The Iliad: Achilles' Rage Essays

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.

In the beginning of The Iliad, Achilles and Agamemnon are in a quarrel with each other. Agamemnon captured the daughter of the priest Chryses. Although Chryses offers Agamemnon a ransom to get back his daughter, Agamemnon declines the ransom. Chryses informs Apollo, who in response plagues the Greeks. After the plague occurs, Achilles advises Agamemnon to “return the girl to the gods” (1:81). Agamemnon refuses to give her back unless he gets Briseis in exchange. Achilles is frustrated by Agamemnon’s threats because he believes his contributions to the army are overlooked and depreciated. By depriving Achilles of Briseis, Agamemnon tries to convey that he retains authority over Achilles. As Achilles mentions to Patroclus, “That’s the pain that wounds me, suffering such humiliation. That girl… I won her with my spear, but right from my grasp he [Agamemnon] tears her” (XVI: 63-66). Hence, Achilles suffers humiliation in result of Agamemnon taking Briseis from him. The humiliation he witnessed when he lost authority to Agamemnon damaged his pride and masculinity, which makes him distraught and

      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 retaliates with even harsher words to Agamemnon once Athena disappears, calling him a coward who sits behind the scenes whilst his men fight and die for him and vows to not take any part in the war from this point forth, for he has been scorned by the wordings of Agamemnon.

Rage is a key component that is paramount throughout the Greek epic shown through the warrior. For example, the death of Patroclus becomes a burden to avenge in the heart of his protector, Achilles. Through many battles, Achilles shows his rage at the hands of many deaths of mortals, including Hector. Achilles’ rage is directed toward all the Trojan army as he tries to deny the burial rights of their leader for their wrongdoings toward his friend. His anger makes Achilles who he is and makes him the fighter that is respected, but his rage sometimes blinds him to some of the more important things in

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.

Achilles is angry with Agamemnon due to the fact that after the battle, Agamemnon captured Chryseis and Achilles captured Briseis. This wouldn’t have been such an issue but both women were from the temple of Apollo and the God of Apollo soon demanded for Chryseis to return to him. Agamemnon was able to demand Briseis. Since he was chief of the Greek forces, Achilles would not be able to deny him because he was initially ‘lower in rank’. Achilles obviously did not want to give up Briseis, so this caused the anger between the two. Achilles motive for going to war against the Trojans was that he was known for his achievement in fighting among the Greeks. I think the two most prominent qualities about Achilles is the fact that he was a very strong

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.

Begins to start this rage by Achilles going to war over the death of his cousin in battle. Achilles gave his armor to his cousin to go scare the trojan and hector kills his brother. Starts to wear Achilles armor. Which sparks this whole conquest of hatred and rage. Were he starts to go to war and Defeating wars.

The epic The Iliad by Homer argues that Achilles reaction in many situations is rage. Achilles choice to respond in such a way is very significant. It shows that this emotion is very influential in his day-to-day life. However, there has been much discussion as to whether Achilles’s rage is a virtue or a vice. Other characters throughout The Iliad have commented on his rage, such as Athena, who says, “I came to see if I could check this temper of yours,” (Homer, 235) in a discussion she has with Achilles about his quarrel with Agamemnon. Athena’s comment suggests that it takes a lot of effort to put Achilles’s rage into check. Achilles seemingly uncontrollable rages creates a man throughout The Iliad who “like[s] fighting and war” (234). Most men in this epic longed to end the war; Achilles on the other hand yearned for more battle. Achilles drive for battle makes it evident that his rage and the manifestation of it in other characters as seen throughout The Iliad is not a virtue, but a vice.

In book three of Iliad, “illustrious king” (9.126) and his Achaean armies fight the Trojans to stop wife stealing but despites that he still dishonors and takes Achilles prize, Breseis. Agamemnon in the Iliad can be seen as the mortal Aphrodite. In book three of Iliad, Helen disobeyed Aphrodite and she responds with rage and so does “lord of men” (9.112) in book one. Agamemnon feels that Achilles disobeyed him, so he answers with wrath just to show “how much greater [he] [is] than [him]…. for hoping to rival [him] strength for strength” (1.219-221). His statement makes Achilles furious with rage. “Why, why in the world if not for Helen with her loose and lustrous hair? Are they the only men alive who love their wives, those sons of Atreus? Never!” (9.411-414). Achilles expresses his feeling on how contradicting the whole Trojan war is and that is he going to involve himself, it will be for Bresies only. Bresies is who he loves not

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).

“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’ insolent pride backfires on him when he becomes ultimately responsible for the death of his best friend Patroclus. Although Achilles still refuses to fight, he allows Patroclus to where his armor into battle. The sight of what the Trojans think is Achilles terrorizes them at first, but Apollo pushes him down and knocks off Patroclus’ armor. Hector sees the injured imposter on the ground and delivers a fatal wound. Only now, out of personal grief, does Achilles return to the battle.

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.