Achilles Grief In The Iliad

John Worm

1011-103

Jillian Bjerke

Exactly as Home Intended, Achilles as Arête

A traditional Hero is defined as a person who is admired for outstanding achievements or noble qualities. Ten years into the Trojan War, the Achaeans and Trojans still have yet to have a decisive victor. The Trojans and their champion, Hector, only counter the unrelenting attacks at the Trojans led initially by Achilles until a feud with Agamemnon. Achilles’s absence on the battlefield is felt almost immediately, as he is the best Greek fighter. Achilles refuses to enter the battle even at the pleading of his Achaean friends. He, however, does allow Patroclus to wear his armor to give the Achaeans an edge in battle and to motivate them as well as scare the Trojans. While initially effective, Patroclus is slain by Hector. Achilles rejoins the Greeks the next day and slays their champion Hector because of Achilles’s immense

grief.
The Greeks define a hero or a character with arête as someone with extreme prowess on the battlefield, superhuman strength, and is often someone with a god or other mythological figure as a parent. Achilles is the hero of the epic. Homer himself is Greek, so he is clearly biased as he tells the epic from the Greek perspective. Achilles is the hero, even though he acts irrationally on two separate occasions. He begs his mother Thetis to curse the Trojans, and she does just that to Zeus, “Come grant the Trojans victory after victory till the Achaean armies pay my dear son back . . .” (Bk. 1, Lns, 606--7, p. 94). Agamemnon demanded that Achilles give up the girl Briseis, and Achilles in outrage demands that his mother convince Zeus to make the Greeks pay. Achilles, after all was a demi-god, so he was subjected to mortal emotions, which caused him to curse the side he was previously fighting for. However even though in the epic the gods themselves succumb to irrationally, and often switch sides throughout the epic. Achilles himself in his unreasonable state still demonstrates Greek ideals. Honor and glory were important expectations to the Greeks, and Achilles felt that Agamemnon was essentially stripping him of his honor. Achilles felt he received not enough “spoils of war” even though he was considered the greatest warrior while Agamemnon received too many “spoils” based on his lesser ability.
The second occasion where Achilles does not fully demonstrate Greek ideals are when he abuses Hector’s dead body, “And so he [Achilles] kept on raging, shaming noble Hector [body]” (Bk. 24, Ln, 26, p. 589). The gods themselves even pitied Hector and looked down upon Achilles, “the gods in bliss looked down and pitied Priam’s son.” (Bk. 24, Ln, 27, p. 589). Achilles himself disrespects Hectors body because of how upset he is over Patroclus’ death. He shows this temporary lack of judgment that is uncharacteristic of Greek gods. He, however, does redeem himself when Priam, the father of Hector, sneaks into the Achaean camp and talks with Achilles. The two enemies eat together and Achilles grants his wish to return his son’s body. Achilles also gives the Trojans time to bury their previous champion of Troy. It is interesting to note that Achilles two moments of irrationality occur at the beginning and end of the epic poem. Achilles, an unorthodox hero, has his emotions run full circle, irrationally accompanied by anger and grief turning into rage, and ending with compassion. He represents human’s greatest emotions, only to a much larger scale.
Achilles throughout the rest of the epic only exemplifies the ideas of Greek excellence or arête. He is a powerful demi-god, who is an uncontested warrior, “One spot lay exposed, where collarbones lift the neck bone off the shoulders, the open throat, where the end of life comes quickest-there as Hector charged in fury brilliant Achilles drove his spear and the point went stabbing clean through the tender neck . . .” (Bk. 22, Lns, 383-6, p. 552). Achilles in the passage slays the champion of Troy, a previously unbeaten character, with ease. Achilles demonstrates his extreme prowess with a spear. The Achaeans admire warriors, and powerful warriors are some of the most respected men. Achilles is nearly unbeatable on the battlefield, even though he does eventually die as predicted in the prophecy. Achilles proves his immense and unquestioned skill on the battlefield, “[Achilles] stabbed Dryops, speared him right through the neck- he dropped at his feet and Achilles left him dead and smashed Demuchus’ knee, Philetor’s strapping son, stopped him right in the tracks with a well-flung spear then sprang with his great sword and ripped his life away. Then he rushed at . . . Laogonus, Dardanaus . . . one spear thrust, one chopped down with a blade.” (Bk. 20, Lns, 515-22, p. 518). Achilles is slaughtering Trojans left and right, almost effortlessly. He continues his rampage towards the gates of Troy and its champion Hector.
Perhaps the most heroic aspect of Achilles is his courage. Achilles knew his fate, he could die with honor or live a life of leisure--Achilles chooses the heroic death, an idea that is immortalized within Achaean culture: “Two fates bear me on to the day of death. If I hold out here and I lay siege to Troy My journey home is gone, but my glory never dies. If I voyage back to the fatherland I love, my pride, my glory dies...True, but the life that's left me will be long, the stroke of death will not come on me quickly.” (Bk. 9, Lns. 499--505, p. 265). Achilles bravely eventually chooses to fight and make amends with Agamemnon. Achilles, the hero of the epic, immediately turns the tide of the battle, but even he knows his fate. Using superhuman power and knowledge in the battlefield, he continually drives the Trojans back. Knowing ones fate is enough to drive any man mad, as they are often scared or timid, Achilles, however, turns to the battlefield with the courage of a thousand men. He faces his fate head on, a truly admirable act by any consideration.
Homer abruptly ends the novel with the burial of Hector, which is quite odd since Hector is the enemy of the Achaeans.

This, however, aligns with the fact that Achilles is the hero of the epic. Achilles has displayed almost every emotion throughout the novel, but the final emotion that leaves a memory is that of his compassion. He allows his most hated enemy to be returned to his father and buried. While technically the story of The Iliad is continued in the aftermath of the war within The Odyssey. Homer ends the epic leaving Achilles on a good note to maintain his status as a hero. Achilles’ death is impending, and the death of Hector virtually seals Troy’s fate to fall. Homer intends to leave Achilles alive to preserve his status as a hero thus ending his epic with the death of his rival, “Thus they buried Hector, tamer of horses.” (Bk. 24, Ln, 944—0, p. 614). Homer ends the novel leaving Achilles full of valor to cement his place in time as a hero. His death, even heroic, would leave the epic with the near immortal warrior falling, tarnishing Achilles’s

reputation.
Achilles by no means exemplifies a traditional hero, he, however, does challenge the original definition and almost creates a new definition for a hero. Achilles is brave, yet unrelenting. He is irrational, yet compassionate. He is not driven by divine intentions, yet human emotions. He embodies the Greek notion of arête--he is an extraordinary warrior, a natural leader of men, and hero with divine origin. Achilles is the hero of Homer’s epic The Iliad, and he is depicted exactly the way Homer intended.