Who Is Achilles

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Recommended: Conflict between agamemnon and achilles book 7-13 of odyssey

Achilles is still refusing to fight, so some of his best friends go and try to convince him that he should. Ajax, Telemon’s son goes in and explains to Achilles what the Gods have done to him and why he should fight with them. Ajax says the following, “But you, / The Gods have replaced your heart / With flint and malice, because of one girl, / One single girl, while we are offering you / Seven of the finest women to be found / and many other gifts” (Homer 9.657-62). Ajax explains to Achilles that the Gods have changed him as a person, he is now cold hearted and does not care about the people around him due to the fact that he lost his girl. Ajax thinks the Gods have made Achilles a cold-hearted person because he is not willing to go out and …show more content…

Achilles knows that is not true, so he responds to Ajax saying why he won’t go out and fight in the war. Achilles responds back to Ajax, “Everything you say is after my own heart. / But I swell with the rage when I think of how / The son of Atreus treated me like dirt / In public, as if I were some worthless tramp” (Homer 9.668-71). Achilles response back to Ajax is valid and after his own heart and no one else's. He explains to Ajax that he will always have rage in himself because of the way Agamemnon treated him. He feels as if Agamemnon thinks he is worth nothing, Achilles knows that is not true at all because every one sees him as a great and strong hero. He is sort of upset that Agamemnon took his girl because he worked hard to earn that prize. Ajax’s argument does not matter to Achilles because, he himself knows exactly why he does not want to go into war. Achilles does not care about the gifts his friends have to offer him in the end he know those gifts won’t matter. He also does not care about losing Brieis, he is mad about the fact that Agamemnon treats him poorly. Achilles has pride and is frustrated over the fact that that his friends don’t understand the point he is trying to make. He knows the fate he has in the end and the consequences that are to come but he is not sure exactly what he wants to do in the end, which is either going to the war and dying or not go and be know as a

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