Pride In The Song Of Achilles

In the modern world, people, as a society, have always given themselves a goal or goals that they would like to attain at some point during their lifetime. Many people seek to attain riches, love, happiness or high stature within society. When we people set that goal, we tend to mold our lifestyles around it. As people work throughout their lives to achieve this ultimate goal, it becomes apparent to others what it is we are working so hard for. Just as this pattern is evident in modern society, it can also be seen in the times of Homer, particularly in the great Greek epic, the Iliad. This distinct pattern can be seen in Achilles, one of the most vital characters in the story. Achilles, being the ultimate most powerful warrior of all

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.

Many people have heard of Achilles, whether in Greek Mythology or when referring to the tendon in their foot. He is well known in the Iliad as the main force for the Achaeans in the Trojan War, dubbed the “swiftest warrior,” “Achilles dear to Zeus”, and “brilliant runner.” However many do not know the story of Achilles when he walks away from the Achaean campaign over a scuffle of war prizes. His action cripples the Achaean army, costing the lives of many. The story of the Trojan War is one where Achilles ultimately leads the Achaeans to Troy and kills Hector outside Priam’s walls. However, it was Patroclus, Achilles’ brother-in-arms, who should be accredited with the Achaean victories and know for his success against the Trojans in the

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.

When the men of Agamemnon come to take Briseis, Achilles gives her up without a fight, despite how heavy his heart is at the thought of losing her. Once she is gone, Achilles withdraws from his companions and sobs, praying to his mother to understand why he is treated the way he is, why he isn’t treated with respect. His mother, hearing his laments, comes to console him, telling him that she will visit Zeus and try to sway him towards helping the Trojans and destroying the Achaeans, to make them pay for disrespecting the son of Thetis.

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

She talks Achilles into using his words to fight Agamemnon instead of his sword. To obey the gods Achilles verbally lashes him calling him a drunkard and a coward who stays behind the fight letting other men die while he reaps the glory because he feared death even though he will take the prize of any man that disagrees with him. He will not fight any more and that Agamemnon has brought the destruction of the Greek army on himself for failing to honor the best of the Greek warriors. He would give up Briseis because it was Agamemnon that gave her to him but if he touched anything else of his he would kill him. Achilles gave up Briseis to Agamemnon’s men telling them that one day they would need his help for their leader didn’t know how to see how his actions affected everyone. In the movie of Troy after taking the beach outside of the city of Troy Achilles is given Briseis as his prize of honor the leaders met together giving gifts to Agamemnon. Achilles spoke to the king telling him that he had won a victory that day. Agamemnon told him that he had won the beach of Troy from Prium that morning, that history remembers kings not warriors and even though he was there to fight for the continuation of his name his wouldn’t be the one who was remembered. Achilles tells him to be careful because he needs to win the war first. Agamemnon recounts that Achilles men had taken the temple of Apollo. Achilles tells him that he can take all of the gold for

Achilles is upset and refuses to fight alongside his fellows. Legend says Agamemnon the Greek chieftain in the Trojan War and Achilles both received war wives. Agamemnon is rewarded Chryseis the daughter of Chryses,favored priest of Apollo. Achilles receives Briseis. Chryses wanted his daughter returned to him offering ransom to Agamemnon who at first refused, but upon further advise of Calchas the seer he returned Chryseis to her father to prevent the wrath of Apollo. However, he takes Achilles war bride for himself. Achilles refuses to fight on the premise that his spoil of war has been

For the ancient Greeks, culture is of the utmost importance. Greek family values are so strong that elements of tradition and culture transcend many generations. One particular tradition, literature, is a custom that has been passed down from generation to generation. Thousands of families, from their parents to their children, are told the stories of men and women who grew up and became great warriors that saved the world. These children later grew up with the goal of becoming those same heroes; they grew up wanting to save the world just like the characters in the stories. In this particular epic, we encounter the characters of Achilles and Hector, both ideal warriors; one uses his physical aptitude, the other his intellect and desire to

One of Achilles’ most godlike characteristics is his obsession with personal honor and seemingly coldhearted indifference towards the suffering of the Greeks, as revealed during his argument with Agamemnon: “When every last Greek desperately misses Achilles, / Your remorse won’t do any good then, / When Hector the man-killer swats you down like flies. / And you will eat your heart out / Because you failed to honor the best Greek of all” (1.255-59). However, Achilles does possess a more human, sensitive aspect to his personality that is rarely revealed. There are only two characters in the Iliad that Achilles seems to truly care for: Briseis and Patroclus. Achilles won Briseis in battle, but felt that she was much more than a mere war prize, as he tells Odysseus: “Every decent, sane man / Loves his woman and cares for her, as I did / Loved her from my heart. It doesn’t matter / That I won her with my spear” (9.349-52). Similarly, Achilles cares deeply for Patroclus, referring to him as “my noble friend” and “my Patroclus” (16.52,250). Agamemnon’s decision to take Briseis causes

It is the central plot of the epic, yet it is easy to neglect that the conflict between Achilles and Agamemnon begins over a woman. Achilles war prize was Briseis and she represented his glory he gained from fighting. When Agamemnon takes her, he does not do it because he is attracted to her, rather than to make up a lost. Again, women are seen as objects being taken and given to others as if they are not human. Even Nestor discusses Briseis in a third person perspective, creating an image that she is an object rather than a human.

The Iliad opens in the predicament of the Greeks who have somehow incurred the wrath of the gods. It is here that Agamemnon, supreme commander of the Grecian army, demand that Achilles give up his “prize” (Briseis) to replace his own “prize” (Chrysies) which he has to give up to appease the gods. Agamemnon has to

The most powerful warriors in this story were Hector and Achilles. Both men were given the title of heroes and displayed great power, skills and courage. But the values of Hector and Achilles were very different from one another and very different from the people of today’s society. Dignity, pride, honor, glory, fame, and revenge are very important to these people as it still is today, but it is achieved in a

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.

The first set of major steps that Achilles undergoes is the call to adventure, the refusal to the call to action, and the meeting with the mentor. In Book 1 of the Iliad, Achilles is called to fight against the Trojan’s to reclaim Helen, Menelaus wife. Later in the war, Chryseis and Briseis are taken as prizes from a battle. They are the daughters of a priest of Apollo named Chryses. After Chryses begs for his daughters back, the Greeks decide to give Briseis to him and have Chryseis stay. Chryseis belonged to Achilles as his prize from the battle and Briseis belonged to Agamemnon, a political leader of the Greeks. Agamemnon then humiliate Achilles by taking Chryseis Achilles’s prize, for himself. This angered Achilles greatly and caused him to leave the Greek army, albeit temporary. This serves as Achilles refusal to the call of battle. Achilles’s anger is shown in Book 1 lines 188 to 192, these lines show how much Achilles’s pride affects his actions and how he responds to conflict. In this situation, his pride is hurt greatly, to the point where he almost kill Agamemnon, however Athena stops him. Achilles says