Achilles Pride Essay

Achilles is the type of character that you love and hate at the same time. He’s the hero, but he also has deep flaws that causes him to do things that make you hate him -- such as, killing Hector and dragging his body behind his chariot. Achilles is a selfish, prideful warrior who is full of rage that he typically can’t control. But Achilles is also a dynamic character; he doesn’t stay the same selfish, prideful warrior from the start of the poem to the end of it. He learns lessons along his journey from the people and situations he encounters that changes him.

The great talents that Achilles’ possesses cause him to become much admired and well known by both the Greeks and the Trojans. He begins to believe all the good things people are say and becomes an arrogant, child-like, selfish person which all mark Achilles’ hubris part of his behavior cycle. Achilles shows his arrogance when he gets angry with Agamemnon for him wanting take his prize of honor, which Achilles worked very hard to get. Because of this, Achilles begins to lose his capability to think straight and weigh all the factors in situations, and withdraws himself from the battle. Later on after Achilles overcomes the death of his best friend and regains back his courage and pride, Achilles kills Hector and thinks he is invincible for doing the great deed he did. Achilles fought Hector for honor over all else and performed the death of Hector almost as a duty and feels proud of himself for doing so. Before he kills Hector, Achilles declares, “I will go forth to slay Hector, who killed the man the I loved… Until then, may I win great fame and glory, and may every Trojan realize that the greatest of the Greeks no longer remains apart from battle”(145).

Hector’s pride caused him to be clouded with negative thoughts in his quest for revenge as he brutally slaughtered the Trojans and excessively tortured Hector. Nevertheless, Priam’s sorrow causes Achilles to empathize since he could imagine what it would be like if his father had to go through a similar situation like Priam. This change of heart causes Achilles to forgo hatred in exchange for compassion. Although Achilles shows flaws in his character, his heroism even in the brink of death along with this transformative change as a person demonstrates the cultural expectations of strong leadership in terms of taking physical and emotional qualities into strong consideration.

The Ancient Greeks idealized and worshiped their heroes, this is portrayed in Homer’s epic poem, The Iliad. To become a hero in ancient Greece, one would have to live and die in pursuit of glory and honor. Both Achilles and Hector seek victory in battle to become the “true hero.” Although both characters possess many hero-like qualities, Hector proved to be the genuine hero.

In book 22, Hector becomes an instrument of fate and is shown no mercy by Achilles. Hector was consistently tricked by Apollo into fighting the battle even though there was no hope of winning. At the end of the book, as Achilles is bounding towards the city of Troy with Hector standing out front. Despite all of the encouragement to come back inside the city walls, Hector remains outfront and faces his death. Ultimately his pride gets the best of him and he would rather stay out and accept his fate of death, then to come inside and receive shame for leading his people into a losing battle in the first place. Hector chooses to leave his city to fend for itself without its greatest warrior to save himself from shame. The parallel between Hector and Achilles leads to a greater understanding of the theme of freedom vs. fate. Hector gives into his pride and accepts the “fate that awaits us all” and Achilles is motivated by freedom and seeks the revenge of his friend ultimately escaping death. Homer makes an excellent statement of this connection between the two men when he writes: “They ran by these springs, pursuer and pursued, a great man out front, a far greater behind” (book

In The Iliad, Homer plays with the ideas that Zeus, the god and leader of all, ultimately may not be in charge. Countless times during the text, Zeus bends to the wills of prophecies, mortals, and even other gods. As the story develops, Zeus becomes less in charge and more of a puppet for mortals and gods who have contrivances for and against him. Through prophecy, Achilles, and Hera, this essay will glimpse at the idea of Zeus simply being a puppet on strings in the hands of war.

After Patroclus' death in the Iliad, Achilles enters a state of emotional turmoil where he is constantly stuck between the emotions of sadness and anger. Achilles is grieving for his dear friend but is struck with rage and a want for revenge toward Hector for killing his friend. This rage allows Achilles to lead the Greek army as they slaughter Trojan after Trojan until Hector lies dead before him. Achilles rage shows the underlying problem in human's tendency towards violence. Humans will always be emotionally drawn into seeking revenge against those who wronged them, creating an endless cycle of violence. The only way to break this cycle of revenge and violence is through escaping the emotion turmoil that comes from violence. Throughout Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried, the soldiers in Vietnam use dark humor to avoid the emotional response that comes from death. When Tim O'Brien and his company come across the body of a dead elderly man, O'Brien's company proceeds to shake the man's hand and talk to him as if he were alive. This morbid humor allows for the young men to avoid the horrific reality that the war and even they themselves brings upon the world. By ignoring the fact that this elderly man had had his home and life ripped away by the plague of war, it allows for the young men to disconnect from the actions that they are performing in this foreign

Achilles’ pride is the usual trigger and fuel for his rage. In Book 1 of the Iliad, during the strategy meeting on how to deal with Apollo’s curse on the Greek camp, Achilles’ honor is threatened by Agamemnon. This insult to the prideful warrior almost leads to Achilles physically lashing out against his commander. It takes a god coming down from Mt. Olympus to quell his fury and to put his mind right. Not long after, Agamemnon follows through with his boast to take Achilles’ prize and delivers on the dishonor he had threaten Achilles with. This assault on Achilles’ pride causes him to withdraw from the war effort, to spite Agamemnon and his arrogance. His rage against Agamemnon is fueled by his wounded pride, keeping Achilles out of combat until after Book 18, where a new event ignites a terrifying fury within Achilles’ heart.

The intervention of gods provides the reader a way to stand out of the battlefield and see the whole world as the duality between gods and human. This approach of decoding the Iliad transforms readers' attitudes toward the individuals on the battlefield. Before talking about the transformation, it should be considered that who is the reader for the readers' own value system is a strong factor in valuing the characters in the book. First of all, the fact that readers are human-being may not subject to any doubt. Thus, in the duality of gods and human, readers will have a tendency to support humans as a man will tend to support oneself. Thus, when the gods so harm to humans as a whole, it easily brought up the readers' compassion towards the

Nestor, noble charioteer, captures best the essence of Achilles when he says, “Achilles, brave as he is, he has no care, / no pity for our Achaeans” (Homer 11.787-788). Most readers of the Iliad, consider Achilles the greatest warrior of The Trojan War, however, he lacks an important characteristic; care for others. Achilles’ best friend Patroclus, has described him as a great warrior, but a terrible person (11.774). In Homer's Iliad, Hector the great warrior of the Trojans, exhibits a selfless leadership approach, which contrasts to Achilles’ selfish actions as a leader. In order to be a great warrior, one’s loyalty must belong to something outside of themselves, and it’s through Achilles’ self-centered actions, that he loses the title of the greatest warrior to Hector. As the two capital warriors of the different sides of the Trojan war, Hector and Achilles provide an interesting contrast between two powerful leaders. Known for being loyal, selfless, and dedicated to his army, Hector contrasts to Achilles, who is self-serving in every aspect of his life. Despite his defeat at the hands of Achilles, Hector proves to be the greatest warrior of the Trojan War. The first characteristic Hector possesses, making him the superior warrior, is his ability to set his pride aside when he knows it will benefit his army. In contrast, Achilles allows his pride to control him and detriment his army. Another vital characteristic Hector’s possesses, making him a better leader, and

Warriors of ancient Greece were considered heroes by following the Heroic Code of excellence. They achieved this by acquiring a kleos; establishing fame, glory and a positive reputation. It was not an easy task to become a Grecian hero. Building and maintaining kleos meant that a warrior must be brave and strong, be “a speaker of words and a doer of deeds.” The solider had to protect his friends and harm his enemies, respect the gods and his elders, and most of all value his honor over his life. To die in battle, and be spoken of after death was the most important act of honor for a hero. The Greek tragedy, Iliad, attributed to Homer, portrays Achilles as the most gallant hero of the Athenian army. The story tells of Achilles, who develops into the greatest hero of the Trojan War. While the end of the end of the poem does portray Achilles as the solider that the story foretells throughout the poem he does not act like that. Many times in the story Achilles actions are perceived as unheroic but ultimately they shape the course of the few weeks of the Trojan Wars described in the Iliad, the Achaean’s final victory at Troy and his emergence as a hero.

Achilles can be described as a Tragic Hero in many ways. He was brave and had great strength but, he was also prideful and lacked control with his emotions, and in all the label of a tragic hero fits him. A Tragic hero is “a literary character who makes an error of judgment or has a fatal flaw that, combined with fate and external forces, brings on a tragedy” (“Tragic Hero”). To many men Achilles was god-like, and immortal, the epitome of a hero to the Greeks, he was strong, brave in the face of war, and of noble birth because he was the son of a goddess. In the Iliad, Achilles, driven by anger seeks revenge on Hector for killing his “dearest comrade” (“The Heroic Age”), Patroclus, whom he claims to have valued more than his own life. He

As we go about our life, we gain many accomplishments and will feel good about it, that is positive pride. But when we close ourselves off and do not accept other opinions and won't take appropriate action, that is when it is negative pride and it becomes hurtful. In The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller the pride held by individuals in the story becomes very damaging to the people around them. Through the destructive nature of pride it causes Achilles, Thetis, Patroclus and many others to suffer.

This decision of prideful betrayal brings many casualties to the Achaean army. Once Agamemnon apologetically offers Achilles many valuable gifts along with the return of his war prize, Achilles refuses. In this rejection, Achilles is putting his own animosity toward Agamemnon above the needs of his fellow Achaeans. His friend Phoenix tells him to think of his diminishing honor, but Achilles answers, “…what do I need with honor such as that ?/ … It degrades you to curry favor with [Agamemnon],/ and I will hate you for it, I who love you./ It does you proud to stand by me, my friend,/ to attack the man who attacks me…”(p 147). Not only does Achilles reject honor, but he egotistically asks his father figure, Phoenix, to give up his in order to take his side.

His actions directly cause even more difficulties on his journey home. In Achilles’ case, his pride indirectly influenced the fate of countless Greeks willing to fight against Troy, while he remained pouting. In an article about the Trojan War, Kevin Osborn states, “His tremendous pride caused him at one point to abandon his Greek comrades and quit the war because he felt insulted,” (Osborn). Had Achilles fought sooner, the war would have ended faster, and less lives would have been lost. Yet, as any great hero should be, both these men are terrific fighters. These men do not shy away from any form of combat and have no fear of getting blood on their hands. The real differences between these heroes appears in their methods of enacting violence.