Achilles Decision Making In The Iliad Essay

Achilles and his ‘feelings’ Has there ever been an instance where the only options to choose between were bad and worse? People are confronted with many such choices in their daily lives, and simply have to make a decision. It may not be the most moral decision, in retrospect, but in the moment, all one can do is follow their gut. In The Iliad, Achilles is faced with some rough situations that require rapid, instinctual choices. Throughout this paper, how Achilles makes decisions and how those decisions affect the community will be examined. Achilles' decision making is affected by the fact that he is both hero and renowned warrior, mortal and immortal. Throughout the work, Achilles is shown to be godlike in manner and physicality, imbued with ‘supernatural’ physical strength. Like all warriors, he seeks immortality. Heroes are “...rescued from mortality... [and become] godlike in status and immortal in the

While discussing his reasons for not returning to war or forgiving Agamemnon, Achilles delves into the nature of their world and war itself. With his probing question,“‘Why must we battle Trojans…?’”, Achilles is directly questioning the bedrock of their view of reality (Fagles, 9.409). Achilles thinks that there’s no real need to fight the Trojans. He has no personal stake in the war other than gaining timé, and even that holds no sway over him at this point. Fighting to preserve Menelaus’ honor is ridiculous and unnecessary in his eyes — the war is a sham. Here, Achilles is questioning more than the war — he is questioning their society itself, and rejecting their beliefs. In the Homeric world, things are what seem, and war is the foundation of peace and community (Parry). War is necessary to maintain balance and honor in these communities. Without war, there would be no warriors to protect the people, no leaders to guide them, no structure to create