There Is Achilles Going To Fight In The Iliad

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In Homer’s epic poem the Iliad Achilles is enraged. It appears that he is enraged because Agamemnon took Briseis, his war prize. Yet, that isn't the fundamental cause of his rage, there is a much deeper meaning to his rage. Achilles is not an immortal being meaning that he is going to die. He knows exactly when and how he is going to die. Achilles is conflicted because all of the other mortals risk their lives every day when they are fighting. The warriors portray courage in every fight of the war because they know they could die but yet, they still go out and fight. Achilles can’t have courage if he knows exactly how he is going to die it is impossible. Achilles is angry that he can’t portray or have the courage of every other human because of his strange relationship to death. The relationship between most humans and death is that we all know for a fact that we are going to die but we don’t know how and when that is going to happen. He knows that If he goes to battle then, he will meet Hector kill him, gain undying glory, and die shortly …show more content…

Achilles curses him and in this curse he says “No I do all the dirty work with my own hands and when the battle's over and we divide the loot you get the lion’s share and i go back to the ships with some pitiful little thing so worn out from fighting i don’t have the strength left even to complain.” After this the assembly breaks out and Achilles is so angry that he wanted to kill Agamemnon but he did not because the goddess Hera came down and stopped it from happening. Achilles calls to his mother and we find out that this isn’t the true cause of his rage. Achilles is enraged about something bigger than Agamemnon taking briseis away from him. Although he is upset about the distribution of the loot and tries to make it seem like that is the reason why he is upset. Everyone knows that this can't possibly be the reason why he is refusing to

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