Achilles in The Illiad is not a Hero Essay

It is the tenth year of the Trojan War. Achilles, who is the greatest Greek warrior, is quarreling with Agamemnon, the leader of the Greek army. Achilles has challenged Agamemnon’s authority. In response to this challenge, Agamemnon takes hold of Achilles’ most prized possesion Briseis, as a replacement for the loss of his own, Chryseis. This instigates Achilles’ wrath and sparks the flaw that eventually brings his downfall.

The Greeks placed great importance on personal honor. Why is this? Is it because to them man I nothing without honor. Or is it that the honor is more important than the man? "Honor to the Greeks is something that is won by a man's prowess, his ability to fight and be victorious on the battle field"(Schein 62). This is just one example of how honor is obtained. A second method of gaining honor is to be a great orator, one must posses the ability to speak in the assembly and express his ideas eloquently, and persuasively to the gathered body. A third way of achieving personal honor is to demonstrate athletic ability.

Achilles is also angry at having to fight another man's battle. The Trojan War is being fought because Paris stole Helen, Agamemnon's sister-in-law. In his argument with Agamemnon, Achilles points out "It wasn't Trojan spearmen who brought me here to fight. The Trojans never did me damage, not in the least" (107). Achilles' rage heightens in the argument and he declares "No, you colossal, shameless--we all followed you, to please you, to fight for you, to win your honor back from the Trojans---Menelaus and you, you dog-face!" (108). Achilles is also angry because even though he and many other soldiers are there risking their lives for Agamemnon and Menelaus, Agamemnon is sly enough to avoid personal injury. Achilles says to Agamemnon, "Never once did you arm with the troops and go to battle or risk an ambush packed with Achaea's picked men--you lack the courage, you can see death

Achilles is a tragic hero because he exhibits the qualities of a hero but, in the end is fated to death. Achilles’ fatal flaw could be his lack of emotional stability. This can be argued and shown throughout the Iliad. Achilles is courageous, full of strength, and god-like but he is also full of pride and rage, and not in control of his emotions. He doesn’t think of the consequences that come with just acting upon his emotions, he just impulsively does what he feels in the heat of the moment. This can be shown as his fatal flaw because emotions can be the cause of certain actions that might lead to difficulties in the future or in this case Achilles’ death.

In ancient Greek, a hero was not necessarily righteous, perfect, well-mannered or unable to go against the norm. A hero was just as flawed as the common people and often had one fatal weakness that would surpass to achieve his sense of glory. Achilles was a great hero whose legacy is still served among the greatest Greek heroes of all times. Achilles was an individual with extraordinary abilities, successful and lovable because he possessed flaws that made him more human and gained him

Achilles was pointing the finger at himself for the reason for the torment in any case it was Agamemnon who made this debacle. Achilles was harming the little congruity that exists. Being in the war and executing each one of those troopers, Achilles overlooks his profitable prizes that he won, and his fierceness even endeavored to murder his president. At initially, Agamemnon needed to have Briseis and Achilles was incensed. Later on in the story however, Agamemnon offers to give back Briseis yet at the same time Achilles was distraught with seethe which demonstrates his significant character defect.

The ease with which he could dispatch his enemy seemed to give Achilles pleasure, not the wealth and power which came with ruling his small kingdom. His war-brides would have undoubtedly given him the pleasurable attention he needed, but unfortunately even this luxury was denied him. The circumstances surrounding Chryseis and Briseis (two war-brides captured in an attack on a town allied with Troy) led to the unsteady relationship between Achilles and Agamemnon. When Agamemnon took Achilles' war-bride Briseis for himself, Achilles withdrew himself from battle. The result of Achilles' withdrawal was that Patroclus went into battle posing as Achilles in order to bolster the spirit of the Achaean army. This unfortunately led the death of Patroclus. This only helped to

The Iliad, the Greek epic documented by Homer that describes the battles and events of the ten year siege on Troy by the Greek army. Both Trojans and Greeks had their fair share of heroes and warriors, but none could match the skill and strength of the swift runner, Achilles. Achilles had the attributes of a perfect warrior with his god-like speed and combat abilities. However, even though he was Greek’s greatest warrior, he still possessed several flaws that made him fit the role of the Tragic Hero impeccably. Defined by Aristotle, a Tragic Hero is someone who possesses a high status of nobility and greatness, but must have imperfections so that mere mortals cannot relate to the hero. Lastly, the Tragic Hero’s downfall must be partially

Finally, Achilles had his war prize, Briseis, stolen away from him. Agamemnon, a fellow Greek, was the man who committed this misdeed. Not only did Achilles have to fight the Trojans, but he found an enemy in a man on his own side as well. The abduction of Briseis cost Achilles not only his war prize but his honor as well. Furthermore, even though Achilles considered killing Agamemnon, he did not lay a hand on him in actuality due to intervention of the gods.

Throughout the entire Trojan war, Achilles spent most of his time pouting in his tent after Agamemnon kidnapped his prized maiden, Chryseis. He also lets his best friend, Patroclus, go into battle alone only to die when Hector kills him with his spear. Achilles joins the war when he hears of Patrclus death, but it was not out of bravery; out of guilt, revenge and anger, when he hears of his friend's death. When Achilles kills Hector, he binds his feet to his chariot and drags his body around the walls of Troy. In my opinion this was not an act of heroism. But in the Iliad the Greeks loved Achilles. Achilles was considered half mortal and half God. Achilles has all the characteristics of a heroic warrior on a grand scale, and he possesses more than a common measure of all the merits and all the faults of a hero (Bowra 193). All of Achilles traits and glory are won primarily in battle, which sets Achilles apart from Hector because Achilles knows little about home and family. He has no wife: his father he has not seen in years; his mother, even though she helps him but he cannot help her and she isn't even a human being (Bowra 194).

The reason why there was a disagreement between Achilles and Agamemnon is because Agamemnon had to give Chryseis back. If he doesn’t do that then Apollo would release more arrows of plagues down their way where they are located at the war. Since Agamemnon had to give back the girl, he decided to take Achilles’s girl, Briseis instead. It’s due to this action that made Achilles angry at Agamemnon when they had their argument. While Achilles was mad, he refuses to continue to fight in the war and pulled out his troops from fighting with the Greeks because Agamemnon took away his girl. When Agamemnon decided to make an offer for Achilles to get Briseis back, Achilles took it as an insult and thought that Agamemnon was bribing him instead.

He treats people in two ways, as pawns to get what he wants. Or as enemies.

After Achilles threatens to pull out of the war, Agamemnon lets it be known that he does not care and how foolish he thinks Achilles is. Agamemnon shows he does not care by saying, “To me, you’re the most hateful king under heaven, a born troublemaker. You actually like fighting and war.” I.186. The fact that Achilles fights because he likes to, shows how that he is careless and selfish. He does not care about who he kills, he just cares about the fame he will get from being an incredible fighter. At this point in time he still can’t be considered an incredible warrior because of the selfishness he still

    When Homer lived, the stature of a hero was measured by the yardstick of fighting ability. In Homer's Iliad, the character of Achilles represents the epitome of the Greek 'heroic code'. Only Achilles fights for pure heroics, while the characters of Diomedes and Hector provide good contrasts.

In the beginning of Homer’s Iliad to the end, we were introduced to many of Achilles behavioral traits. One of the first characteristics we encounter is Achilles’ whiner trait. In Book One he and Agamemnon are in a quarrel because Agamemnon has dishonored him and has taking away his prize, Briseis. Achilles than confides in his mother, Thetis, about how he has been dishonored. Introducing to us another character trait, selfishness, he then begs his mother to persuade Zeus to let the Achaeans fail without him, which she does. In the midst of the Trojan War, Achilles refuses to participate