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Achilles as hero
Achilles and his bravery
Strength and weaknesses of achilles in the iliad
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An epic hero is the protagonist of a tale of action, glory, and legend. Achilles is a fine and true example of what it means to be an epic hero. This one man has accomplished many goals throughout his entire life. His life is the envy of all men and the reason is for he is remembered though centuries, never forgotten. Death wasn’t enough to stop Achilles from obtaining glory.
It is human nature to have the want of more in someone’s life to become known. People want a status that could stand against the test of time. This is a feat that a epic hero must reach. Nothing must get in their way of glory and become the greatest there ever was. Achilles became so well known that he was the main focus for victory in the Trojan War. King Agamemnon became aware of what Achilles was capable in his fighting skills. The king knew that with Achilles on his side that he could win the war. With faith alone in
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Achilles he knew he would reign supreme because Achilles had shown who he truly was to the world. Life has many obstacles but that shouldn’t come to a surprise for an epic hero’s life.
Achilles was a man who could do many and fight many all at the same time. A great skill in which to be a epic hero of the Trojan war. He is brave enough to face these enormous obstacles head on and still carry out the ending. Achilles’ obstacle is the very warriors of Troy but he still proved to be more worth than a hundred soldiers. Achilles was in the frontline and with normal expectancy any solider would have fallen first. But not Achilles, he overcame this obstacle of soldiers by conquering their beach in less than a day.
The main purpose for Achilles partaking in the Trojan war was to obtain glory. Before truly entering into the stakes of the war he visited with his mother. His mother was very wise and foresaw what would become of Achilles. Achilles would meet his end in the Trojan war but gain the title of being legend. This alone gave Achilles the motivation to have his glory. Even when heading towards the path of death Achilles chooses to have his riches even in the
afterlife. From beginning to end Achilles has proven to be quite the champion of not just the Trojan war but the champion amongst men. Many obstacles were in his path to glory but that doesn’t mean they were a challenge for Achilles. Achilles is the envy of gods and the champion of men and his very name will stand for centuries. This is the true epic hero, a hero of incredible strength and worth much more than anyone could truly imagine.
I suppose Achilles quickly realized after he died that fame has no meaning for you after you're dead. In retrospect, he understood that death gives meaning, and fills one up with the passion for life. Every action, however mundane, is filled with the miracle of life and completes itself when one interacts with others. This is what Achilles meant when he asks Odysseus about his son and his former kingdom--never mind the dead, what are the living doing? Achilles yearns to be back among the living.
The epic hero is often the person who has shown outstanding superhuman abilities no other can achieve. A hero is also a person who has conquered a very difficult obstacle or challenge in their early lives. In this case Theseus’ first obstacle was to be able to get the sword and shoes his father had placed under a great stone.
Achilles is the ideal hero, the obvious hero. He is the son of a goddess and a man, a demi-god. He is handsome and kingly in stature. He is strong and courageous. Though Achilles is not a king, he is willing to fight to the death for his country. “At Troy, Achilles distinguished himself as an undefeatable warrior. Among his other exploits, he captured twenty-three towns in Trojan territory, including the town of Lyrnessos, where he took the woman Briseis as a war-prize.” (Hunter) His confidence in himself speaks volumes about him as a person. He knows that virtually, he cannot be killed. “So he wavered, waiting there, but Achilles was closing on him now like the god of war, the fighter’s helmet flashing, over his right shoulder shaking the Pelian ash spear, that terror, and the bronze around his body flared like a raging fire or the rising, blazing sun.” (Book 22; Pg. 546-547) This confidence sometimes causes problems though. He argues with the king many times, and pretty much does whatever he wants. He is a hero, but he is ...
In Homer’s The Iliad, Achilles is often referred to as a very courageous Greek hero but a further look into the epic will reveal a man that is more arrogant than courageous. It was truly his arrogance that made his name famous and not his courage. Achilles was a narcissistic, self-serving man who was not concerned with his fellow country man. His actions of courage can easily be revealed as selfishness instead of what most people believe.
At this height of the epic we see that Achilles is still very much concerned with wealth and honor, the question now is "how to accomplish his goal". Achilles is aware of a few things and this puts him at an advantage over the rest. He knows that he will eventually be honored and that Agamemnon's debt to him will eventually be paid; he knows this because Athena had promised it to him if he didn't kill Agamemnon.
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.
In the Iliad, Achilles is the main protagonist. He is a demi-god and is the son of the nymph Thetis and Peleus who was the King of the Myrmidons. He was a Greek hero of the Trojan War. He falls in love with a battle prize called Briseis. He is to portray, “as a brave, loyal, cocky, intelligent and even superhuman soldier. In Achilles ' case, the word "superhuman" is literal; he is the result of a union between a god and a mortal.”(Harvard 1)
Definition: “An epic hero is the larger-than-life character in an epic--a long narrative poem about important events in the history or folklore of a culture. The epic hero demonstrates traits that are valued by society. The character’s traits can be communicated in narration as well as through dialogue.”
First off, Achilles has a few heroic characteristics. I don’t want to compare him to any other heroes I’ve studied because I don’t like him, but I’d say Odysseus, because they fought for the same goal in the Trojan War. But personally, I think he is a sissy for not fighting throughout the entire Trojan War until things got personal because Hector killed his friend. But hey, killing Hector in his blind rage helped the cause, and thusly his people. So he isn’t all that bad. Then, as N.S. Gill will write, Achilles does this. “An enraged Achilles kills Hector and then dishonors the body by dragging it around tied to the back of a chariot for 9 days.” So, yeah, Achilles is kind of a prick. But then again, Achilles reflects the moral codes of the culture that bore him, so in a strange way, he is the embodiment of a hero. To them at least. To me, he seems to have good ...
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 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...
Homer makes it clear that Achilles is a man mainly driven by his hunger for glory. Achilles has all the traits of a superhuman from his strength to his incredible ability to fight on the battlefield. Even with these great abilities, it is hard for many readers to perceive him as a hero because of the way he acts. Homer takes this brief time period out of this whole ten-year war just to demonstrate how Achilles cannot control himself when he goes into a rage. In todays world Achilles would not last long as a soldier in any army because he would be court marshaled for insubordination. Achilles ye...
(“Achilles”) Spartans were fearless warriors that fought in any condition no matter the situation. The soldiers he brought with him to battle were Myrmidons they weren’t complete spartans but pretty close. The Trojan War started because Paris and Queen Helen fell in love and Paris took her to Troy which furiated the King. He not only took the Queen, but also some of the Kings riches.
“The hero is one who kindles a great light in the world, who sets up blazing torches in the dark streets of life for men to see by” (Adler), but there are many heroes in life that set up torches only to be overshadowed from the scene, and it is the same in many novels as well. The epic The Iliad is a classic example of having hidden heroes. Many readers would argue that the main character Achilles in The Iliad is the hero in this epic, but when compared to a real-life hero Tillman, the side character Patroclus presents himself more as a hero than Achilles. Many consider Achilles to be the hero in The Iliad, however when Achilles is compared to Pat Tillman, conclusions can be made that they were both obstinate in their beliefs and acted accordingly,