The Fallen Brotherhood Essay

At this point in the passage, Achilles in a sense forewarns everyone of his intentions,

Achilles also briefly passes through the stage of bargaining when he is having a conversation with his mother, Thetis. " 'You're doomed to a short life, my son, from all you say! For hard on the heals of Hector's death your death must

Achilles, on the other hand, can almost be fully comprehended from his initial disagreement with Agamemnon. Agamemnon's unreasonable actions seem to justify Achilles' refusal to engage his men in battle, primarily, because his pride will not allow him to act. Achilles believes himself to be the most important man in the army and the injury cannot be forgiven. Even when a diplomatic escape is contrived by Agamemnon, Achilles sees his position as unchanged-doubtlessly, Odysseus would have relented but Achilles is unable to forget past grievances.

Achilles views as demonstrated before, clearly shows the change that has taken place in him, where once he would leaped at an opportunity to battle for glory and honor, now he shows reservation. Achilles is reluctant to risk his life on a fool's errand, for glory and honor. He is disenchanted about honor and all life effort to gain honor no matter how great it might be. He felt they were nothing but the personal honor and glory of others. But, of course, Achilles never actually leaves, although he threatens

The great talents that Achilles’ possesses cause him to become much admired and well known by both the Greeks and the Trojans. He begins to believe all the good things people are say and becomes an arrogant, child-like, selfish person which all mark Achilles’ hubris part of his behavior cycle. Achilles shows his arrogance when he gets angry with Agamemnon for him wanting take his prize of honor, which Achilles worked very hard to get. Because of this, Achilles begins to lose his capability to think straight and weigh all the factors in situations, and withdraws himself from the battle. Later on after Achilles overcomes the death of his best friend and regains back his courage and pride, Achilles kills Hector and thinks he is invincible for doing the great deed he did. Achilles fought Hector for honor over all else and performed the death of Hector almost as a duty and feels proud of himself for doing so. Before he kills Hector, Achilles declares, “I will go forth to slay Hector, who killed the man the I loved… Until then, may I win great fame and glory, and may every Trojan realize that the greatest of the Greeks no longer remains apart from battle”(145).

As the movie begins we are introduced to Achilles as a fierce and strong warrior, fearing no one. He begins the first step of Harris’ journey, also known as the call, when Odysseus goes to talk to him. Odysseus visits Achilles to ask him to fight in the war in Troy. He describes the war as great and in need of their best warrior, the perfect invitation into his journey. The second step in Harris’ journey is the threshold, where we encounter obstacles and doubts. One of the main examples of threshold in Achilles’ life would be his mother. When Achilles brings up that he has been invited to war his mother gives him two options. Those options are to stay where he is a live a normal long life with a wife children and happiness where not many would remember his legacy, or to go to war and possibly die fighting but be remembered for years to come. At that point Achilles started

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

#1. Discuss the character of Achilles in Homer’s Iliad. What is the nature of the existential crisis in which he finds himself, and why is his relationship to both gods and the other Greek warriors so unusual? What realization does he arrive at during his period of withdrawal from the battlefield? What does it mean to say that he is probably the first true individual as well as the first “problem character,” in Western literature? Finally, discuss the reader’s response to his behavior. In what ways does Achilles repel our human sympathies? In what ways does he maintain or regain them? In this context you will certainly want to discuss his

Although this quote is very gory, it shows his taste for fighting and how badly he wants to be great. When Achilles was young he was given the choice from his Mother, Thetis Goddess of the Sea, he could either be a great warrior, have a ton of glory, be remembered for ever but would have to die young, or Achilles could live a normal life, not be a great warrior, or be remembered, but he would live to a ripe old age. This is

Although Achilles was quite outraged at this, he gave a respectful response, stating that he would drop out of the war because Agamemnon had dishonored him. Later, the Trojans killed Patroclus, Achilles’ dearest and most trusted friend. Achilles was overcome with grief, but realized how stubborn and selfish he was being by dropping out of the war. He decided that he had to join the war once again to honor Patroclus. He told his mother, “Enough. Let bygones be bygones. Done is done. Despite my anguish I will beat it down, the fury mounting inside me, down by force. But now I’ll go and meet that murderer head-on, that Hector who destroyed the dearest life I know.” It is clear that he knew that in those ancient times, a real hero avenged the death of a dear friend, and would sacrifice his own life to save the dead body and give it a proper burial.

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.

      Although they are each strong, courageous and "favorite sons" of the gods, Gilgamesh and Achilles share the same tragic flaw: overweening pride. Gilgamesh must prove his strength and superiority by being first with the women and by physically overpowering the men. The elders of his kingdom suggest that he is unbearable when they mutter, "His arrogance has no bounds by day or night" (14). And Achilles' anger at Agamemnon and his hurt pride only serve to escalate the conflict during the Trojan War. Due to Agamemnon's mistreatment of him, Achilles refuses to fight stating, "I swear, a yearning for Achilles will strike / Achaea's sons and all your armies! . . . Then-- / then you will tear your heart out, desperate, raging/ that you disgraced the best of the Achaeans" (I, 281-87).

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

“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.

Achilles then asks his mother to convince Zeus to honor him at the cost of the Greeks. He wants the Greeks to be defeated in battle so that they realize how important Achilles was to them and so that they will honor and respect him as their greatest warrior and most important leader. Zeus grants the wish of Thetis and the battle begins to change dramatically.