Homer effectively shows readers through praise how admirable Achilles is, making him the justified character. Achilles essentially thought that Agamemnon was a coward according to his quote: “With a dog’s eyes and a rabbit’s heart! You’ve never had the guts to buckle on armor in battle…Confiscating prizes from the Greeks who talks back, and bleeding your people dry” (Homer xvii). Achilles believes that Agamemnon
Throughout The <br>Iliad, Achilles went through some significant changes that affected himself, as well as the <br>Achaeans and Trojans. He began a hero and ended a tragic hero. <br> The Trojan War is vital to Greek mythology and provides a backdrop for <br>discussion. Before the war even started, however, it was known by all Trojans and <br>Achaeans that Achilles was the best fighter. He was the hero of all fighters.
A character will fail to come across as heroic without self-sacrifice. It is the altruistic act, the putting of others before oneself, that separates the bloodthirsty Achilles from the heroic Ajax. From the outset, Achilles is depicted as rash, selfish and a megalomaniac. Feeling robbed of glory after Agamemnon stole Breseis away, Achilles states that one day “… a yearning for Achilles will strike Achaea’s sons… nothing you do can save you - not when your hordes of fighters drop and die… Then you will tear your heart out, desperate, raging that you disgraced the best of the Achaeans” (1. 281-286).
Before Achilles kills Agamemnon, Athena and Nestor calm the situation and prevent the duel. Achilles is humiliated and infuriated when Briseis is taken from him and given to Agamemnon. That was one of Achilles war prizes and for someone to take that away from him is wrong and shouldn’t be done to such a valuable warrior. Achilles is beyond enraged after all this and
. The Illiad was set in a time where war was a constant threat to the people. The storyteller, Homer, recounts a story of a 10-year war between the Achaeans and the Trojans that resulted from the attack by the Trojans where they made off with Helen the wife of an Achaean chieftain named Menelaus. Hector and Achilles were alike in many ways. They seek glory on the battlefield, to die a hero, to be honored in death by their people yet they were depicted as very different men who had come to a time in their lives where their ultimate reasons for the war were very different.
Agamemnon is showing no respect to Achilles and that is not a smart move to do against your greatest warrior. Achilles eventually quits fighting because he felt disrespected. Achilles made a dumb mistake by letting Chrysies go, and putting his wife in captivity. If he really loved her, Achilles should have stood up to Agamemnon and not let him control his wife. Achilles was willing to fight for his town, but not for his wife which makes no sense.
Achilles Achilles´s wrath is triggered by his pride and honor, the pride of being a Greek and his honor comes from his desire for greatness and immortality. Within the Iliad Achilles’s anger is triggered with an attack on his honor and pride. When Agamemnon takes Briseis, he responds with withdrawing from the Trojan war, and the Trojans use that opportunity to attack the Greeks with them vulnerable due to loss of Achilles in the frontline. His wrath climaxes when he gives up all laws of society and humanity and lets his hate for the Trojans take a new level after Patroklos is killed, when Achilles kills Hektor, were Achilles drags Hektors body around from his carriage and mutilates his body. Here the reader gets a
Homer’s exploration of Achilles’ struggle for eternal glory establishes the main element of the Hero in ancient Greek culture as the immortalisation of his life in song or epic poetry. Kleos, meaning ‘glory, fame, that which is heard’ refers to both the medium and the message, and is one of the driving forces for many of the warriors in the Illiad. For the heroes, and indeed Achilles, they fight not for their Kings or countries, but for the concept of kleos. In order to achieve this, they have to suffer through an ordeal, accomplish great deeds, show excellence in fighting, and ultimately, die in battle. According to Goldhill, “Poetry confers
The Iliad is the first great book, and the first great book about the suffering and loss of war. Homer, for reasons of his own, suppressed the truth about the Trojan war- in reality, the Greeks lost. Homer once said, “Men learn with difficulty… But they are deceived only too readily”. In The Iliad, two characters have the narrative urge, and something approaching a synoptic view of the scenes surging around them. Achilles sings stories of heroes' deeds in battle, and Helen embroiders scenes of fighting on an elaborate textile.
In this scene in particularly Achilles is enraged at the fact that Agamemnon wants to take his prize, when he satisfactorily worked to this reward. This also relates to human ideas in terms of what is expected as correct behavior. In this specific scene Agamemnon (even if the King) decides to act rashly and incorrectly against one of the highest ranking official in the Greek army. Agamemnon attempts to take what is rightfully Achilles and this is looked down upon by the entire Greeks. So, there is in fact an expectative when it comes to conduct even for the King.