The Great Achilles

Achilles with his military honor against Agamemnon’s social honor is the quarrel that is imminent. The man of winning words, Nestor, says,” Don't seize the girl, Agamemnon, powerful as you are— / leave her, just as the sons of Achaea gave her, / his prize from the very first. / And you, Achilles, never hope to fight it out / with your king, pitting force against his force: / no one can match the honors dealt a king, you know, / a sceptered king to whom great Zeus gives glory. / Strong as you area goddess was your mother¬ / he has more power because he rules more men. ”(1.321-329) Nestor tells us the consequences that will happen when the two fight.

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.

Iliad " The great Runner answer ". He was know for great thing before the Trojan war that made others look up him.

Nestor, noble charioteer, captures best the essence of Achilles when he says, “Achilles, brave as he is, he has no care, / no pity for our Achaeans” (Homer 11.787-788). Most readers of the Iliad, consider Achilles the greatest warrior of The Trojan War, however, he lacks an important characteristic; care for others. Achilles’ best friend Patroclus, has described him as a great warrior, but a terrible person (11.774). In Homer's Iliad, Hector the great warrior of the Trojans, exhibits a selfless leadership approach, which contrasts to Achilles’ selfish actions as a leader. In order to be a great warrior, one’s loyalty must belong to something outside of themselves, and it’s through Achilles’ self-centered actions, that he loses the title of the greatest warrior to Hector. As the two capital warriors of the different sides of the Trojan war, Hector and Achilles provide an interesting contrast between two powerful leaders. Known for being loyal, selfless, and dedicated to his army, Hector contrasts to Achilles, who is self-serving in every aspect of his life. Despite his defeat at the hands of Achilles, Hector proves to be the greatest warrior of the Trojan War. The first characteristic Hector possesses, making him the superior warrior, is his ability to set his pride aside when he knows it will benefit his army. In contrast, Achilles allows his pride to control him and detriment his army. Another vital characteristic Hector’s possesses, making him a better leader, and

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.

When Achilles first challenges Hector, Hector tries to talk his way out of it; yet again showing his cowardice. But, in the end, Hector decides to battle Achilles even though he knows the gods have

Where Beowulf Fights for others and keeps a calm and collective mind he doesn’t let emotion effect his decisions. Achilles is more self-centered; he doses wish to avenge his cousin’s death he lets emotion get in the way of the correct decision. This is described with the quote, “I must reject this life, my heart tells me, reject the world of men, if Hector does not feel my battering spear tear the life out of him, making him pay in his own blood for the slaughter of Patroclus” (The Iliad 26-30). This statement alone represents Achilles passion for revenge. Also how he allows his anger the drive his decisions.

I was privy to many discussions and arguments that took place behind the backs of the soldiers’ leadership as to why they should do what they were being commanded to do by them. All too often soldiers begin to become complacent when they feel over taxed by their leadership or taken advantage of and become pathos driven when they cannot see the fruits of their labor coming to fruition during war or even peacekeeping missions; especially long deployments such as Iraq, Afghanistan or Kosovo. Achilles speech in “The Envoys Plead with Achilles” is pathos driven because it exemplifies aspects of emotionally driven complacency experienced in war due to selfish deceitful leadership, length of deployments, and a feeling

“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.

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:

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.

When it comes to fighting, Achilles is the best. No man can best him, and any army with him in their ranks has very good odds of winning. On the other hand, his sense of duty is overshadowed by his arrogance. He fights for the Greeks, but doesn’t obey King Agamemnon as a subject. When Agamemnon steals his prize, Briseis, he gets upset and doesn’t fight, causing a loss in the Greek army. Achilles declares, “What a worthless, burnt-out coward I'd be called if I would submit to you and all your orders, whatever you blurt out. Fling them at others, don’t give me commands!” (Homer, 104) Though Achilles is the mightiest warrior alive, he is unreliable, compulsive to every whim and feeling of discontent. Hector, on the contrary, is

This just emphasizes how Achilles was not just concerned about his soldiers and showing face, but he was more driven by his rage and his grudge against Agamemnon for what he did to him.

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.

An invulnerable mortal? Keep reading to get more information on the famous Greek hero Achilles. Achilles’ Greek name is Achilles, but unfortunately has no Roman name as they all called him upon his one name. He was a strong, young, and open-minded Greek leader during the Trojan War (1194-1184 BC) and in fact was one of the most important heroes during the war slaying the Trojan hero Hector outside of the gates of Troy. Achilles did not have any “powers” per se, as he was a mortal and not a god. However, his mother Thetis was very concerned with her son’s mortality and had a plan to make him invulnerable. So one night, she secretly grabbed Achilles and brought him to the River Styx. She then dipped him into the magical waters, making him invulnerable. Without regard to his heel that she was holding, his heel had never touched the water, making it the only part of his body with a human-like quality. This is how we got the name “Achilles heel” as we still use to this day. Then, as he was just a young child at the age of nine, a seer told Thetis that Achilles would heroically die in battle. After hearing this, Thetis disguised Achilles in feminine attire and sent him off to live on the Aegean island of Skyros where Achilles spent most of his life.