Rage In The Iliad

Rage plays a big role in the Iliad and we see it throughout the majority of the book. Achilles is the most rage-filled character in the entire book and because of his rage, he acts childish and does not fight in the war. Achilles also shows a vengeance-filled rage on the battlefield when the enemy kills his best-friend Patroclus and rage is what starts this war against Troy. The characters in the Iliad exhibit an unbridled rage, which affects the event occurring throughout the war against Troy. Rage is what causes the war to begin in the first place. It all starts while, staying at the house of Menelaus, king of Lacedaemon, and his wife Helen, Paris kidnaps Helen with the help of Aphrodite, goddess of love, and escapes back to Troy.
After winning a previous battle, both Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, and Achilles, the greatest Greek warrior, capture a girl for themselves and to bring home with them. However, the men of Achaea force Agamemnon to give Chryseis, the girl Agamemnon captured, back to her father after he asks for her back. As a result, Agamemnon steals Briseis, the girl Achilles captured, from Achilles, Agamemnon pronounces, “But I, I will be there in person at your tent to take Briseis in all her beauty, your own prize- so you can learn just how much greater I am than you and the next man up may shrink from matching words with me, from hoping to rival Agamemnon strength for strength.” Achilles becomes furious with Agamemnon, draws his sword and is about to kill him until the goddess Athena stops him. He answers Athena saying, “Why, why now? Child of Zeus with the shield of thunder, why come now? To witness the outrage Agamemnon just committed? I tell you this, and so help me it’s the truth-he shall pay for his arrogance with his life!” Athena did not allow him to kill Agamemnon, but Achilles continues to seethe through the words he speaks. Consequently, Achilles decides to not fight in the war and sits around in his tents all day, which causes the Achaeans to begin to lose the war. Achilles majorly exaggerates in his rage, his selfishness and rage together blinds him from seeing how his actions affect the
Zeus commands all of the gods to stay out of the war between the mortals. He declares, “Any god I catch, breaking ranks with us, eager to go help the Trojans or Achaeans-back ne comes to Olympus, whipped by the lightning, eternally disgraced. Or I will snatch and hurl him down into the murk of Tartarus half the world away, the deepest gulf that yawns beneath the ground, there were the iron gates and threshold loom, as far below the House of Death as the sky rides over the earth-then he will know how far my power tops all other gods’.” Nevertheless, Poseidon, god of the sea, disobeys Zeus’ command and goes to the Achaean camp to encourage their fighter. He does this because he is outraged with the Trojans for killing his grandson. Poseidon never fights in the war, but he does protect the Achaeans while they are fighting. He saves Antilochus, one of the greatest Achaean spearmen, from death when a spear hits his shield dead center, a killing blow, but Poseidon destroys the spear, saving Antilochus. Poseidon’s rage against Troy gives the Achaeans a better chance against the Trojans and it is also encouraging to the Achaeans to have a god on their