So why does Thersites alone get depicted as a pathetic in the

>>8988419
pathetic buffoon*

You can bitch and moan if you're an aristocrat. Thersites was not and complained at the wrong time as well. If you wish to make a complaint you generally have to do it in an assembly when you're permitted to speak (holding the speaking stick that Odysseus beat Thersites with).

>>8988877
>(holding the speaking stick that Odysseus beat Thersites with).
Huh, if you put it like that it's really obvious

>>8988932
Sure is. Check out Finley's "The World of Odysseus" if you're interested in learning more about why Thersites was beaten and the kind of social world Homer's characters inhabited.

>>8988944
>>8988932

Or if you want something even shorter, check this essay out:

http://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1022&context=fypapers

>>8988419
His complaints are not exactly the same as Achilles'. Achilles is complaining about having to give up his prize--the one he fought hard to obtain, a fine, fine prize--to compensate for Agamemnon's fuck up. Thersites did not win shit--true, he's not in a position to win anything--and is not forced to give up anything. He is a foot soldier. He's just bitching about nothing else than just that--his role in society. On top of it, he's doing it in public and in the most disrespectful way possible. He is asking for it so hard. He is known for having done this before because he loves the undeserved attention. Well, he's gonna get some attention, all right.

A nice analogy I have in mind is this: your wife serves you with a piece of overcooked meat. You're entitled to complain about her cooking, maybe even make some snarky comments. Mind you, you do not hurt her, leave her or anything drastic as that and you do eat your meat as it is. But you are right to complain. Let's say though that your son--no, let's say you're having your alcoholic cousin over for dinner and his semi-mongoloid fetal alcohol syndrome afflicted 12 year old brat makes the same snarky comments as you about the food, directly to your wife. You're God damn right to smack that little retarded shit over the head. He is in no position to speak to your wife like that, though he may have the exact same complaint as you did (which is not the case with Achilles and Thersites).

>>8988419
Thersites is the first troll. He revels in annoying those superior to him in any way because he can't get any attention otherwise. I think he is the only "villain" in the Iliad, that is the only character with only negative traits.