Phoenix’s paradigm narrative fails to persuade Achilles to rejoin the war because the specifics of that narrative, his choice of myth, and his botched retelling of it fail to connect with Achilles' specific concerns. The first part that Phoenix add to the myth is how he told Achilles that Meleager’s situation is similar to Achilles’. In the myth, there was a big war between the Curetes and the Aetolians, similar to the Greek with the Trojan. Phoenix tried to make Achilles and Meleager are in the same position, so Achilles can imagine and try to follow Meleager’s path. Meleager is Aetolians, similar with Achilles is Greek, which concludes that they must fight for their people. The second part is how Meleager choose to help his family when they are in danger. Furthermore, …show more content…
In Meleager’s story, he shares the glory with Atalanta because she is the first who draw the blood. In Ovid, Meleager said, “Girl from Nonacria, take the prize that is mine by right, and let my glory be shared with you.” (Ovid, Bk VIII: 425-450). The other way how the normal myth is more apply in Achilles’ situation is how Meleager’s fate should give a moral story. Meleager’s mother hold a piece of wood that control Meleager’s life. Because of the fact that Meleager commits a family murder, his mother kills him. It is stated in Ovid, “Far off, and unaware, Meleager is alight with that fire, and feels his inner organs invisibly seared.” (Ovid, Bk VIII: 515-546). This is similar with Achilles who have another fate to deal with too. Achilles know his fate and he needs to make a choice about his life. The myth itself is actually is not strong enough for Achilles to join the war, because Meleager’s story is about hunting a wild boar that caused by the anger of Artemis and how he is unfaithful to his family that cause him die. It is not relevant and helps convince Achilles to rejoin the
From these lines we see that Achilles does not understand the importance of being a team and working together. He wants to be the boss and
Burgess, Jonathan. "Achilles' heel: the death of Achilles in ancient myth." Classical Antiquity. v. 14 (Oct. '95) p. 217- 43.
The subject of Homer’s epic poem, the Iliad, is very clearly stated--it is “the rage of Peleus’ son Achilles.” The reader remains continually aware of the extent of Achilles’ rage, yet is never told the reason why Achilles remains angry and unreconciled. There is no definitive answer to this question. Achilles is not a static character. He is constantly changing; thus the question of why he remains angry solicits different answers at various stages throughout the poem. To find an answer, the reader must carefully examine Achilles’ ever-changing dilemma involving the concepts of mortality and honor. At its simplest, Achilles’ dilemma is that if he goes to war, he will die. But he will die with glory.
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 killing Hector and his overpowering hatred for him, leads Achilles to another bad decision: disrespecting the body of his enemy. This foolish choice leads directly to Achilles death. Although The Iliad is mainly known as a story about the Trojan War, it is understood as a story about Achilles and his struggle to be a hero.
Homer devotes the final passages of Book 18 of The Iliad to the description of the shield of Achilles. Only a quarter of the description concerns warfare, the essential grist of the epic. Instead, the bulk of the description presents a peaceful society and rural idylls, a curious choice for the most ferocious warrior of the Greeks, and an odd thing for both armies to fear. A narrative emerges from the scenes of the shield, and it is this that fits Achilles and repulses everyone else.
The setting of the poem is Greek at a time of war and the events covered occur a few weeks towards the Trojan War. From the flow of the poem, it is evident that The Iliad finds joy in war. Their bravery and competence determine the value of each character in the story during a battle. Paris who is a character in the poem is scorned by his lover and his family because he does not enjoy war yet the pride of a man is endorsed from their strength in battle. Achilles is viewed as a victorious man by the society because of his decision not to stay home living an uneventful, long, and comfortable life.
In the Iliad, Achilles is the main protagonist. He is a demi-god and is the son of the nymph Thetis and Peleus who was the King of the Myrmidons. He was a Greek hero of the Trojan War. He falls in love with a battle prize called Briseis. He is to portray, “as a brave, loyal, cocky, intelligent and even superhuman soldier. In Achilles ' case, the word "superhuman" is literal; he is the result of a union between a god and a mortal.”(Harvard 1)
offers gifts to Achilles if he will come back and help fight. Achilles, however, is
In Homer’s The Iliad, Achilles is often referred to as a very courageous Greek hero but a further look into the epic will reveal a man that is more arrogant than courageous. It was truly his arrogance that made his name famous and not his courage. Achilles was a narcissistic, self-serving man who was not concerned with his fellow country man. His actions of courage can easily be revealed as selfishness instead of what most people believe.
The story starts with Agamemnon and Achilles capturing Chryseis and Briseis during a battle. In that case, Chryseis’s father, Chryses, prays to Apollo to help him gets back his daughter from Agamemnon’s hand. The aid from god Apollo helps Chryses wins over Agamemnon and Achilles. Agamemnon
The first requirement of Aristotle's tragic hero is that they are more admirable than the average character. Achilles meets this requirement because of his ability on the battlefield. In The Iliad, the background to the story is the war between the Greeks and the Trojans. This background is not only the basis for the story overall, but is also the basis for Achilles' own story. This begins when Achilles refuses to join the battle because he is insulted by Agamemnon. This decision results in the action that drives the remainder of the story. Later in the story when Achilles becomes angered and goes to the other extreme, launching into battle and killing ferociously. The significance of this is that it places battle as central to both Achilles' story and to what is important in the setting of the story. Importantly, the aspect that makes Achilles greater than most is his ability o...
Achilles is introduced into The Iliad getting into a debacle with the leader of the Greek army, Agamemnon, during the last year of the Trojan War. Achilles starts a quarrel with Agamemnon because he has demanded possession of Achilles’ woman, Briseis, in consolation for having to give up his woman, Chryseis, so that the gods will end their plague upon the Greek soldiers. Achilles does all he can to get his loved one back, but he knows that nothing will waver Agamemnon’s decision. This is when Achil...
The first reason Achilles is an epic hero is because he embodied the characteristics of the ideal Greek citizen at the time Homer wrote; he is in a position of power and regards honor highly. “O my mother! I was born to die young, it is true, but honour I was to have from Zeus, Olympian, thunderer on high! And now he has not given me one little bit! Yes, my lord king Agamemnon has insulted me! He has taken my prize and keeps it, he has robbed me myself” (page 17), Achilles cried to his mother. Agamemnon stole Achilles’ prize, Briseis, so Achilles is begging his mother, the sea nymph Thetis, to help him regain his honor. In Greece, honor was crucial and by taking Achilles’ prize, Agamemnon has stripped him not only of his hard-won prize but of his honor as well. Such a double loss would have been catastrophic for a Greek citizen. Classicist Ian Johnston highlights the significance of his loss, suggesting that “the greatest harm that can occur to a particular warrior is shame, the community’s public recognition that he has let the group down or failed to live up to its shared rules.”Being shamed, in this case, by Agamemnon, would cause the Achaeans to lose respect for Achilles, and as one of their leaders, this would be a tragedy for him. Achilles’ desire to regain his honor sho...
Homer makes it clear that Achilles is a man mainly driven by his hunger for glory. Achilles has all the traits of a superhuman from his strength to his incredible ability to fight on the battlefield. Even with these great abilities, it is hard for many readers to perceive him as a hero because of the way he acts. Homer takes this brief time period out of this whole ten-year war just to demonstrate how Achilles cannot control himself when he goes into a rage. In todays world Achilles would not last long as a soldier in any army because he would be court marshaled for insubordination. Achilles ye...
In Homer’s epic, the Iliad, the legendary, has no two characters that are so similar yet so different as Greek warrior, Achilles, and the Prince of Troy, Hector. Achilles is the strongest fighter in the Greek side, and Hector is the strongest Trojan. They are both put into the mold of a hero that their respective societies have put them into; however; it is evident that they are both extremely complex characters with different roles within their society and with their families, and with the gods.