieus, who tells Xeones that a man can only be brave standing together with the other citizens of his city, and made more explicit in Dienekes’s description of a pack of dogs attacking a lion. In this view, it is the fear of exclusion by one’s peers, the fear of being seen as a coward in their eyes, that gives a man the courage to overcome his fear.
Dienekes, however, finds this to be only a partial explanation. If true courage cannot occur in the absence of fear, he also reasons that it is not true courage to overcome one fear with a greater one. Nevertheless, the answer does lie in the bond between brothers-in-arms. Although the rest of the Greeks believe that the Spartans have no fear because they train so much, in reality it is the bonds forged by the shared hardships of their drilling that gives the Spartans their courage. Suicide recognizes as much when says that it is this bond, or “glue,” as he calls it, that is the secret of Spartan military success (454).
Coupled with this insight from Suicide, the decision of the merchant Elephantinos to fight and die with the Spartans provides Dienekes with his answer. Elephantinos makes his decision based upon the bonds he has established with the young warriors whom he has comforted and tended to over the past several days. His affection for them will not allow him to abandon them, and Dienekes recognizes that it is this love for one’s comrades, rather than fear of exclusion by them, that it is the true opposite of fear.
The Difference Between the Courage of Men and of Women
Dienekes’s interrogation of the nature of courage focuses primarily upon how men demonstrate courage, which is to be expected, given that he is a soldier. However, when asked who among the Spartans possesses true courage, Dienekes names only one living man, Leonidas, but two women, Arete and Paraleia, and gives his opinion that andreia’s true nature may be feminine rather than masculine.
Alexandros partially agrees with Ariston’s proposal that women’s courage is greater since their display of courage in sending their sons to war runs counter to their natural impulse to protect their children. But Alexandros augments his companion’s argument by noting that women are able to do this by putting the greater good of the polis above the personal wellbeing of their sons. Women’s love for their country overcomes their own self-interest.
Gorgo’s counsel to Paraleia frames a Spartan woman’s duty as presenting a stoic front in the face of personal grief. In noting that the weight of this responsibility is proportional to a woman’s status–that people naturally look to the wives of leaders who must themselves then lead by example–Gorgo’s advice complements the advice given by Leonidas to his platoon leaders at Thermopylae. Her husband’s advice recalls his lieutenants to their duties, and hers guides their wives.
The author’s placement of this anecdote at the end of the Xeones’s narrative–he dies immediately after completing it–cues the reader to understand that it is the Spartan women who are the ultimate source of Spartan courage. The sober bravery of the Spartan women, as exemplified by the wives of the city’s leading citizens, inspires the men to be worthy of them by fighting bravely to protect them. The indomitable will of the Spartan soldiers which their women inspire likewise drives their Thespaian allies to great feats of valor at Thermopylae.
The women’s love of country allows them to endure the grief of losing their loved ones, and the soldier’s desire to protect both his family and comrades in arms is also born out of love. But, as is seen when the Spartans return in shame after having failed to meet the Spartans in battle, the women’s role is primary, since their love of country and family will drive them to goad their men into fighting bravely.
The Bond of Brotherhood Between Soldiers
The themes of courage and love are mostly explored in the novel through the relationships between soldiers. Early in Xeones’s life, Bruxieus tells him that courage comes from being part of a polis and fighting alongside one’s fellow citizens. This view is substantiated repeatedly and throughout the story and elaborated on in several ways.
Bruxieus appears to believe that brotherhood can only exist between the citizens of the same city only, but Xeones’s own experiences show this to be false. Xeones is not a native of Sparta, nor is he ever made a citizen, but his love for the city is arguably greater than many of its natives because it is a love he has consciously chosen. Xeones’s love for Sparta contrasts sharply with Rooster’s contempt for it. The freedom to choose to be a subject of Sparta makes all the difference.
Just as Xeones’s commitment to serving as a squire in the Spartan army is deepened by every act of service he willingly performs, Elephantinos decides to fight and die with the Spartans after spending several days in their camp. Neither can bear the thought of leaving their brothers-in-arms behind even though they are both free to do so and save themselves.
In contrast, the Persian troops are mostly unwilling conscripts who must be whipped into battle. Although they fight furiously, it is a furor born of fear, not love, and without overwhelming numbers would prove unable to overcome the Spartans and other Greeks.
