Predetermined By The Gods In 'The Wrath Of Achilles'

The Song of Achilles is a tragedy in any sense of the word. Miller retells the classic tale of Achilles through lyrical prose and interprets the ancient story in a contemporary way. The myth is modernized with the humanization of Achilles and Patroclus, who get realistic backgrounds, and are fleshed out in complete contrast to the one-dimensional characters of myth and legend. The story is told from Patroclus’ point of view as Achilles drags him through life.

Hector has killed good Patroclus and many other friends. May such anger, which upsets the wisest, no longer affect the deathless gods and mortal men!” (145). All of these great qualities Achilles possesses both start two different behavior cycles that start at different times in the epic poem.

The first book of the Iliad begins with the beginning of Achilles’ rage, the rage that will eventually cause his own people so much grief and is also the force for Homer’s version of the story of the Trojan War. Whereas the taking of Helen is the focus of the larger, traditional story, the feud between Agamemnon and the hero Achilles over a kidnapped girl defines the Iliad. Both feature a conflict over a woman, Helen and Chryses’ daughter, and a need for resolution as well as a breach of social contract: Paris steals the wife of Agamemnon, ruining the bonds of the guest relationship, while Agamemnon denies Chryse his right to ransom and invokes the wrath of the gods in the form of a plague. In both cases, however, it becomes clear that the conflict will not be resolved quickly, but will continue through the very heart of the story. By “singing of Achilles’ rage” from the first line, the narrator is clearly showing the audience that this Trojan war is not the war of Hector or Paris or Helen, but of the proud Achilles and his hero-sized enemy.

In the Greek society, Achilles has the role of the aggressive soldier. From the very first lines of the epic, we are introduced to Achilles’ murderous rage:

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.

In ancient Rome and ancient Greece, myths were an oral tradition of storytelling that served to answer two primary purposes. The first role was to create stories that responded to unanswerable questions such as “Why is there thunder?” and the second function of myths, about gods, goddesses, monsters, and heroes, was to give structure to their society and culture in psychological manifestations. In addition, the gods and prophecies served as a reminder to the characters that they don’t ultimately have any control over their lives. This epic poem by Homer is not just a simple story of an argument between Achilles and Agamemnon or the well-known story of the war but also has a psychological theme incorporating anger, especially Achilles’ as

The first line of the Iliad describes a human emotion that leads to doom and destruction in Homer's poetic tale of the Trojan War. Achilles' rage is a major catalyst in the action in the Iliad. It is his rage that makes him both withdraw from and, later, rejoin the war with a fury. Why is Achilles enraged? Is his rage ignited solely by his human adversaries or do the gods destine him to the experience? Achilles' rage has many facets. His rage is a personal choice and, at times, is created by the gods.

Fate and free will played major parts in creating the characters and stories in many of the Greek mythologies and tragedies. The Greeks believes that the Gods and the Oracle's could predict a person's fate before or after birth, and that no one, even the Gods could intervene in that person's fate. They also believed that a person's or God could not create their own fate. This belief stems from the three fates: sisters, The Moirai or Fates were three sister deities, incarnations of destiny and life. Because of these three old women, fate could not be avoided or altered. As such with these stories, in the Iliad fate leads Achilles down his path of glory and his early demise, and cause Oedipus to sleep with his own mother and kill his father. Free will is the power of acting without constraint and fate; acting by one's own decisions. Even though Achilleus and Oedipus have fate, they both also have free will. For instance, Achilles has a double fate: if he goes home, he will live long without glory or if he stays at Troy, he will have lots of glory, but a short life. As such, in Sophocles Oedipus the King, when Oedipus was born he was fated to kill his father and lay with his mother, thought his ability of free will caused his fate to come true.

The tale of Achilles is one that is full of bravery and heroics. He is a hero who fights for and is ruled over by no one but himself. All he knows of is war and this is his normal world. Achilles fights so that his name will be remembered and last throughout all the ages. A realization is made that he will eventually die, but his name does not have to. This is Achilles’ call to go and fight against the Trojans, so that his name shall carry on and be remembered. This great war that Achilles fights in was caused by an unfaithful wife by the name of Helen. Achilles transforms from a ruthless, merciless, unloving warrior driven by the notion of having his name remembered to a compassionate warrior who is driven by the love of a woman.

The poem in Book 1 lauds Achilles as the finest warrior of the Athenian army. Nonetheless, when his commanding general, Agamemnon refuses to return to return the captive Chryseis to her father, the priest of Apollo, and a plague ensues, Achilles becomes an insubordinate (disrespecting his commander) by demanding that he return

Due to the actions of his superior (and also King), Achilles becomes enraged and throws a giant hissy-fit, giving up on his own people and deciding he will not fight for them anymore at all. In fact, Achilles actually requests from the Gods (through an intermediary) that his own people begin to loose the war in favor of the opposition because of his enraged emotions. Achilles will not enter the battle no matter what, even when faced with routed troops and an endangered camp. "Only a stronger rage, brought on by the death of a close friend" (BookRags), propels him back into action. It is at this point that "countless deaths follow Achilles' rage" (BookRags), and the barbaric violence of maiming and killing by Achilles and his cohorts is gruesomely depicted in detail. With Achilles back in action, and his rage in tow, he goes on to kill all who cross his path, enabling his people to become the eventual victors of the ten year war. This murderous tirade is also what catapults Achilles into heroic stature as "greatest of the Greek warriors" (Encarta).

The Iliad: Book I, is about the conflict between Achilles and Agamemnon in the beginning of the Trojan War. It shows how vigorous Achilles’ rage was and that he is no one to mess with. The book states “Peleus’ son Achilles, murderous, doomed”. This shows his fury in just a few words. Achilles was a Greek hero who was the son of a Goddess named Thetis. He was an incredible solder; brave, violent and godlike. However, Agamemnon was the commander of the Achaean Army. He was greedy, aggressive and selfish. He was described as “the most grasping man alive”. He absolutely hated Achilles. I feel that he was jealous of how respected Achilles was among the ranks in the army because of his superior skills in the field of battle. Agamemnon claimed Chryseis as his prize, after sacking a Trojan town. Chryseis was a daughter of a Priest of Apollo, Chryses. He offered an enormous ransom to get his daughter back. At first Agamemnon didn’t want it but the people round him persuaded him that it would be best to let her go so they could be released from the plague that Apollo put on them. Agamemnon then poised to Achilles that he is going to steal Achilles prize, Briseis. This is when Achilles’ rage shows at its best. He nearly draws his sword to kill Agamemnon but he is stopped by the goddess, Athena.

“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.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I am ambivalent on this issue because Achilles’ omen seems to contradict everything revolving around him. He cannot escape it, despite whether he is heroic or not throughout the chronicle. I assume that he would rather die during war, than to wait it out in dread, which could certainly create rage that is observed in Homer’s story. Meanwhile, Agamemnon could certainly have provoked Achilles rage, but I do not believe that he is the center problem because Achilles is painted as an aggressive man before the argument with Agamemnon.

But on the other hand, Homer wants to show that the abscence of anger can lead to good actions and help to make right decisions. It is well presented when after the reconciliation Achilles becomes more then just a warrior hero. His wrath consists of two waves. First, is his withdrawal from the battle because of the conflict with Agamemnon ends when he finally accepts his offer and reaches agreement about Briseis. Second Achilles' wave of anger is about the death of Patroklos, which ends when he returns the body of a dead Hector to Priam. In both examples the wrath of Achilles alianated him from others. In the firt case he was alienated from his warriors. And from everybody in the second case. In each case, his reconciliation helps him to get back to the society. If