How Does Achilles Die In The Iliad

He said, "Achilles! Be reverent towards the great gods and take pity on me, remember your own father .....think me to be more pitiful to do what no mans done before and lift my lips to the hands of the man who killed my son". When Priam mentioned Achilles father he felt grief. He then began to understand where Priam was coming from and finally gave Hectors body back.

Achilles bears down upon Hector for the last fight of one of their lives. The Greeks and Trojans have been at war for a long time and the for the first time since the war has started the greatest warriors of both sides are about to clash in a one on one battle that the gods themselves are taking part in influencing the outcome of it. After Hector killed Achilles best friend Patroclus, Achilles has been out to avenge him by killing Hector and showing him the same courtesy that he showed Patroclus when he killed him by leaving him where the dogs and buzzards could pick at him, and he would never get the burial necessary for him to move on into the afterlife. Achilles hunting Hector down proves that even the most ruthless of Greek warriors can show compassion towards a friend.

The death of Priam’s son Hector, provide a sense of loss and grief on a higher level. The connection between Father and son is an unbreakable bond and upon Hector’s death Priam’s “heart-breaks”. This can be seen through the close-up of Priam fainting in the movie Troy. The Iliad gives a sense of this relationship through not only Hector and Priam, but also between Achilles and Priam. When Priam “puts his lips to the hands who killed his son” in the lliad and Troy, Achilles and Priam create a father-son connection. Through the depiction of Achilles “serving the meat” it creates an implication of Achilles taking over the father role as he has more power over Priam in that moment.

Achilles knew that the Achaians could not win the war without him. His alienation was the catalyst for the destruction awaiting the Achaians. He was aware of this, but, because of his pride, he did nothing to stop it. When Priam visited Achilles to redeem the body of his son Hektor, Achilles showed a more humane side of himself. “So [Priam] spoke, and stirred in [Achilles] a passion of grieving for his own father” (488; bk.24, ln.507). Priam appealed to Achilles’ human emotions by speaking of his father; he provoked sympathy in Achilles. Achilles had integrated himself with humanity once more and had begun to see life from a mortal point of

In the beginning of the epic, Achilles is in a situation which causes him to be angry. In book 1, Achilles and Agamemnon get into a dispute when Agamemnon steals Chryses’ daughter, Chryseis, and Achilles takes Briseis and they refuse to return them. Then Chryses asks Apollo for help so he sends a plague down upon the Achaean warriors. Achilles then takes matters into his own hands and asks Agamemnon to give Chryseis back to her father. When Agamemnon agrees to give Chryseis back, he asks Achilles to give him Briseis as compensation. Achilles, although angry with Agamemnon and his poor conduct, takes on Agamemnon in a very mature manner. Although divine authority is involved, Achilles does not fight Agamemnon as he was tempted to. Achilles is tempted to “draw the long sharp sword slung at his hip, thrust through the planks and kill Agamemnon now” but with the help of

An Iliad displays bravery in their soldiers because of the loyalty to their country, however, The Trojan Women shows how women are not brave, therefore, the women will not live in happiness anymore. Bravery is shown in An Iliad especially when Patroclus wear Achilles’s armor. He is confident and eager to fight in the Trojan War. His actions establish how he is loyal to his country because he would sacrifice himself to fight in the war. Additionally, bravery is again shown in the book when Priam approached Achilles, who has anger towards Priam when Hector killed his good friend, Patroclus. Priam is especially brave and confident when he approaches the Achaeans. Priam is loyal to the Trojans by bringing back Hector’s body. Moreover, bravery is

Achilles’ grief for Patroclus hasn’t lessened any. He releases his emotions through dragging Hector’s body around Troy. Apollo protects it from damage in respect of the warrior and Troy. King Priam, Hector’s father, desperately wants his son’s body back. Zeus notices this and sends Iris, Zeus’ crier, to tell Priam this: “Olympian Zeus commands you to ransom royal Hector, to bear gifts to Achilles, gifts to melt his rage” (594).

In the beginning of the book Agamemnon seems to be self centered with the way he leads. Achilles tries to defend the people by exclaiming why it’s wrong for agamemnon to take all the prizes that his men have worked for. Agamemnon basically thinks he has higher seniority which means he gets to pick the best prizes to have amongst his men that they worked for. When achilles doesn't agree with this he threatens to leave and agamemnon says “Fly if you will, I shall make you no prayers to stay you. I have others here who will do me honor, and above all Jove, the lord of council.” After the war began He realized he shouldn't have underestimated the trojans, for the achaeans were now losing against them. Later on in the book he puts his pride aside and asks achilles to come back and help them with the war. This shows when realizing what is better for his men he puts all aside for the win of the achaeans.

Akhilles, usually with hard heart, opens up for the first time after grieving for his lost comrade. “Remember your own father, / Akhilles, in your godlike youth: his years/ like mine are many, and he stands upon/ the fearful doorstep of old age. He too/ is hard pressed, it may be by those around him there being no one able to defend him/ from bane of war and ruin.” (Homer) Achilles’ reply rivets the attention of the audience on the cathartic and unifying grief of the two men, “Ah, sad and old! / Trouble and pain you’ve borne, and bear, aplenty. / Only a great will could have brought you here/ among Akhaian ships, and here alone/ beforer the eyes of one who stripped your sons.” (Homer). Priam’s speech, focuses on the ideas of memory, grief, and filial relationships which Priam has succeeded in evoking in his previously implacable enemy. This speech acts as a purification of Akhileus’ and Priam’s heart. In conclusion, I agree with Redfield's argument of the purification desired by the gods through their intervention or nonintervention of the situation. The essential element of purification being Priam pleading to Akhilles for his son’s body. The will of Priam to journey into the dangerous Akhaian ships reflects his will, and Akhilles’ response, although against his disposition, reflects his forgiving nature, a characteristic that was previously unknown. However, It could be argued that Akhilles granted Priam’s wish out of pity, and in accordance with the will of the gods and not forgiveness. Due to his grandeur nature, he could simply view Priam as a part of the gods game. Even so, Akhilles experienced a catharsis after encountering Priam. He witnessed the resolve of Priam, and the love he shared for his son, similar to his love for his father and

Homer foreshadows Achilles’ transformational power on the events of the Iliad in the first lines. For the purposes of this essay, we can focus on three important junctures in Achilles’ story where he makes decisions that alter the course of the entire poem. Achilles makes the first of these choices when he withdraws from the Trojan war. Agamemnon’s unreasonable decision to take Achilles’ prize is his direct motivation for withdrawal. Eventually, Achilles decides to reenter the war to avenge Patroclus’ death. This action is clearly motivated by revenge. The final important decision occurs when Achilles gives Hector’s body to Priam for proper burial. Achilles’ motivation in this instance is unclear, except that he does receive divine instructions

Not long after Zeus sides with the Trojans and Achilles sees the huge casualties the Achaeans suffered he agrees to a plan to aid them. He will not fight the battles himself because of his stubborn sense of pride, “he would let Patroculs use his powerful armor as a disguise. That way, the Trojans would think that Achilles had returned to battle and would retreat in fear” (Achilles). Achilles reminded him that he is not Achilles. But Patroclus wears the armor of Achilles and believes that he is him, but is killed by Hector in battle. Once this news spreads to Achilles and he finds out Hector killed his friend he becomes enraged and upset “furious, Achilles vowed to take revenge” (Achilles). He decides to join the army just to kill Hector. “Hector begged for an honorable burial in Troy, but Achilles was determined to humiliate his enemy even in death” (Achilles). Achilles dragged the body of hector all the way back to camp. His actions were considered detrimental and he was begged to bring back hectors body, eventually he gives it back. Throughout the Iliad we learn the type of person and character Achilles has.

In the movie this battle lasts almost five minutes, for a movie that is a very long scene. In the movie Hector gives his love to all his family as he leaves Troy to participate in this battle of the best warriors in the Iliad. As they battle they go back and forth till Hector cuts Achilles chest piece. I want to talk about the importance of this because it shows how great of a warrior Hector really is but he is still no match for the great Achilles. After Hector is cut by the blade of Achilles he is killed. Achilles in extreme disrespect ties his enemies dead body to his chariot and drags him back to the Greek camp. In both the Iliad and Troy, when Achilles defeats and kills Hector in battle, he proceeds to tie Hector’s body to his chariot, and to the horror of Priam, he proceeds to drag Hector’s body around the outskirts of Troy, dirtying and mutilating the corpse. To do this shows an incredible amount of disrespect towards Priam. However burials are so important to Priam that in desperation he sneaks into the Greek camp, putting his own life at risk, and pleads to Achilles: “Do you really think death frightens me now? I watched my eldest son die, watched you drag his body behind your chariot. Give him back to me. He deserves a proper burial, you know that. Give him to me.“ And in the Iliad: “If thou indeed art willing that I accomplish for goodly Hector

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

Achilles found out about his friend's death from Antilochus. He realized that he could only console himself by killing Hector, the man who killed Patroclus. "Achilles was greatly troubled when Patroclus was slain by Hector. I tried to comfort him, but he was set on killing Hector. He swore that he wouldn't rest or eat until Hector was dead" said Achilles's mother, Thetis.

On the other hand, Theseus was loyal towards his people and his country. He defended his country from the Amazonians and the Minotaur. The Amazonians were a group of women that lived in Asia and were fierce warriors. They invaded Greece and Athens. By listening to Athena's advice Theseus was able to defeat them. Achilles shows his sympathy towards Hector's father even though he despised his son. Priam, Hector's father and the king of Troy, comes to Achilles wailing and pleading for his beloved son's body back so that he could have a proper funeral. When Hector pleads to Achilles as his dying wish to return his body to his father and mother "...so that our men and women may accord me to decency of fire when I am dead.(page 258)" But Achilles refuses his request by claiming that he won't have a deathbed "...nor will you be laid out and mourned by her who gave birth to you. (pg 258)" Achilles despises Hector so much that he wants him to be eaten by animals, but understanding how it feels like to loose a loved one, he returns Hector's body to Priam and Hector is given a proper