Discuss the difference between the depictions of violence, war, and loyalty in Macbeth as compared to the Iliad. Compare the killing in Macbeth to the battle between the Greeks and Trojans. How is the Iliad similar to or different from Macbeth in terms of time period, context, and differences in the way they seize power? How do both plays battle for their “homeland”; that is Scotland/England in Macbeth or Troy/Greece in the Iliad ?

I would begin by noting that one of the critical differences between Iliad and Macbeth is that the violence in Macbeth tends to be much more personal, as much of the story's plot is shaped by murder. Macbeth takes power by killing Duncan and then oversees the murder of Banquo (and the attempted murder of his son) and, later still, the murder of Macduff's family. While Macbeth does feature war as well (Macbeth's rise and fall are both shaped in the context of war, with him gaining the thaneship of Cawdor through his exploits in battle, before later being defeated in battle by an army supporting Malcolm's claim to kingship), war is not quite front-and-center in Macbeth as it is in Iliad. The Iliad is primarily a war story. One cannot say the same of Macbeth.
That being said, this does not mean that there are not parallels. Violence is a major theme in both stories. Macbeth certainly comes across as a bloodthirsty character, and we see that same theme in the Iliad as well, although it is expressed within the context of war, whereas the greater part of Macbeth's violence can be found outside of the battlefield. Consider the violent intensity of someone like Diomedes, whenever he appears on a battlefield. One must also note the theme of betrayal: Macbeth himself is an usurper, who murders his lawful liege, Duncan, in order to seize the throne and employs further treachery in his attempts to secure it. In Macbeth, however, this treachery is largely unprovoked: Duncan was a worthy liege, Banquo was his friend, and Macduff's family has done nothing to Macbeth. In Iliad, by contrast, the themes of loyalty are far more complicated, particularly as they apply to the feud between Agamemnon and Achilles, which is in many respects a clash of egos. Agamemnon's decisions in Book One are largely motivated by his own pride and vanity, and in the process, he clashes with Achilles, who, with his own pride wounded and feeling mistreated, responds to these slights by removing himself from the war. To conclude, I think one might say that the underlying themes of these two works are similar, but they tend to reflect in different contexts and in different ways.