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Achilles vs Hector story
Quarrel between achilles and agamemnon
The iliad - achilles as a tragic hero
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Patroclus has been killed on the battle field and Hector claimed to be the one who killed Patroclus. Achilles then heard about Patroclus’s death and he is furious and wanted to revenge because Patroclus was his best friend and did not want him to fight. Meanwhile, Polydamas advises Hector to retreat within the walls of Troy. Hector and Achilles met and fought on the battlefield however, Achilles had killed Hector. Hector asked to return to his land for a proper burial. Achilles denied his wish because he wanted vengeance of Hector. After, Achilles’ men had stabbed Hector and Achilles attached Hector’s body to a carriage and dragged it around the city. When this happen, Priam who is Hector’s father was not happy about this because all of his sons has been killed and he did not want to leave his son’s body to be torture. Priam wanted his son’s …show more content…
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
Slipping into Achilles tent, aging Priam gently clasp hold of the hands of the man who killed his beloved son Hector. In Priam’s persuasion speech, he talks to Achilles about returning custody of Hector’s body to him for a proper, Trojan, burial. Throughout his speech, Priam includes rhetorical strategies that allows him to open up Achilles iron heart, and persuade him to release Hector’s body and allow enough time to grieve and remember the mighty Hector. Priam begs the mighty Achilles for the return of his son and does so successfully by portraying deep respect to Achilles and honors his nobility, refers to Achilles father and the remembrance of friends, and finally persuading Achilles that traditions are important to Trojans.
This passage tells us about the aftermath of misunderstanding in the war in which Hector accidently killed the cousin of Achilles, who was in the armor of Achilles and also he had his sword. Because he practiced a lot with Achilles, his fighting style was also same. Hector at this point, thought that finally Achilles himself has entered the war and he fought with him. Cousin of Achilles was weak at this point and was killed by Hector, as he could not identify the man behind the mask. After removing the helmet, Hector immediately knew that now he has to face Achilles rage face to face and this happened next, Achilles entered the gates of Troy, fought with Hector, killed him tied to his house and dragged his body.
The facts of this conflict are all pretty straight forward and by recounting the facts I hope to bring to light the truths that justify Achilles' anger. First off Agamemnon had distributed the booty fairly and all the more powerful Achaeans had gotten a concubine, Agamemnon just happened to choose the daughter of one of Apollo's priest. When Apollo sends a plague to the Achaean camp Achilles' concern for his comrades leads him to call an assembly with the purpose of interpreting the plague and taking necessary action. Agamemnon reluctantly agrees to return his concubine to her father if he is repaid another concubine by one of the other powerful Achaeans. At this Achilles stands up for himself and the other Achaeans, he insults Agamemnon by saying that Agamemnon claims his greatness. When Agamemnon takes Achilles' concubine, Achilles probably expected the other Achaeans to stand up for him as he had done for them earlier. But he is left alone. His honor insulted by a man that he had served loyally. Humiliated, by a group of people to whom he owed nothing. A great sense of betrayal overcame Achilles.
In Book 21, Achilles kills a hostage at his mercy, whose life he has sparred in the past. By the end of Book 21, Achilles has killed so many Trojan’s that the river is clogged with the bodies of his victims. Achilles behaves without a care for human life, as well as his treatment toward Hector before and after he kills him. As stated in Blucher’s article, Achilles is found to go berserk, committing atrocities to both living and dead. This, for Shay, is the story of the Iliad and also as Shay goes on to demonstrate, the story of many Vietnam combat veterans”. (Blucher). Before their battle Hector begs Achilles to honor his corpse if he is killed in war, and Achilles refuse, saying, “Don’t try to cut any deals with me, Hector. Do lions make peace treaties with men? Do wolves and lambs agree to get along? No, they hate each other to the core, And that’s how it is between you and me, No talk of agreements until one of us Falls and gluts Ares with his blood” (Homer). His statement of intent to dishonor Hector’s corpse and to damage the body after his enemy’s death, shows that he had anger towards his superiors. The most disturbing portrayal from Achilles is his behavior, when Hector’s father Priam meets with him to ask for Hector’s body. This show Achilles’ anger is driven by rage towards other superior officers in the
Among the many father and son relationships in the Iliad, the first relationship to analyze is between Priam and Hector. Priam is a dignified warrior who fathered fifty sons. Hector, being one of fifty, is a warrior who is earning the respect to be as righteous as his father. As with most father and son relationships portrayed, Priam barely had any physical interaction with Hector. Therefore, when Hector died it was very touching to hear Priam make such a compelling and fervent request to Achilles to have Hector’s body returned to him.
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
The Iliad begins with the clash between Achilles and Agamemnon. Agamemnon has little, if any, respect for the gods. This is displayed by his irreverent behavior towards the priest, Chryses. Agamemnon refuses to release the princess even when the Achaean soldiers suggested "`Respect the priest, accept the shining ransom!' But it brought no joy to the heart of Agamemnon" (104). Achilles is, unlike Agamemnon, respectful of and revered by the gods. In order to expose the cause of Apollo's wrath against the Argive army, Achilles uses the prophet, Calchas. Achilles already knows why Apollo is angry, but decides the fact should be stated by someone other than himself. He knows that Agamemnon will become angry once the truth is revealed. I believe that in this instance he is trying to keep his rage in check by avoiding a direct confrontation with Agamemnon. Calchas also fears for his life because he also knows Agamemnon's fury is unyielding at times. However, with a great deal of encouragement from Achilles, Calchas "spoke out, bravely: `Beware-The god's enraged because Agamemnon spurned his priest'" (106). When the truth is exposed, Agamemnon be...
Achilles agreed that Patrokolos should wear his armor into battle, this decision along with the fact Achilles was no longer fighting, ultimately caused Patrokolos’ death. When Patrokolos died at the hands of Hektor, two things happened. First, being distraught over his friend’s death, Achilles feels responsible/ Guilt ensues but is channeled to more anger. Hektor, the slayer of Patrokolos now becomes the target of Achilles rage. Achilles is ready to fight, but more accurately ready for revenge. Achilles said, “I will not live nor go about among mankind unless Hektor fall by my spear, and thus pay me for having slain Patrokolos son of Menoetius,” (The Iliad, Chapter 18, Lines 89-91). When Achilles decided to fight, the fate of Hektor was already decided. Also, because he decided to fight, many more Trojans died. His fury with all of Troy was unleashed. Achilles killed and killed. The carnage was
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.
During the departure of Achilles’ journey, he experience the invite of the mission, the refusal of the mission, and the help from god. The prince of Trojan, Paris steal Helen, wife of Agamemnon’s brother. Greece decides to fight with Trojan, and the Trojan War starts. Achilles is a great fighter of Greece. But Achilles quits later, because Agamemnon does not give Achilles respect. Achilles’s leaving makes a huge influence to the Trojan army, and the Greece army is weakened. Achilles’s old friends was send to negotiate with Achilles to get him back to the war. They are refused by Achilles, because Achilles is still made at Agamemnon. Achilles’s best friend, Patroclus goes to the war wearing Achilles’s armor, so that they can scare the Trojan soldiers. It works until Hector finds out that the man in the Achilles’s armor is not Achilles,...
In the chapter of Achilles Armor, Achilles sends his cousin Patroclus into war wearing his armor. When he goes into battle the opposing side are in thought that Patroclus is Achilles because he is in his armor. Hector, the leader of his side, has his mind set on killing Achilles. Because Patroclus was there instead of Achilles. Hector thought Patroclus was Achilles and kills him. When Achilles challenges Hector in a fight against him, Achilles states “Dogs and ravens shall tear your flesh unburied hound, I will tear and eat your flesh myself, if I could bear to do it” (Sutcliff 89).Although this quote may seem brutal it must be understood that Achilles is also a warrior. Achilles has a special gift to where his only weak spot is his heal and hector does not so when they fought hector died. Hector's father, King Priam begs Achilles for Hector's body back and eventually gets it. The archetypal relates to this story because Hector looked pretty bad killing Patroclus but at the same time, he was just doing his job.. And that was to
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...
After that part, Achilles shows vengeance when he talks about how he wants to kill Hector. 'I will not live nor go about mankind unless Hector fall by my spear, and thus pay me for having slain Patroclus, son of Mencetius.';
Achilles was criticized because he withdrew from battle, but when he returns he is able to gain his honor and glory back. He withdrew from the war because he was angry at Agamemnon, he returns when he finds out about Patroclus’s death. Achilles is so angry and upset when he hears the news of his best friend. Achilles wants to return to the war because he wants avenge on Hector because he killed Patroclus. “Welcome me home, since I no longer have the will to remain alive among men, not unless Hector loses his life on the point of my spear” (page 358). By returning to the war, Achilles is proving that he has honor once again. He is not scared of Hector and will not back down until he is dead. Achilles has determination that he will gain his glory once Hector is dead. Achilles had the option to fight or stay at home where he could live a long life. He chooses to fight because he knows he knows that he is fated to die young. “If it is true that I have a fate like his, then I too will lie down in death” (page 358). Achilles will continue to fight until he gets the opportunity to slay Hector. He knows that when he kills Hector he will be fulfilling his destiny and proving his honor because he is killing for a friend. When Achilles finally gets the chance to kill Hector, he does not have any mercy. He puts his spear right through Hector’s throat. “It was there Achilles
This regret Hector has in the end, both literally and physically tears away his façade, showing him from what he was; a scared and conflicted man. Illustrated during what be believed to be his greatest moment, when he stands as the solitary defender of Troy. Even though, his father screams from the ramparts in a final effort to convince Hector that even if he is young and his death will be glorious, it will be ultimately a selfish death because it will bring no peace upon his family. Hector understands that a death fighting merciless Achilles would mean his family will be left with no body to morn so they all will be left suffering until they are eventually brutally killed by the invaders. (Homer XXII. 44-80). Hector “grim and narrow-eyed, refused to yield” (Homer XXII. 101-102) at first. However while Achilles rushes at him, suddenly all the words of his father, mother, wife begin to make sense, he is on longer narrow-eyed he sees clearly the reality of what his death will mean. So “as he watched, began to tremble./ then he could hold his ground, no more. He ran” (Homer XXII. 150). Because, when facing the cold fact that his warrior lifestyle was not going to save him from death, he has no other choice to but to attempt to preserve his life for his family. Old habits die hard and he is tricked by Athena to fight (Homer XXII. 245-253) When she uses his