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The character of Achilles
The character of Achilles
The iliac achilles rage
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Iliad Achilles’ Anger and Unreconciliation: Reassessing the Concepts of Mortality and Honor 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. Achilles’ true nature is that of a warrior. The son of Peleus must fight. When he denounces Agamemnon and the Achaeans, he does not go home. His ship is last in line, near Troy. Subconsciously, he has already made the choice of accepting a short life filled with glory. Subconsciously, he wants to go back to war. He needs to. However, he also needs to insure his possession of glory and honor. But what kind of glory, what kind of honor? He already possesses the honor of the gods. He says, “my honor lies in the great decree of Zeus…” (IX.741.p.272). By book IX, material wealth is no longer what Achilles wants. He spurns Agamemnon’s offers. The typical mortal concepts of heroism no longer concern him; his ideals differ from those of his peers. Phoenix’s Meleager is no example to him. However, at this point Achilles still does not know what he wants. Pride and stubbornness still supplement his rage, but now his anger appears to be a manifestation of his fear and confusion—“Stop confusing my fixed resolve with this…” (IX.745-746.p.272). Achilles knows that he wants honor and glory, but in what form? What Achilles does know, and what he must deal with, is the fact that his life will be short if he chooses to have honor and glory. Thus, the choices he makes concerning his honor are crucial. At this point his life is riding on the decision he makes. It is inevitable that Achilles will choose door #2--to go to war, live a short life, and have much glory.
At this height of the epic we see that Achilles is still very much concerned with wealth and honor, the question now is "how to accomplish his goal". Achilles is aware of a few things and this puts him at an advantage over the rest. He knows that he will eventually be honored and that Agamemnon's debt to him will eventually be paid; he knows this because Athena had promised it to him if he didn't kill Agamemnon.
For instance, when Agamemnon strips Achilles of his war prize, Agamemnon puts the duty regarding his activities on Zeus and Destiny. He says, "the god finishes all things" and he guarantees that "Fancy" ensnared him. Additionally, when Achilles contemplates regardless of whether to draw his sword against Agamemnon, Athena gets him by the hair and cautions him against battling with Agamemnon. Plainly, Achilles does not accept accountability either for his indignation or for his not murdering Agamemnon. Truth be told, neither Achilles nor Agamemnon perceives a moral obligation regarding their passionate and physical reactions, despite the fact that both men are on the edge of viciousness. To the Homeric saint, an outside power starts activity and thought — henceforth, moral obligation is not an issue for a legend 's choice to take after the manages of an outside
Achilles is talking to his mother when she tells him that if he goes to fight in the war he wil not survive. Achilles then acknowledges this and realises that she is right but is battled between the decision to go in order to gain fame. He ultimately makes the decision to go to war to pursue his desire of gaining fame. This also shows greed as he decides to go because of his wants and doesn't think about others who care about him. Such as his mother who will be in distraught after his
The readers can obtain a chance to become acquainted with Achilles’ character. The readers have the opportunity to witness that he absolutely does not care for the war too much and he has not fought just for his town, he fights for himself. He yearns to kill people who have done wrong and deserve to die. Achilles embodies himself, not to seem selfish, (but because) that is just who he is and how his character’s unique personality. Achilles fights in these wars knowing that his people need him and he wants a war that all humanity, in millions of years will remember. As he talks to Odysseus, he asks why he should fight the war and Odysseus says he should fight for Greece knowing that Troy has insulted them. Achilles, at that instant, brings up an outstanding point saying “They insulted one Greek, a man who couldn 't hold on to his wife. What business is that of mine?” This shows he does not think highly of Grease therefore he will not fight for Greece until he has a reason. Any man should fight for the right reason and Achilles is one of the only ones in this war that understands that
I suppose Achilles quickly realized after he died that fame has no meaning for you after you're dead. In retrospect, he understood that death gives meaning, and fills one up with the passion for life. Every action, however mundane, is filled with the miracle of life and completes itself when one interacts with others. This is what Achilles meant when he asks Odysseus about his son and his former kingdom--never mind the dead, what are the living doing? Achilles yearns to be back among the living.
One way the mighty warrior shows self-preserving traits is when he states that he rather return to Pythia and live a healthy life instead of dying in battle. This statement shows the Achilles knows that he is most likely going to die and would rather not face that consequence. Another way this man shows self-preserving manners is when he agrees to bequeath his armor to Patroclus so that he can fight in battle in order to save the Achaean ships. This action shows that Achilles still cares about the war but does not want to be harmed. In addition to that, he also shows compassion by praying to Zeus that the ships and Patroclus will remain unharmed during the fight. All of these concerns that Achilles shows, represents why he would be considered
By intertwining the invocation of the muse with the consequences of Achilles’ uncontrolled rage, Homer centralizes the story around the cause and effect of Achilles’ anger. In addition, by associating Achilles’ anger with the casualties of the Achaeans, Homer puts Achilles at fault for the death of many Achaeans. As a result, highlighting the consequences of basing decisions on anger. Agamemnon disgraces Achilles, which enrages Achilles and causes him to withdraw from fighting. This results in the Trojans gaining the upper hand in battle because Achilles was the Achaeans’ best warrior. While attempting to convince Achilles to cease his rage and rejoin the war, Ajax states that “Achilles—/ he’s made his own proud spirit so wild in his chest, /so savage, not a thought for his comrades’ love—” (IX.768-769). Ajax’s disapproval of Achilles’ thoughtlessness is clearly conveyed through his words. This thoughtlessness is seen when Achilles’ rage blinds him to the appeals of his closest friends, he overlooks the severe casualties sustained by the
When one reads the Iliad, they can see that Achilles had a lot of flaws about his character that really outweigh the good things about him. For example, two of Achilles’ major flaws are his anger and pride. One might wonder how pride can be a flaw in character, but in the Iliad, pride is what drives Achilles away from the war because he doesn’t get the respect he feels he deserves. Achilles deserting the Greek army is what starts his decline of a character. What further deteriorates his character is that he has questionable war ethics. For example, on page 139, Achilles says that his life is not worth losing in a war. Now any soldier in any war knows that he is risking his life for the sake of the war, and knows that his life is at risk. Also, he feels that in the end, it doesn’t matter if you are a hero or coward, you die either way. But in reality, if you die a hero, you will be remembered that way, if you die a coward, that is how you will be remembered, which is actually one of the main reasons why Hector decides not to stay hidden behind the walls from
The question "was Achilles' anger justified" brings up issues that seem to have little or no relevance to the war. In time of war I would expect the leaders to prioritize the groups interest for the sake of unity and cooperation rather than being entrenched in achieving their own personal goals. But my expectations are those of a modern day literature student, I'm inclined to think that the Greeks who first read this epic valued different things than myself. Another relevant question might be "were Achilles' actions justified". Anger can be easily justified, but the actions that anger might lead you to take are not as easily justified. Again I am not an ancient Greek and my opinions are irrelevant unless I open my mind to different viewpoints. Therefore I am striving to look into this issue through ancient Greek eyes where the principle of sacrificing ones own interests was apparently not valued, but maintaining ones honor, on the other hand, was greatly valued. In the following paragraphs I will attempt to answer these two aforementioned questions.
One of Achilles first great lessons learned was that one should be less intense when it comes to one’s values. During the first couple books of The Iliad of Homer we see that honor is the most important thing to Achilles. Honor comes before all. Unfortunately, in book nineteen, Achilles beloved comrade and brother-in-arms
Although the Homeric society had Gods to lead its character, still emotion was able to overtake logic and calculated moves in war. Achilles was warned that “[He is] destined for both an early death and misery beyond compare” (Il. 1.438-439) yet, he continues to fight for tîmê and kleos. The pride that comes from success on the battlefield is worth much more than being in safe. Half man, half god, Achilles innately had a more complete scope of the world after his actions. Even though
The opening lines of the film Troy present us with the overarching theme of Achilles transformation, and the hope it brings for peace in a world of war. “Men are haunted by the vastness of eternity. And so we ask ourselves…will our actions echo across the centuries? Will strangers hear our names long after we’re gone….and wonder who we were….how bravely we fought….how fiercely we loved?” (Peterson, 2004) Those words, in their entirety represent not only the theme of the film, but also Achilles desires and motivations. We immediately become aware that he wants to be remembered for eternity as a brave warrior, and by the end of the film we see that he also wants to love fiercely and be loved in return.
In the Iliad, the worthiness of a person was judged by their possessions, but Achilles challenged the expression of honor through material goods. He cared more for his pride than physical objects. In Book IX, King Agamemnon sent his best soldiers to ask for Achilles’ help in the war. Agamemnon once tarnished
Achilles shows his moral inferiority in book one of The Iliad when Agamemnon supposedly deprives Achilles of his honor by taking his “prize.” Achilles responds to Agamemnon’s action by deciding to not fight in the war and he also prays against the Greeks by asking his mother, Thetis, to go to Zeus. When Thetis goes to Zeus she says “Zeus, out father, if ever I have helped you among the immortals either in word or in something I did, fulfill me this desire. Give honor to my son who, more than others, is born to a quick death. But as it is, now the king of men Agamemnon has not given him honor. He has taken away his prize. He holds it! But give him honor, O Olympian, counselor Zeus. Give power to the Trojans until the Achaeans honor my son and increase his honor” (I. Lines 491-99). When Achilles does this he is showing that he is selfish and only caring about himself. He is showing he does not care for his troops by praying having his mother ask Zeus to give the Trojans power until Achilles gets the honor he believes he deserves. Another reason in which demonstrates that Achilles is a selfish man is later in book seven-teen. Throughout most of the epic poem Achilles chooses not to fight just because Agamemnon didn’t give him the honor he thought he deserved. But finally, in book seven-teen, Achilles decides to join the battle again. But he doesn’t choose to fight because he knows it is the best things to do for his people or country. He fights because he wants his name to be remembered. But that isn’t the main reason. The real reason that Achilles made his decision to fight is because Hector killed his friend, Patroklos. This is proven to be the main reason Achilles decides to fight in book twenty-two when Achilles is telling Hector what he is going to do to him because Hector killed Patroklos. Achilles says “Don’t beg me, you dog, by my knees