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Achilles's Pride Research Paper

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A King and A Hero's Pride

Most of the trouble in the world is caused by people wanting to be important. - T.S. Eliot The Iliad, by Homer, tells the tale of the Trojan war. At the start of the epic, King Agamemnon of Mycenae's armies have been fighting with Troy for nine long years. When Agamemnon takes away Briseis, the hero Achilles' prize, Achilles threatens to leave. This leads to many issues caused by pride and importance throughout the main characters. For example, pride causes Agamemnon to lose almost his entire army in the interest of keeping Briseis as his prize. Opponents of this stance argue that while pride may motivate these characters, anger motivates them even more. However, pride causes Achilles to lose his best …show more content…

Although some may disagree, pride is the major driving emotion in such characters as Achilles and Agamemnon in The Iliad. Pride causes Agamemnon to lose almost his entire army in the interest of keeping Briseis as his prize. When Agamemnon complains about having to return his prize, Chryseis, Achilles scolds him for being so self-concerned. Achilles' annoyance slowly converts to rage, and the hero threatens to leave the war. Agamemnon retorts, "Go home with your ships and comrades, lord it over/ your Myrmidons!/ You are nothing to me, you and your overweening anger!/ But let this be my warning on your way… I will be there in person at your tents/ to take Briseis in all her beauty, your own prize-/ so you can learn just how much greater I am than you..." (83) Clearly, Agamemnon is so proud that he …show more content…

In this scene, Achilles is mad at Agamemnon after realizing how Agamemnon manipulated him and his soldiers. Achilles shouts, "No more now-/ back I go to Phthia. Better that way by far,/ to journey home in the beaked ships of war./ I have no mind to linger here disgraced,/ brimming your cup and piling up your plunder." (83) Achilles is angry at Agamemnon for taking his prize, causing him to threaten to leave. He realizes how selfish Agamemnon is, taking other people's prizes to satisfy his own honor, and decides he would be better off if he returned home. However, a continuation of this scene reveals how angry Achilles is: "… And now you threaten to strip me of my prize in person-/ the one I fought for long and hard… whenever we sack some wealthy Trojan stronghold-/ my arms bear the brunt of the raw, savage fighting,/ true, but when it comes to dividing up the plunder/ the lion's share is yours, and back I go to my ships,/ clutching some scrap…" (82-83) While Achilles is angry in this scene, this anger is caused by his wounded pride; like he says, even though he does most of the fighting while Agamemnon is holed up in his ship, Agamemnon still gets the most treasure. Now, Agamemnon has threatened to take the only prize he does have, taking Achilles' pride along with her. Although Achilles can be angry, much of his problems are caused by his

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With this you could also say Achilles fights for himself alone but since Agamemnon took Briseis from him. Achilles also hates Agamemnon because of where he was when the fighting was happening.

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Achilles’ anger has lead to him committing cruel behavior; a large majority of the horrific violence within Homer’s story, comes from Achilles’ relentless rage. But is his rage truly without proper cause and justification? King Agamemnon forced Achilles’ to hand over his beloved Briseis to him, which caused Achilles to withdraw his men from the Achaean army. Achilles’ closest

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Achilleus, who considers himself a greater fighter than Agamemnon, does not believe that he should be taking orders from Agamemnon, and becomes angered when Agamemnon takes his prize, Brisies when he has to give up his prize, Criseis. Achilleus asks Agamemnon how “Anyone of the Achaians readily obey you” (79) and looses his temper. Achilleus becomes so enraged that he turns on his

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If Achilles was angry but not hospitable the scene would have played out much differently. When Achilles is angry but not hospitable, like in the original fight between him and Agamemnon which

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The Iliad is a riveting tale of violence and rage amongst heartbreak and tragedy, where a range of emotions are evoked through various events and decisions made by the characters throughout. Some of these characters act on impulse, while others think over with others and themselves to find the best course of action and do what they feel would be the best, be it for their families or their people, or for themselves alone. Through such feelings, certain events play out that either work out to the favor of the characters, or the exact opposite. Characters like Achilles and Agamemnon act on their anger, often going beyond what would be deemed reasonable and even affecting the events following. Achilles’ anger was triggered by Agamemnon’s arrogance

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In the Iliad, Achilles is responding to Odysseus’s speech attempting to convince him to return to the war. Achilles’ main argument against returning is his incalculable rage against Agamemnon for “the prize of honor / The warlord Agamemnon gave me / And in his insulting arrogance took back” which is not only an insult to Achilles’ status, but also to his honor as a warrior (Il. 9.378-379). In addition to focusing on the main argument of Achilles’ speech, it is worth noting the contradictions present within his speech as well.

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Agamemnon’s taking of Briseis enrages Achilles and spurs him to remove himself from the war, leading to a massive death toll in the Achaean forces. In stealing Briseis from Achilles, he is not only robbing of him of a material prize, but also a symbol of honor, his geras, in Greek culture. In retaliation, Achilles removes himself from the war and prays to his mother, Thetis, that she will ask Zeus to damage the Achaean forces. Achilles’ only goal is that “even mighty Atrides can see how mad he was to disgrace Achilles” (1.488-490). Despite having no true grievance against the Achaean army as a whole, Achilles’ rage blinds him from the potential harm that may befall his troops.

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If I stay here and fight before the city of Troy, there will be no home- coming for me but my fame shall never die; if I go home to my native land, there will be no great fame for me, but I shall live long and not die an early death.” (Homer 110) This shows that he is selfishness and fearful at the same time of losing and dying in the war. In the very beginning of the Iliad, King Agamemnon and Achilles have an argument for a couple of different reasons. After, the Achians won a battle against a city that was allied with the Trojans each of them received a prize consisted of a young woman from the war.

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Males in The Iliad saw glory to only be able to be sought through winning battles, as the females saw war as a terrible aspect, since it could take the lives of the ones they loved. Characters in The Iliad, Achilles, Homer, and Paris, all had contrasting views and understandings of the meaning of war, depending upon their fighting ethics, confidence, and courage. They all hoped to gain honor through kleos, which may allow them to gain approval from the Gods to enter Mount Olympus (Puchner 225). War is an act that tears everyone in competing areas apart, yet is the only thing that brings contrasting individuals together.

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In the epic poem, the Iliad written by Homer, several characters taking part in the warfare between the Achaeans and the Trojans are portrayed as embodying the heroic code of courage, physical strength, leadership, arete of value of honour, and the acceptance of fate. The heroic code is illustrated by the actions of the Trojan prince, Hector and the Achaeans strongest warrior, Achilles. Both of these characters display the Greek’s image of a hero, and can also let the reader discern what the society admires, looks up to and aspires to in its heroes. There are also characters who fail to be heroic, such as the Trojan “vivid and beautiful” prince, Paris. These characters in the Iliad illustrate the qualities that Ancient Greek society values.

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Achilles is seen to be full of wrath in the beginning of the book. This wrath is not caused only because Agamemnon takes his prize of war. He is angry at the system which allows Agamemnon to play around with other people’s honors and the system which allows him to decide who gets how much honor. In other words, Achilles does not like the idea that someone else can decide what happens to his honor, despite him deserving most of the honor in relation to how much he contributes in war. As the story proceeds, Achilles seems to contradict himself a lot, and the concept of honor helps us understand this better.

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Achilles is maddened and appeals to his goddess mother saying, “If I am to die soon, shouldn’t I have what I want?” Feeling only sorrow for her son, Thetis requests Zeus to cause to Greeks to lose until Achilles fights again. Slowly the Greeks are pushed back farther and Agamemnon pleads with Achilles, offering Briseis back. Achilles declines due to his pride and the Trojans come close to burn the Greek ships. Even when a ship was burning, Achilles refused to fight and instead sends out Patroclus.

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Also, the fact that he contended with the top man drove his point home: he demanded respect. A man capable of capturing the respect and admiration of an army is a man capable of leading an army; inspiring them, stirring them to bravery, to courage, to wrath, to love, to sorrow, to indignation, to arms, to war. He understood the importance of the way the men viewed him, and knew exactly how to manipulate this to his advantage. Achilles was socially aware, whereas Agamemnon neglected his social

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(R 23-35). The Greeks hearing Achilles return, gain strength, will and perseverance to carry on the war. The responsibility that Achilles takes plays massive role, affecting the men 's actions throughout the

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Iliad is recognized as one of the most famous ancient monuments of literature. The full understanding of this epic poem is hardly possible without thorough analysis of its main characters. Among all the episodes of the Trojan War, Homer chooses the moment of Achilles’ wrath and thus creates a poem in which he becomes the central figure. From the Ancient Greeks’ point of view, Achilles represents the ideal of manliness and pure heroism, for he is brave and fights for heroics, not profits. Today, one can agree with this interpretation, yet Achilles is probably the most controversial character because he combines various personality traits and acts in accordance with his ambiguous nature.

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