The Main Theme in the Ilyad: Anger Essay

The Ancient Greeks admired their heroes and tried to learn from both their achievements and their mistakes. They believed that most great leaders and warriors followed a predictable behavior cycle, which often ended tragically. In Homer’s epic poem, The Iliad, Achilles is a great warrior who traces the stages of the behavior cycle twice, from arete to hubris to ate and then to nemesis. Achilles is a highly skilled warrior and a great leader who becomes a narcissist and an arrogant person, which leads to selfish and childish behavior resulting in the death of his best friend. Following Patroclus’ death, Achilles repeats the behavior cycle by regaining his courage and motivation, and goes back to battle against Hector. The pride he feels in

From the first pages of Homer’s The Iliad, Achilles is portrayed as vengeful, proud, and petty. As the book progresses, the image of Achilles as a spiteful child is sharpened dramatically. Towards the end of the epic; however, Achilles begins to exhibit qualities that are considered heroic even in today’s society. Once his loyal and trusted friend Patroclus dies, Achilles undergoes a drastic change in character. When he confronts the true horror of death, Achilles puts aside his immature

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.

Hector’s pride caused him to be clouded with negative thoughts in his quest for revenge as he brutally slaughtered the Trojans and excessively tortured Hector. Nevertheless, Priam’s sorrow causes Achilles to empathize since he could imagine what it would be like if his father had to go through a similar situation like Priam. This change of heart causes Achilles to forgo hatred in exchange for compassion. Although Achilles shows flaws in his character, his heroism even in the brink of death along with this transformative change as a person demonstrates the cultural expectations of strong leadership in terms of taking physical and emotional qualities into strong consideration.

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.

Rage. The very first word of The Iliad brings with it a sense of violence in itself. When one hears the word ‘rage’, the following thought is one of aggression, of anger, of almost animalistic hatred. Yes, hatred, for one cannot have rage without it. The opening scene has the ironic hero- ironic in the sense that most would not classify him as a hero in the

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

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.

One of the main contrasting characteristics of Achilles is his anger. It is apparent from the first sentence of the book, “Rage–Goddess, sing the rage of

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.

He then returns the body to Priam and feels guilty about his friend. “Feel no anger at me, Patroclus, if you learn--- even there in the House of Death--- I let his father have Prince Hector back” (Homer). Achilles wants his friend to forgive him and once again has succumbed to the intense emotions he feel that are out of his control. These emotions have Achilles act on rage and impulse.

Achilles’ path to redemption began when he freed himself of the anger and rage that

“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.

The Great Achilles, great for his passion, skills in the art of war, however, something eerily stands of in his almost dominating, charismatic character. His wrath is that of none. The merciless Achilles, why? Why would the poet choose to focus on the wrath of Achilles more than anything in The Illiad? From his apparent distain towards Agamemnon, to his seething anger towards the Gods, leading to the gut-wrenching revenge inflicted upon Hector, it is clear as day that Achilles’s wrath is one of the most highlighted attributes of any character in English language today.

With these events, Homer tries to maintain that dealing with the divine power with the limited abilities of mortals will only result in harm to humans. Therefore, he points the danger of the involvement of the anger of gods. Initially human actions initiated events in the Iliad.