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Quarrel between achilles and agamemnon
Pride and glory in iliad
Pride and glory in iliad
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Male Pride and Arrogance in the Poem of Iliad
Many look for mystical information from the Greek Gods through the Greek myths, theatrical plays and other writings. Stories of the Greek gods has been passed on from one generation to the next. The Iliad is considered the earliest known work of Greek literature, therefore many of the characteristics of the characters in the Iliad is carried out into our modern day. The poem of Iliad takes place in the Bronze Age containing many famous Greek gods which are explained by Homer the author as full of pride, arrogance, and glory for war. The male characters in the Iliad are all arrogant and full of pride which stops them from taking Nobel and rational decisions.
In the bloody society of the Iliad pride is what defines the means of a male character .the main conflict of the Iliad is between Achilles and Agamemnon which was led by the damaging might of Pride. Achilles who is considered to be the strongest of the Achaean army is held back by his character flaws so he can’t act with nobility and mercy. The Iliad begins nine years after the beginning of the Greek war against the Trojans, where the Agamemnon the commander of the Achaean army take a Trojan allied town and capture Chryseis a priest of the god Apollo daughter, and another maiden of the name Briseis. Achilles claims briseis for himself as spoil of war. Chryseis’s father begs Agamemnon to return his daughters and offers to pay an enormous ransom Agamemnon refused to return chryseis in the Iliad because of his arrogance and concede.
Agamemnon is a very hot tempered man who refuses to be told what to do. Agamemnon sails into anger and says he will return Chryseis only if Achilles gives him Briseis as compensation. Agamemnon’s offer t...
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...l person consumed by pride. He was willing to sacrifice everything so his legacy will continue after his death. He draw his sword to kill the commander and chief of the army that he was one of its strongest soldiers. Also, Agamemnon’s stubbornness and pride made him insult and demand that Achilles would give up his war prize, which caused Achilles to leave the Achaean army, and to go seek help from Zeus. Likewise, Zeus arrogance starts an outrages argument with Hera after he felt his pride and privacy was violated from Hera questions. Even though Hera was his beloved wife, he called her a witch and made her very angry. Zeus’s pride makes him help the Trojans because of the favor he owes Thetis, he didn’t want the significance of his promise to be belittled. Homers shows in the poem of Iliad that those who are full of arrogance and pride make absurd decisions.
Arrogance has been the downfall of many great leaders including Odysseus. Examples of Odysseus’s arrogance are clearly discernible at the Cyclops’s island. “Here we stand, beholden for your help, or any gifts you give – as custom is to honor strangers. We would entreat you, great Sir, have a care for the gods’ courtesy; Zeus will avenge the unoffending guest” (Homer 900). This exhibits Odysseus’s arrogance as he threatens a much stronger foe with the god’s power, not his own. “Cyclops, if ever mortal men inquire how you were put to shame and blinded, tell him Odysseus, raider of cities, took your eye: Laertes’ son, whose home’s on Ithaca!” (908). This is another illustration of Odysseus’s deadly ego. Despite his crewmate’s suggestions, he taunts Polyphemus, almost
The definition of pride is a feeling or deep pleasure of satisfaction that people obtain from their own accomplishments. Odysseus, the main character in The Odyssey, is full of pride throughout his long journey. Odysseus is a warrior from the ten year Trojan War and he is trying to get back home to Ithaca. He is one of the most popular war heros from his time. On his journey home over sea, the sea god and Odysseus’s enemy Poseidon, creates obstacles for Odysseus that he has to overcome if he wants to get home. Odysseus eventually returns home after another ten years. In the epic poem, The Odyssey, Homer represents pride Odysseus’ biggest flaw throughout his encounter with Polyphemus and the Phaeacians.
hroughout the Iliad Achilles shows how the ego of a Kardashian is being portrayed and the emotional maturity of an eight-year-old because of the certain adult qualities he lacks, for example: he does not work well with others, he lacks the concept of forgiveness, he is selfish, thinks highly of his self without regard to others, being rude and unkind, aggressiveness when talking to others, and having too much pride and not thinking about the consequences of his actions and how it can affect not only him but others as well. Achilles does not like to work with others he prefers to be the one in charge of everybody and he likes for everyone to do as he says. In the Iliad Agamemnon says, "This man wants to be ahead of everyone else he wants to rule everyone and give orders to everyone" (1.302-303). Achilles and Agamemnon are having an argument amongst one another because no one wants to give Achilles the honor he feels that he deserves for being the best fighter in the war and for all the blood sweat and tears he shed while defeating the Trojans "he is a mighty bulwark in this evil war" as Nestor says.
However, when reading the Iliad, there is a shock factor of how some of the men weren’t as kindly receptive to the influences of women as Enkidu was. Enkidu treasured Shamhat, but Agamemnon treated Chryseis and Briseis as mere objects of pleasure. Chryses was influenced by Chyseis’, his daughter’s, capture to call on Apollo, the health god, to place a deadly plague over the Greeks. This resulted in Achilles confronting Agamemnon who reluctantly stated, “Still, I’ll give her back, if that’s what’s best. / I don’t want to see the army destroyed like this. / But I want another prize ready for me right away. / I’m not going to be the only Greek without a prize,” (1.124-127). Sadly, the prize Agamemnon ended up taking was Briseis, and she originally belonged to Achilles. Because Agamemnon took Briseis, Achilles was angry and went to Thetis, his sea nymph mother, saying “And heralds led away my girl, Briseis, / Whom the army had given to me. / Now you have to help me, if you can” (1.406-408). Thetis went to speak with Zeus and Achilles did not fight in the Trojan War for some time. While Shamhat, in Gilgamesh, influenced Enkidu to fight and be a better man, Chryseis’ influence affected Agamemnon to make a foolish decision, which influenced him to take Briseis, and Briseis being taken influenced Achilles to withdraw from
Lefkowitz then goes on to discuss another battle in this story that was caused because of a woman. That is the battle between Agamemnon and Achilles. Once Agamemnon had returned Chrysesis to her father, he felt that he should have another prize in her place. Agamemnon decided that he wanted Briseis, a war prize that belonged to Achilles. Achilles did not want to give her up because he won her in a war. Agamemnon didn't agree so he sent some men to take Briseis away from Achilles. Once Briseis had been taken away from Achilles, Achilles refused to fight in the war. When Achilles decided not to fight in the war it caused the Greek side to suffer many losses, and it also led to the death of his best friend Patroclus.
In The Iliad some central values of early Greek society are anger, honor, and love. The way The Iliad begins, with the "wrath of Achilles” sets the direction which the epic takes. Achilles anger is based of pride and honor.
This is arrogance that inflates them beyond their boundaries. One early example of how this attribute plays out in The Iliad is when Agamemnon refuses to take Chryses’ ransom. Chryses is a priest who represents the god Apolo. Denying the ransom is the same as denying Apolo’s authority over the mortals. Thus, Agamemnon elevated himself to a god-like status and committed hubris. As discussed previously, this is something to which the gods take serious offense. Lower levels of arrogance are also revealed in the first book. Achilles refers to himself as the greatest Greek Warrior. Even if this is true, this statement reveals Achilles’ pride. Similarly, Agamemnon shows arrogance when he threatens to take everyone else’s war prize because he had to return his own to appease Apollo. The consequences of the arrogance and hubris committed by these characters are obvious in that it becomes the driving conflict throughout The Iliad.
- Achilles, was also brought to ruin by his pride. For example, he was too
Throughout the Iliad, Homer portraits the extent to which honor plays a role in the lives of Greeks and the manner in which they are willing to sacrifice in order to reach their goals. The Iliad is set during the Trojan War, a particularly long and bloody war, fought not over boundary disagreements, and not over political conflicts, and not to protect the nation. Rather, it was a war fought to defend the personal honor. The possession of women was important to a man’s standing and honor. Paris’ theft of Helen struck a huge blow to the honor of Menelaus and becomes the initial cause of the Trojan War. Consequently, Menelaus, the Spartan ruler, called upon his brother Agamemnon to gather the Greek forces to launch the war against Paris demanding the return of Helen and reinstating the honor for the king. The war lasted for ten years and cost innumerable Greeks’ lives and brought incurable pain upon their families. To Greek heroes, honor is more important than their life as much as that life would be meaningless without it, and they even willingly sacrifice their lives in order...
Achilles anger was a predominant theme in the Iliad. It led to Patrokolos, death, Hektor’s death and a great many other Trojan deaths. Achilles was a very powerful Greek warrior, he had many faults but one of his most prominent was his uncontrollable anger. Multiple times throughout the Iliad his anger had for reaching effects on the war and people around him. These effects were not usually favorable to anyone. There are three main occurrences that led Achilles’ anger down devastating paths. The first was when Agamemnon took Achilles’ girlfriend. When this happened, Achilles felt robbed because Brisies, his girlfriend, represented his might and the glory of his conquests. In the Greek culture, glory and honor were highly esteemed. This is why
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...
“Sing, goddess, the anger of Peleus’ son Achilles and it’s devastation which put pain thousandfold upon the Achaians.” The wrath of Achilles begins in Book One of “The Iliad.” Agamemmnon, leader of the Greek army, takes Achilles booty prize, Briseis to replace his own concubine, Chryses, daughter of a priest of Apollo, who was returned to end the plague put on his people by the angry god, Apollo. Achilles feels unappreciated for all that he does for the army when Agamemmnon takes his girl to be his own. He leaves the army because he feels that the king has disrespected him. Thus begins the onset of his doom; by not fighting, and continuing to refuse to do so until after the death of his best friend, Patroklos, he defies his fate.
Throughout the Iliad, a conflict develops through the process of each chapter which rests on the surface over a Maiden. The disagreement is caused due to one person or the other feeling far more powerful or superior than the other and is left to sense as if they should receive what is rightfully theirs even if it is not a fair exchange. This conflict is seen between two leaders who view each other with different status: Agamemnon the Argive leader of the expedition to Troy, who had inherited the role of king through his father, and Achilles the leader of Myrmidons. As the dispute develops, it is apparent that the discord between Agamemnon and Achilles is more than something about women; it seems to be their mindset distracting them from having a dispute between their views on power, honour, glory and pride amongst themselves.
One does not need to go into deep, critical analysis to see that women are portrayed as very weak and servile in the Iliad. We have seen them being humiliated by their husbands, brothers, and even owners. They are often charged with tasks others would find demeaning if left to someone else. The chauvinism is everywhere and it is very clear that the role of women in the Iliad was that of a woman who needs a man to take care of her and keep her lying, twisted heart in check.
The Iliad is a classic epic poem written by Homer about the Trojan War and the rage of an Achaean warrior, Achilles. The book introduces the reader to the war and the personal battle between Achilles and King Agamemnon; because of this argument between these two major characters, Homer introduces the role of the gods when Achilles asks his mother, Thetis, to go to Zeus and beg for his interference on Achilles’ behalf. The major role the gods play in the Iliad is their interference in the Trojan War as immortal versus immortal and mortal versus immortal.