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Achilles's Shield In The Iliad

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Recommended: Critical essays on th heroic quality of Achilles in the Iliad

The Iliad by Homer describes the great shield built by Hephaestus for Achilles by commission of Thetis. The intricate shield comes into existence after the death of Patroclus, which allows Hector to assume the glory of having Achilles’ armor. Hephaestus constructs the shield specifically for Achilles with “five layers of metal” and “ blazoning, well-wrought emblems all across the surface” (483.559,526). Hephaestus builds the shield with the life and legacy of it’s holder in mind as he adds celestial bodies, cities, peace, conflict, farms, fields, and humans inhabiting these planes. The Shield of Achilles by W.H. Auden features many of the same themes of a life gone too early in his poem. Achilles’ shield balances all that he is with all that he could have been, Auden’s poem highlights the grimness of his future in his take on the shield. Achille’s shield tells the story of the life he never had and the reality of his purpose. …show more content…

The two cities tell the story of Achilles, the first city being his life prior to joining the campaign to Troy. As detailed in Song of Achilles, he lived a peaceful life being taught by Chiron before getting moved to Sycros and married to the princess. Homer’s addition of a “blood-price” (483.582) foreshadows Achilles slaughter of Hector for the death of Patroclus, and in turn, Achilles’ death at the hands of Paris for the life of Hector. The concept of a blood-price appears multiple times in The Iliad, but Patroclus’ blood-price is the most significant and the addition of such into the shield proves this. The second city represents Troy and the glory Achilles hopes to gain there. The divided army correlates directly to the split between Agamemnon and Achilles earlier in the poem. The shield is a physical manifestation of the life lived by

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Achilles vs Hektor The Iliad, an epic poem by Homer, takes place in the tenth year of the Trojan War. Recalling important events that take place bringing the war to an end the poem uses figurative language and literary devices to enhance its characters, presenting similarities and differences between how the characters handle specific situations and how they deal with the concept of masculinity. For example Homer uses the method of literary foils. A foil is a character that depicts traits that differ with the traits of another character. In The Iliad, Achilles and Hektor are foil characters.

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509 Words | 3 Pages

In Book Nine of The Iliad, the focus is of the story is on the character of Achilles, the desperation the Achaeans suffer in their need for this great warrior as well as his refusal to return into the fighting to assist his comrades, due to his rage with Agamemnon. In particular, one of the most important scenes of Book Nine is from approximately line 443 through line 473, in which Achilles bluntly refuses the gifts offered to him by Agamemnon in recompense for stealing away Achilles’ war-prize Briseis. This passage demonstrates the depth of the rage of Achilles as well as his sense of pride, as he chooses to remain absent from the fighting, even in the Achaeans’ moment of sheer desperation, due to his deep hatred for Agamemnon. As

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977 Words | 4 Pages

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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995 Words | 4 Pages

When Patraclous is killed Achilles returns to the battle after he said we will not be fighting for the Achaeans because of the insult that it was made to his honor. He decided to go back and kill Hector for killing his best friend and most loved person, and to get the body which illustrate the idea of the glory after life. The idea of family honor adds a new level of understanding how important is pride is in ancient Greek literature. Another Example of this can be shown when Achilles kills hector, The reaction of Priam Hector’s father. Priam says “I have gone through what no other mortal on earth has gone through; I put my lips to the hands of the man who has killed my children (Homer, Iliad 24.505)”

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1051 Words | 5 Pages

In Homer’s The Iliad, epic hero Achilles serves as an example of how rage, when unchecked, leads to disastrous repercussions. Achilles, though nearly superhuman in his physical abilities, struggles repeatedly to contain his anger. Throughout The Iliad, as Achilles’ fury compounds, the consequences of his actions become catastrophic, eventually leading to the death of his best friend, Patroclus. Although Achilles ultimately chooses to avenge Patroclus’ death and achieve his own kleos, or honor, his rage-driven actions lead to the death of many Achaean soldiers, and change the course of his fate.

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699 Words | 3 Pages

After defeating Hector, pride within Achilles resulted in him killing more enemies and actually losing his own life. Homer’s story of The Iliad illustrates the damage anger causes when allowed to take root in any life. Anger often lead to other complications such as pride, suffering, and even fear. Achilles downfall teaches readers that the anger often controls emotions. To communicate an important message on anger, Homer illustrates the consequences of Achilles anger in The Iliad to show that controlling anger results in a more peaceful and positive

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In the novel Before We Were Free, Julia Alvarez explores the theme of freedom, in more depth, how freedom comes at a cost. The main character, Anita, and her family are forced to leave their country to escape their dictator, Rafael Trujillo, of the Dominican Republic in order to be free. Although, nothing this serious would be executed without a cost. Lucinda, Anita’s older sister, is forced to choose between accepting Turillo’s proposal to be his lover or go to the states and hope for her family to meet her there. Mami says that she doesn’t want her daughter to work as a maid in America, but then Papi cuts her off to say, “Would you prefer she be Mr. Smith’s little querida?(pg.69 p.6)”.

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Firstly within the poems, both Owen and Harrison present the horrific images of war through use of visual imagery. “And leaped of purple spurted his thigh” is stated. Owen describes the immediate action of presenting the truth of war as horrific and terrifying . The phrase “purple spurted” represents the odd color of the blood which was shedded as the boulder from the bomb smashed his leg in a matter of seconds. The readers

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1570 Words | 7 Pages

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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1396 Words | 6 Pages

We see this taking place when Achilles is trying to convince Agamemnon to give the girl back to her father. He says in line 150, “We Achaeans will pay you back…if Zeus will grant us the gift, somehow, someday, to raze Troy’s massive ramparts to the ground.” Achilles is offering to repay for his honor later on, when they conquer Troy. Agamemnon refuses again, however, this shows

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1785 Words | 8 Pages

These abilities are important as a warrior because both his men and the hero reflect and are influenced by them. Some of the abilities are excellence in war, courage, leadership and fighting qualities. These qualities are seen through the heroic characters Hector and Achilles. When Achilles is not present with his men, the Greeks are well defeated by the Trojans with no motivation or support. Achilles is also described by his men as a power figure when the poem says “These were his words,/ and all Achaeans gave a roar of joy/ to hear the Prince abjure his rage.”

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1395 Words | 6 Pages

In grief Achilles wants to fight Hector for what he did. Hector has two choices, either to fight Achilles or hide behind the walls of Troy. Hector exclainms doubtedly “What shall I do? If I retreat behind these walls, … And now that I have ruined them all by my rashness, I am ashamed to face the men and women of Troy, or some base fellows may say-Hector thought too much of his own strength, and ruined us all!”

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1109 Words | 5 Pages

Alongside Achilles’ responsibility for Patroclus’ fate, Hector also holds accountable too because in book 16, Hector talks to Patroclus about entering into the Trojan War; however, Patroclus fell gullible to Hector’s actions, and Hector turned out to be deceiving by stabbing him (being Patroclus) in the bowel and eventually killing him. Hector, and Achilles influenced fate among mortals, like Patroclus, so they could protect themselves until the end when Achilles frightens Hector with the dramatic irony, which seals his fate too. This paragraph defined the shape, which fate takes in the lives of other by peer influence created by characters who were considered high strength warriors followed by the backfiring of trying to keep them self alive. (This being Hector’s

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1128 Words | 5 Pages

The contrasting intent between the two poems are heightened within the description of the hero's’ shields. Aeneas’ shield portrays the glorious accomplishments that future Rome will achieve.(Mastin). His shield solely revolves around the future of Rome. But Achilles shield is more cynical, it depicts what was occuring during the Siege of Troy and seems to mostly display the detriment of war. (“Iliad”).Considering that The Aeneid is political propaganda, it should come as no surprise to the reader that Aeneas’ shield caters to the Roman delusion that their empire is

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1512 Words | 7 Pages

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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