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Critical analysis of achilles
Critical analysis of achilles
Character analysis of achilles in the iliad essay
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Achilles, the king of the Myrmidons, is a Greek hero who fights Hector, the leader of the Trojan forces. Achilles shows the qualities of the epic hero because his great skills as a warrior, his loyalty to his people and friend, and his compassion. The Iliad illustrates him as a simple but honorable hero. Achilles is enraged after Hector kills his best friend Patroclus. He then seeks revenge for the death of his close friend. Determined, he fearlessly fights Hector until his brutal death. Achilles is the most powerful of the Greek warriors. His actions show his major character flaws as an epic hero. For example, fighting his battle with Hector out of revenge, for his own glory. He is willing to sacrifice everything he has so everybody will remember his name, wanting only fame and glory. Although Achilles has superhuman strength and is very brave, he may be considered not heroic to many people because of his actions against Hector.
Achilles kept in mind he was in the time of war and death so he was good at keeping an honorable attitude. He never leaves the Achaean army without a good reason. Achilles is a great leader and a hero for winning the victory for the Achaeans.
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Odysseus is brave, strong, courageous, noble, loyal, handsome, confident, and a thirst for glory.
He is a very hard worker and a good leader. Odysseus works harder than anyone else and never asks his men to do anything that he won't do, he actually asks more of himself than his men. For example, he didn't leave his men on the island of the Lotus Eaters when they had no desire to go back to Ithaca; he tied them onto the boat and left the island behind. Odysseus also saved his men from being turned into animals by Circe instead of just leaving them. He was determined to return back home, on a ten year journey, with as many of his men as possible, even though they disobeyed him over and over and over again,
repeatedly. Odysseus has a close relationship with some gods and hated by others. Near the end of his travels, Athena feels sorry for him and decides to help him go home. When Odysseus arrives home, she helps him kill all the suitors which plagued his house. Even though the goddess Circe tries to tempt him, she then realizes he is a good man and helps him to get home also. Despite having two goddesses on his side, Odysseus had an enemy also, Poseidon, god of the sea. Poseidon dislikes Odysseus so much because Odysseus blinded his son, the cyclops Polyphemus, so Poseidon makes Odysseus’ trip home a lot harder since he is not allowed to kill him. You could argue Odysseus isn’t a hero because of the people he killed but a hero kills the bad guys, so it wouldn’t be much of an argument. Odysseus is an epic hero mostly because of his intelligence and courage. For example, when he goes to Polyphemus’ island, it was brave and courageous of him to blind Polyphemus in order to free his men. Also, he was intelligent because when Polyphemus asked for his name, Odysseus says “nobody” which was smart so when he blinds Polyphemus, he will say ‘nobody did it’. Odysseus was one of history's greatest leaders and this is part of what makes him an epic hero. Odysseus and Achilles both share qualities in bravery, duties, courage, and compassion. They are both tested by gods and go through personal losses and have many other things in common. The definition of a hero is “a person, typically a man, who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities.” In my opinion, Odysseus represents a better hero. He always stops to think about every action he takes and knows the smart thing to do is. He is extremely persistent and motivated by the right reasons unlike Achilles. Achilles is the weaker hero because his motivation was revenge and he was always thinking about himself except for when his friend had died.
Courage and bravery are two things that Odysseus has a lot of. This is evident when he defies the god Poseidon, telling him that he is unstoppable. Odysseus then gets back on his ship on starts to sail on Poseidon's waters back to Ithaca. Pride is good to have, but in Odysseus’s case, it’s a little too much. On the other hand, he does things that make him a great hero. When Circeturned his crew into animals, he climbed straight up a mountain, risking his life just to save his crew. He will do anything to get back to Ithaca and see his wife and son, no matter how crazy it is. He even goes into the underworld to speak to a prophet about how to get back to Ithaca. Being brave and courageous is all about being willing and able to go to the extremes to help or possibly save people or even a place in need.
In the introduction of the Essential Illiad given by Sheila Murnaghan, Achilles is labeled as “the greatest of the Greek heroes”. In classic mythology a hero is a person of great strength and courage celebrated for bold exploits and is often the offspring of a mortal and a god. Achilles was the greatest fighter among the Greeks or Trojans and feared no man in battle. He was also the offspring of a mortal and a god so by classic mythology definition, Achilles was indeed a hero. A hero is defined by the present day Websters Dictionary as: “one who inspires through manners and actions; an individual who leads through personal example and accomplishments requiring bravery, skill, determination, and other admirable qualities.” Achilles, in no manner, fits this definition. By contemporary standards, he is instead a pathetic villain. Aside from being a kidnapper, rapist and murderer, Achilles proves to be emotionally weak, selfish, and malicious. Many times throughout the Illiad, Achilles is also referred to as “godlike”. The gods of Greek mythology were subject to the same emotions and character flaws as humans, and though privileged to some foresight, the gods had similar mental capacities as humans. What really set the gods apart were their powers (controlling the elements, changing their appearance, etc.), great strength, and immortality. Because of his great strength and apparent invincibility, it is easy to see why Achilles would...
...at he has to say. Honestly I think that Odysseus was is a great leader because, he tried his best to keep his crew safe, he never gave up on them; even if they were in a bad situation.
... in Achilles’ armor once the battle started getting direr, particularly for some of Achilles’ greatest friends. Finally, after Patroclus is killed, Achilles returns to battle, distraught over Patroclus’ death. Through the virtues and heroism of the Achaean heroes: Diomedes’ courage and oratory skill in reinvigorating the troops; Agamemnon’s honesty in admitting himself as the cause for Achilles’ rage and providing enormous wealth and honor to Achilles in an attempt to atone for his mistake; Nestor’s wisdom in selecting the three most likely to be successful; Phoenix’s favor with Zeus preventing Zeus from interfering against them while they attempted to bring Achilles back to the battle; Odysseus’ skill as an eloquent orator in his attempt to convince Achilles; all of this together eventually led to the mission of returning Achilles to the battle being successful.
His soldiers loved him a lot and treated him as he was their king. Odysseus made every right choice to ensure that he and his men were safe and tried to make sure each of them returned home with him. Even though his men were very reckless he still grieved when they were all gone and left him on his journey alone. After all his men were gone Odysseus no longer knew what to do but he tried his best to be strong and return to Ithaca. Odysseus did a lot of untruthful things for his men. He agreed to join Circe in bed to change all his men back to human after they were fed food that turned them into animals. This was untrue to Penelope but he had to do this so that he and his men could get back on their boat and sail to
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.
Achilles, the greatest of the Greek warriors, is portrayed as a hero in some ways but, on the other hand, performs some controversial acts in the Iliad. Throughout the entire Trojan war, Achilles spent most of his time pouting in his tent after Agamemnon kidnapped his prized maiden, Chryseis.
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.
Hector is the true hero of Homer's Iliad. Although Achilles and Hector are both leaders of men, Hector leads with a mature sense that gives his men reason to respect him. In turn, Hector respects his men which gives fulfillment to both parties. Hector is not a man to sit around and mull over strategies and ideas - Hector is a man of action. His men are inspired to fight because they see their captain fighting as well.
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...
The Iliad, the Greek epic documented by Homer that describes the battles and events of the ten year siege on Troy by the Greek army. Both Trojans and Greeks had their fair share of heroes and warriors, but none could match the skill and strength of the swift runner, Achilles. Achilles had the attributes of a perfect warrior with his god-like speed and combat abilities. However, even though he was Greek’s greatest warrior, he still possessed several flaws that made him fit the role of the Tragic Hero impeccably. Defined by Aristotle, a Tragic Hero is someone who possesses a high status of nobility and greatness, but must have imperfections so that mere mortals cannot relate to the hero. Lastly, the Tragic Hero’s downfall must be partially their own fault through personal choice rather than by an evil act, while also appearing to be not entirely deserved of their unfortunate fate. Achilles is a true Tragic Hero because he withholds all of these traits. Achilles proves to be a good man that puts his loved ones first, reveals his tragic flaws of pride and anger, shows dynamic qualities as a character when his flaws are challenged, and has a moment of clarity at the end of his rage. Achilles truly exemplifies the qualities of a Tragic Hero.
The Iliad tells the events of the Trojan War. Achilles is described as being prideful and ruthless. He is also described as being one of the boldest and greatest warriors on the battlefield during the war. When his pride is hurt, he withdraws from battle, where his close friend Patroclus takes his place. When Patroclus dies in battle, Achilles becomes raged and filled with anger. He demands
Because he embodied Greek ideals, was ‘immortalized’ through his actions and glorious death, and was courageous, Achilles was an epic hero. Honor was of the utmost importance to both him and the entire Greek society, he chose to die a hero in battle, and he avenged the death of Patroclus even through mourning; Achilles is the true hero of the Iliad.
In Homer’s The Iliad he tells of the battles and events during the time of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles. This was just a small portion of the Trojan War that had lasted ten years. The Iliad shares the ideas of the glory of war, military values over family life, and the impermanence of human life and its creation. One thing that Homer does is characterize the two different warriors Achilles and Hector. These two great warriors both show different kinds of traits that shape the character they become throughout the The Iliad. Achilles is the main hero in The Iliad, but Homer subliminally tries to persuade the reader that Hector is the true hero in this story.
In the poem, Iliad, Achilles and Hector both show relative heroism in their own different ways. Achilles may have been the more popular hero, but Hector had great heroism as well. Each of these characters possess their own different strengths and weaknesses. These two characters both have pride as being one of their main weaknesses. Hector seems as if he would suit best in the modern world, but there are a few different reasons as to why the ancients may have chose Achilles. Hector and Achilles both lost a lot by letting their pride get in the way of their heroism. Both of these characters were their country’s best warrior. Achilles and Hector have very different personalities, and very different ways of approaching situations.