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Critical analysis of achilles
Critical analysis of achilles
Character analysis of achilles in the iliad essay
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The Iliad
Achilles: Right or Wrong? In Homer's epic, The Iliad, Achilles is the central character and greatest warrior in the Trojan War. He is faced with several problems, but the main fight was between him and Agamemnon, the commander of the Achaean army. Greek soldiers fight to win kleos, which is the greek word for glory. When Agamemnon takes Achilles’ kleos, Achilles is forced to question his role in the war. He struggles with the shallow reason that the Achaean army is fighting and eventually goes against the authority he is under in order to fight for his own reasons. Achilles made the only choice possible after being left with a broken heart, cheated and betrayed.
Agamemnon had captured Chryseis as his slave and lover. Her father begged Agamemnon to return her to him but Agamemnon refuses. Then, Apollo becomes upset with him and starts a plague amongst the Greeks. A prophet named Calchas then finds the source of the troubles and with the protection of Achilles, decrees Chryseis be sent home. Agamemnon
Achilles was an essential part of the war; he killed hundreds of people in the Achaeans favor. Agamemnon cheated Achilles in this way by using Achilles’ ability as a great warrior for Agamemnon’s personal gain. His feelings towards Agamemnon and the situation are seen here "He cheated me, wrong me. Never again. He's had it. He can go to hell in peace, The half-wit Zeus has made him. His gifts? His gifts mean nothing to me." Achilles deserved credit for fighting because of all that he had done for not only Agamemnon but the entire achaean army. Achilles also deserved to be with Briseis and should’ve been apart of decision making for the achaean army since he was such a crucial part of the war. Overall, Achilles made the right choice by not
Phoenix’s paradigm narrative fails to persuade Achilles to rejoin the war because the specifics of that narrative fail to align with Achilles’ specific concerns. In particular, Phoenix neglects the pernicious effects of Agamemnon 's actions on Achilles’ notions of honor and pride.
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.
The Greek commander Agamemnon betrays Achilles by insulting him and taking his war prize, the girl Briseis. The Greek army as a whole, betrays him by acting inactively to Agamemnon’s insults and failing to defend him. As seen in Richard Blucher’s article book discussion, “In the Iliad, Achilles has his war prize, the captive woman Briseis, stolen from him by his Commander-in-Chief, King Agamemnon. Shay explains: We must understand the cultural context to see that this episode is more than a personal squabble between two soldiers over a woman [...] The prize of honor was voted by the troops for Achilles’ valor in combat. A modern equivalent might be a commander telling a soldier, ‘I’ll take that Congressional Medal of Honor of yours, because I don’t have one” (Blucher). These betrayals are so traumatic and insulting for Achilles that he withdrew entirely from the war. Also, in Book 21 of The Iliad, Achilles shows another belief that is identified with betrayal. In this book Achilles acts with reckless courage and takes on hundreds of enemy troops without showing any fear or resentment, even when the river god rises to drown him. As he acts so reckless he disregards his own life, and kills all who comes in his path. This is seen through Irwin Kutash’s review of Achilles in Vietnam, as he said, “Achilles is found to have been betrayed by his commander, Agamemnon, who usurps his prize of honor. The betrayal is described
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.
Agamemnon tries to use Achilles rage and fury to get him to give up and retreat back to the army he left. Even though Achilles felt rage and sorrow, he keeps to his word. He wants to obey Athena’s orders of to not fight back. Although he is sad, he will not let Agamemnon’s threat get to his
In addition, Achilles is also acting in a manner of that demonstrates the potential of his character through his demand of the return of Chryses’ daughter to appease Apollo. Through this demand, Achilles is acting in a selfless manner as the satisfaction of Apollo will bring about the end of the pestilence that is affecting the Achaean army. Moreover, Achilles also consolidates the idea of mutual respect through the civility in his language found by offering an incentive to Agamemnon if Chryses’ daughter is returned. With regards to the incentive, Achilles offers Agamemnon additional wealth in addition to the promise that the Achaeans will be able take Troy with the blessing of Zeus. Altogether, Achilles’ is an embodiment of the Homeric Ideal by reaching his personal potential through his tenacity and selfless underlying intentions.
Revenge in The Iliad it the main theme and drives men to do things that they would not normally do. The main example of this is Achilles wanting revenge on Agamemnon. The first book of the Iliad explains that Achilles wants revenge because Agamemnon is forced to return Chryseis, his war bride, to her father, and he decides to take Achilles war bride from him. According to “Some Thoughts about the Origins of ‘Greek Ethics’”, by Nicholas D. Smith, “Agamemnon’s unjust affront to Achilles leads to and extraordinarily deadly retaliation, the ultimate outcome of which is that multitudes of these men’s innocent allies are killed unnecessarily”(smith 10). This is out of character for Achilles, who would normally be the first man into battle, not sitting one out. By “rejecting even the most earnest and impressive entreaties Agamemnon offers, and increasingly making decisions which are rationally indefensible”, he shows how much his wanting of revenge has turned him into a madman (smith 10). His only desire is to get revenge for his loss. It takes the death of Patroclus, his dear friend, to bring him back to the war, which he has left.
In the not so tragic fate that Achilles life took, his obsession of his ego and pride was also the cause of the loss of his friend Patroclus. Agamemnon stole Briseis away from Achilles as revenge for him having to return Chryseis, to her father. In the proud eyes of Achilles this was a blow to his ego and chose that he would not fight in the war against the Trojans. Even though his friends remained in the war, he wished humiliation on Agamemnon. Before the war Nestor presented the thought of Patroclus wearing Achille's armor and taking his place of battle, so Patroclus followed the suggestion and went into war with Achille`s armor on.
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...
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...
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
The first reason Achilles is an epic hero is because he embodied the characteristics of the ideal Greek citizen at the time Homer wrote; he is in a position of power and regards honor highly. “O my mother! I was born to die young, it is true, but honour I was to have from Zeus, Olympian, thunderer on high! And now he has not given me one little bit! Yes, my lord king Agamemnon has insulted me! He has taken my prize and keeps it, he has robbed me myself” (page 17), Achilles cried to his mother. Agamemnon stole Achilles’ prize, Briseis, so Achilles is begging his mother, the sea nymph Thetis, to help him regain his honor. In Greece, honor was crucial and by taking Achilles’ prize, Agamemnon has stripped him not only of his hard-won prize but of his honor as well. Such a double loss would have been catastrophic for a Greek citizen. Classicist Ian Johnston highlights the significance of his loss, suggesting that “the greatest harm that can occur to a particular warrior is shame, the community’s public recognition that he has let the group down or failed to live up to its shared rules.”Being shamed, in this case, by Agamemnon, would cause the Achaeans to lose respect for Achilles, and as one of their leaders, this would be a tragedy for him. Achilles’ desire to regain his honor sho...
Agamemnon attempts to change Achilles mind to bring him back into the war; however, Achilles wanted to go home. Agamemnon told Achilles that it’s either you die on the land with fame or go home and live your life regretting. However, Agamemnon failed to convince Achilles because in the beginning of the Iliad. In the beginning Achilles and Agamemnon had an argument to let Chrysies go so the plaque will stop and he agreed to let Chrysies to go back to her home. However, Agamemnon was not quite happy. In the Iliad, Agamemnon responded, “So while you have your prize, you want me to sit tight and do without?”(pg.11). From this we can see that even though he had let Chrysies go, he wanted a replacement for his prize. Later on, Agamemnon had took Achilles’ girl Briseis as a replacement for Chrysies. From this situation, he withdrew himself from the Trojan War and refused to let his troops fight with the Greeks. Agamemnon was convincing but, what had happen in the beginning of the Iliad had made the decision for
Agamemnon admited that he wronged Achilles and that he insulted the greatest warrior, and prepares to offer Achilles gifts (one of Agamemnon own daughter was wife and seven of Agamemnon citadels), if only he will return and yields place to Agamemnon, in as much as I am the “kinglier”. Nestor proposes sending Phoenix, Great Ajax and Odysseus, as well as the heralds Odius and Eurybates. When embassy went to Achilles house, Achilles treated the guest with courtesy, by asking Patroclus to make food and serve drinks, with a sacrifice for the gods. Odysseus told Achilles what Agamemnon has decided but he leave out Agamemnon statement about the needing to yield Agamemnon kingly majesty, he also add a final statement about Achilles dislike for Agamemnon, he should join the army out of pity for his friends and fellow soldiers, who are being slaughtered for want of their greatest warrior. Achilles told the embassy he will not fight for Greek and that Agamemnon gifts to return to battle are not important than his life. Let’s look at Agamemnon for example he still have pride because he did not apologies for his actions towards Achilles but he offers gifts which reflects glory, honour and generosity of a king, he also ended his statement that
Achilles complains due to that now that he has finally been given a “good” prize Agamemnon wants to take it from him. Achilles himself states “And now you’re threatening to take away the prize that I sweated for...I never get a prize equal to yours...No, I do all the dirty work with my own hands, And when the battle’s over...You get the lion’s share and I go back to my ships With some pitiful little thing, so worn out from fighting I don’t have the strength left even to complain...Far better To head home...than stay here, Unhonored myself and piling up a fortune for you” (Homer, 133 172-178). Achilles’ argument not only shows his rageous hatred and anger towards Agamemnon, but it also shows that he feels unhonored for his work by mentioning that Agamemnon always takes the best of the victories and just gives him the remainings of what he did not want when Achilles is the one that does all the