Preview

The Role Of Achilles In The Iliad

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
253 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Role Of Achilles In The Iliad
Achilles shows various forms of commitment in the Iliad. This god does not appear as often as others do, but when he does he appears with a bang. He and Agamemnon have ongoing beef, and because of this he resides from the Achaen army. The Achaens need his help to defeat Troy but he is so committed to his hatred for Agamemnon that he refuses to help. “never again, he’ll never rob me blind with his twistsul words again. Once is enough for him. Die and be damned for all I care” (9, 455-457). The beef begins when Agamemnon steals Achilles’ wife from him, whom he cherished very dearly. In the text it is very clear that Achilles is committed to his love for this woman, which isn’t common for the gods to do. “…anguish gripped Achilles. The heart

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    At the beginning of the war Achilles is not on good terms with Agamemnon because Agamemnon does not have respect towards Achilles. Agamemnon takes Briseis from Achilles when Achilles is gone. When Achilles returns he is angered with what Agamemnon did. He says that he will no…

    • 352 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Philotēs. The act of showing pity is viewed as morally correct and necessary. Achilles in Homer’s Iliad and the Athenians in Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War lack pity and subsequently behave immorally. Both Achilles and the Athenians are influenced by personal characteristics and interpersonal conflicts that result in their lack of pity; however, the outcomes vastly differ due to the reparations made to the Athenians initial instinct by Diodotus’ antithetical speech and the absence of such for Achilles.…

    • 235 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Homer’s Iliad, the elaborate world illustrated on Achilles’ shield represents the Bronze Age in which the epic takes place, and stands in stark contrast to the miserable Dark Age which Hesiod describes in his Works and Days.…

    • 331 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Homer’ Iliad, Achilles makes the choices that produce his death. However, the audience discovers that Achilles, according to the Fates prophecy, is destined to die either young with or old without kleos. Achilles chooses to die young on the battlefield of Troy, earning eternal kleos but later regretting his decision of an early death. In the original myth, Accepting His Fate: The Odyssey of Astyanax by Halley Angel, the main hero, Astyanax, parallels the great Homeric Achilles in action, not choice.…

    • 621 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Great Ajax in “The Iliad” receives little recognition as a character, with most of the fame and praise at the feet of Hector or Achilles. Ajax, being one of the most strongest, bravest, and courageous warriors of the Greeks, second only to Achilles, should definitely receive more credit than what is handed out to him. Ajax was known as one of the most important figures in the Achean army, but with deeper insight, can also be viewed as one of the most important figures in the entire book itself.…

    • 789 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When Agamemnon, in a heat of rage, proposed to take Briseis from him, Achilles resisted forcefully. However, his efforts were to no avail; Achilles was no rival to the power of Agamemnon and had to give up his war prize. After this most coveted possession was taken from him, Achilles did not follow the model of Apollo, as Agamemnon did, but instead withdrew from the fighting. In doing so, he was imitating Hera, the wife of Zeus, whose first response in times of trouble was to pout until her needs were met. Like Agamemnon, Achilles, too, is unable to control his temper, but instead of acting out in wrath, he wallows in his anger and allows others to pay the consequence. Unfortunately for Achilles, even though he is nor fighting, he still must pay the same consequences as any other soldier. Because Achilles stayed away from the battle for so long, his best friend, Patroklus, had to fight in his stead. This fight ended up costing Patroklus his life, bringing great grief to Achilles. For when Patroklus’ body was brought to Achilles, he “[let] fall warm tears as he saw his steadfast companion lying there on a carried litter and torn with the sharp bronze, the man he had sent off before with horses and chariot into the fighting; who never again came home to be welcomed.” (Homer 402) When…

    • 1039 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Agamemnon has just insulted Achilles in front of all the Achaeans, and, because of this incident, Achilles decides to return home rather than stay and fight with his own people. Returning to his tent, Achilles calls upon his mother, Thetis, a goddess, to beg Zeus for one favor:…

    • 1097 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Dumbledore said, “It is the choices… that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” This theory applies to everyone. Through the choices and actions of Theseus and Achilles, we learn a lot about their characters. We find Achilles to be motivated by rage and pride, with ambitions of glory and vengeance. Theseus, on the other hand, seems to be motivated by others’ needs, and aspires to do right by those who he should help. Theseus also likes to challenge expectations and overcome the “impossible”.…

    • 400 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Homer’s, The Iliad, humans and gods both have their judgement clouded by love and because of this many mistakes were made, many lives were lost, and much sorrow was shed. On page 37 Agamemnon tells Achilles, how he will take away Achilles’ prize of honor and the girl that Achilles has chosen to take hostage and claim as his own from him, because Agamemnon had to return his. After Agamemnon makes his threats, Achilles is angered and distraught for he cares deeply about his wife Briseis, and because he cared so much he made the decision to not fight in the war and let his people die; All because of a girl. On page 43 Achilles is seen talking to his mother, Thetis, as he sulks in a pool of his own self pity. he cries to his mother about how…

    • 316 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    He does many unjustifiable things because of his anger, as seen with Agamemnon, Hector, and Patroclus. His overdramatic tendencies caused him to stop aiding the Greeks by pulling his entire army out of war and slaughter innumerous Trojans. His thirst for never-ending fame caused him to disrespect Hector’s corpse and it also ended in his very own death. Lastly, his sour and fiery personality caused him to belittle Hector’s body and not allow him safe passage to the other world and almost cost the Greeks the war. In conclusion, Achilles’ did terrible and unacceptable things that were not…

    • 1426 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In the era of Homer, divine intervention was thought to be typical, and one of his foremost works, The Iliad, reflects this. Nearly all of the Greek gods are involved in the outcome of the Trojan War, which happens to be the background story of this epic poem. The gods are used by Homer to add twists on an otherwise standard plot of war. I shall concentrate on Zeus, however, and reflect on his actions and their outcomes on the Trojan War, and more importantly, the story of The Iliad. Zeus, very untypical of a Greek god in his lack of involvem7ent in the Trojan War for selfish reasons, was portrayed as the father figure, being impartial and fair to both sides of the war. He remains this way to serve as a check for each god 's involvement in the war. Without his presence at the head of the inner circle of Olympus, it is likely that the activity of the Trojan War would become chaotic, possibly even becoming a playground of war for the gods. With Zeus 's majestic power, above all of the other gods combined, along with his experience, he is quite befitting to his role in the storyline of The Iliad. The Iliad was thought to be written by a Greek minstrel named Homer. The Iliad was the first of the major epics credited to him, the second being The Odyssey. Discussion about Homer among scholars inevitably leads to controversy on nearly every conceivable issue, ranging from his birthplace to his actual composition of either of these epics. Because of our lack of reliable information, we have but a small fragment of knowledge agreed on by scholars about the writer of the first great piece of literature of Western civilization. Homer in ancient Greece was conceived as a "blind, old man, singing or reciting his own compositions" (History of Horticulture), and at least seven ancient Greek cities claimed to be his birthplace. His work has been questioned as to two separate ways: if one minstrel, possibly named Homer, composed these…

    • 1960 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    There are numerous instances in which Homer’s The Iliad is able to illustrate the lives of normal people although the epic was generally based around war heroes. In it, Homer expresses to us that these war heroes are no different than us, as they also make mistakes, are stubborn and often need to apologize as shown by the example of Agamemnon and Achilles. During the progression of the plot of this well-known epic, Agamemnon attempts to apologize to Achilles by a rather “low” method. He hopes to guilt trip Achilles by sending three of his closest friends and most well respected comrades to convince him to return to the battlefield. This happens to work out, although not completely, to Agamemnon’s favor. Similarly, when it comes to us and apologies, we tend to do similar things. We tend not to…

    • 1143 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Achilles is one of the main characters that participated in the Trojan War, it no the most important. He was born from the newly married Thetis and Peleus. Beforehand though, Poseidon and Zeus with in love with Thetis, however, Prometheus warned them of the prophecy that said that the son of Thetis would be greater than his father, so the two gods decided to withdraw and then Peleus and Thetis conceived Achilles, the greatest of all Greek Heroes. When he was born, his mother, Thetis, wanted him to be immortal and thus, she dipped him in the river Styx, however she did not release at his heel, by which she held him, so that was the only part of his body that did not touch the water, therefore that part of his body was mortal.…

    • 1375 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Achilles In The Iliad

    • 691 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Achilles continues to act like a god when he imitates Apollo, the god who had “in anger at the king [driven] the foul pestilence along the host” (Book 1 Line 9-10). This is noteworthy because Achilles does the same thing as Apollo. The king, Agamemnon, has deeply offended Achilles but instead of punishing only the perpetrator he chooses to unleash his righteous indignation on all of the Achaian troops. By doing this, the reader can clearly see that Achilles believes he ranks…

    • 691 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Her heart was pounding inside her chest as she heard the sound of clashing armor getting closer and closer. She saw her army falling back in terror, so she clinched her hand on her sword ready for anything coming her way. Then running out of the moshpit of people was one of the greatest warrior alive, it was Orestes. Orestes was charging like a bull towards her and screaming out “You’re going to be a dead coward!”.…

    • 804 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays