Examples Of Achilles In The Iliad

There are many thematic elements in this passage in book one of the Iliad. This moment is critical to the story because this is the moment where Achilles decides not to fight in the Trojan War. This is a real turning point in the story because Achilles is the best warrior on the Greek side and they desperately need him to fight. This reveals that Agamemnon and Achilles are very selfish about their kleos. They will not even let it go for the better of their countrymen and for their army. Agamemnon even says “Never-others will take my side and do me honor”. This shows that even though Agamemnon knows that he needs Achilles to fight, he will still will not let go of his pride and do the right thing for his people. This spites Achilles to fight

The Ancient Greeks admired their heroes and tried to learn from both their achievements and their mistakes. They believed that most great leaders and warriors followed a predictable behavior cycle, which often ended tragically. In Homer’s epic poem, The Iliad, Achilles is a great warrior who traces the stages of the behavior cycle twice, from arete to hubris to ate and then to nemesis. Achilles is a highly skilled warrior and a great leader who becomes a narcissist and an arrogant person, which leads to selfish and childish behavior resulting in the death of his best friend. Following Patroclus’ death, Achilles repeats the behavior cycle by regaining his courage and motivation, and goes back to battle against Hector. The pride he feels in

During that entire time, Achilles’ justification for wallowing in self-pity is that he has been “dishonored”. This argument becomes null and void when Agamemnon offers lavish compensation for the affront. In addition to returning Briseis, Agamemnon offers Achilles seven unfired tripods, ten gold bars, twenty burnished cauldrons, a dozen horses, seven beautiful women from Lesbos, twenty Trojan women, his daughters’ hand in marriage along with a rich dowry, and the ownership of seven populous cities. Any reasonable person would have taken the offer but not prideful, bitter Achilles. Instead he continues on with the same old rhetoric and refuses to fight. As if standing idly by while his countrymen were being killed was not enough, Achilles has his mother call in a favor to Zeus asking him to help the Trojans so that even more Greeks would die during his absence. Not only did he abandon his comrades, he actually prayed for them to die because his pride had been hurt.

Angry and calling Agamemnon a hypocrite, he states, “I hate it like I hate hell / the man who says one thing and think another” (168). Strategically beginning his soliloquy with a hostile accusation sets the tone for the rest of the speech. This tone and structure is harsh, hyperbolic, and jumps between the two arguments from which he bases his response: “He cheated me, wronged me. Never again” (170), Achilles declares, focusing on the loss of honor and placing blame on Agamemnon. Just 29 lines after, however, Achilles switches his focus to the other reason for leaving. “Nothing is worth my life, not all the riches / they say Troy held before the Greeks came…” (171). This quick shift of focus is similar to a rant going back and forth between arguments. His mind is not balancing on one thought, but rather driven by emotions and rhetorical questions. For example, he brings up, “why do the Greeks have to fight the Trojans?” “Why did Agamemnon lead the army to Troy if not for the sake of fair-haired Helen?” “And now he thinks he’s going to win me back?” (169). This tone and these rhetorical questions serve to exaggerate and humanize the argument. Achilles can only deal with so much—he is only human, after all, and must be treated like one. He is not Agamemnon’s war puppet. The meaning and purpose for Achilles’ rant is not muddled in the harsh and edgy speech; it is simply shown in various ways. He will not fight for Agamemnon and is making it

Achilles questions himself, "Should he draw the long sharp sword slung at his hip, thrust through the ranks and kill Agamemnon now?--or check his rage and beat his fury down?" (108). Here, Hera has Athena intervene to keep Achilles from killing Agamemnon, which shows how the gods control Achilles' destiny. The argument between Achilles and Agamemnon clearly shows that the two men have different opinions about the power of the gods, what is holy or unholy, and what is proper treatment of other men. These differences are one source of Achilles' rage.

As soon as we are exposed to Achilles in battle, it is obvious why he is the hero of the Achaeans. He is very devoted, and even the heat of battle does not faze him, as he mows down rows and rows of his opponents. His devotion in battle is suitably shown when he is talking of battle:

A brute warrior with a penchant for anger, he is living in a society where the aristocratic rulers are justified in their position of power due to their superiority as warriors, for they have inherited their titles but they have justified it by being the leaders in battle (Iliad, 12:372). Achilles is the embodiment of heroism and Greek kleos, glory in war. His mother Thetis, goddess of the sea, shares with him her prophecy: his death is inevitable. Achilles is then faced with a choice: would he want to fight alongside his men for a cause he believes in, even if it meant certain death; or would he lead an lackluster, longer life where he is no nobler than the rotting corpse of his enemy. Antilochus raced to Achilles to share with him that Patroklos has met his ultimate demise (Iliad, 18:2), now was Achilles chance.

Achilles is the son of Peleus, who is the king of Myrmidon. He was the fearless, striking, and a substantial warrior of the army of Agamemnon in the Trojan war. In Greek mythology, Achilles is notorious for having a preference between a long and peaceful life, or a quick life that will guide him to eternal glory. He states that, “There are no covenants between sheep and wolves, nor between you and me” (Achilles). Achilles had a desire for glory, when it came to the battlefield, but he was fierce and short tempered when it came to Agamemnon. He had superhuman strength, that brought out a sign of worry for the individuals that were on his team. He possessed resistance to injury due to his semi saintly birth.

But Achilles is most well known by the world for his one weakness, his heel. His mother was the immortal nereid Thetis, and his father, the mortal Peleus, was the king of the Myrmidons. To prevent his death, his mother Thetis took Achilles to the River Styx, which was supposed to offer powers of invulnerability, and dipped his body into the water; however, as Thetis held Achilles by the heel, his heel was not washed over by the water of the magical river. Because Theitis fear he would die in the Trojan war she had the god Hephaestus forge his a sword and shield that would keep him safe. Because of his power and invulnerability Achilles becomes proud and headstrong.

In the Iliad, Homer sees Achilles as a better man than those around him, even though his pride and anger cause a great deal of damage. Achilles puts up with Agamemnon who does not have the same level of skill or integrity. Therefore, the story of Achilles is a story of someone who is working within a society where his integrity and belief systems are above those of the King. At the same time, Achilles also represents the weakness of anger because of the death of Patroclus and the way in which he then goes and kills Hector. However, Holway writes that in the Iliad Homer was depicting honor culture in which having the most strength was considered to be the greatest achievement and virtue. Holway describes Achilles in that he “embodies the dominant paradigm”, suggesting that it is in his skill and strength that righteousness is found.

“Remind him of that, now, go and sit beside hime, grasp his knees... see how mad he was to disgrace Achilles, the best of the Achaean” (1, 484-490). This pacifies Achilles’ rage briefly while he goes back to the ships and refuses to help the struggling Achaeans on the battlefield because Agamemnon hurt his pride. Another instance that highlights Achilles flaw of anger is when the great Trojan warrior, Hector, kills Achilles close comrade Patroclus. Achilles bursts from his sulking attitude out of the Achaean ships in a rage of passionate fury that even his pride cannot overcome. “My dear comrade’s dead... Hector’s battered down by my spear and gasps away his life, the blood-price for Patroclus, Menotius’ gallant son he’s killed and stripped” (18, 94-109). This signifies Achilles’ zenith of anger and represents the turning point in the epic, along with the transition into his dramatic reversal as a character.

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).

Achilles has been considered the greatest hero of the Greeks in the Iliad for numerous valid reasons. Similarly, Achilles not only stays humble, but extremely courageous. Waiting patiently for Hector, Achilles says, “No man so long as I am alive above Earth… and see daylight shall lay the weight even if you mean Agamemnon.” (1.88-90) In this statement, Achilles says that no one should ever have power over him. “So, must one be called of no account and a coward if I must carry out every order you may happen to give me….” (6.293-303) Clearly, he fears no one and does not understand the meaning of failure. Achilles constantly acts as man of fierce strength and courage.

The first reason Hector is a better hero than Achilles is that Hector would respect Achilles’ body if he were to die. When Hector and Achilles meet at the battleground to begin fighting, Hector tell Achilles ”I will give your body back to your loyal comrades” (Homer 22.151). This is very heroic of Hector because it was very important to respect the body of your fallen enemies, furthermore if the body does not get buried properly the dead person is forced to wander the beaches eternally. Although Hector promises to respect Achilles’ body, Achilles does says he would not do the same to Hector’s body. Hector is a respectful person even to those who do not respect him like Achilles and this shows he is more heroic.

Agamemnon likes to point fingers away from himself when concerning the Trojan war, especially likes to accuse the gods because the greeks truly believed that anything happening were the gods influence, “ This is the word that the Achaeans have spoken often against me and found fault with me in it, yet I am not responsible but Zeus..”(Homer 19). That proves that he doesn’t assume his mistakes, which happens commonly with Agamemnon. He’s also really selfish and materialistic “ still I am to give her back if such is the best way. I myself desire that my people be safe, not perish” (Homer book ). In fact, he was not really happy about the decision that he had made. Agamemnon wants a prize and orders his man to: “ Find me than some prize that shall be my own, lest I only among the Argives go without since that was unfitting.''( Homer book). Agamemnon finally ends up with Briseis. This riles up Achilles and makes him really angry, towards Agamemnon. Achilles thinks Agamemnon is being dishonourable. It’s true that Agamemnon may have many flaws but also has some quality.