Examples Of Achilleus Being A Hero In The Iliad

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Achilleus Guide To Being A “Hero” A hero to me is someone who will risk his life for those around him because he truly cares about everyone. These type of people are hero because they’re not doing this for themselves, they’re doing this for their people. Throughout Homer's The Illiad, you can see traces of heros, but I don’t see Achilleus as being one. He has all the traits to be a great hero, son of a god, strong and healthy, one of the best fighters, but there is pride that takes up the way Achilleus acts. He puts his pride in front of any other trait because he does what he wants. This does not sound like a hero to me in any form. My thesis is that although Achilleus has all these heroic traits, he wastes them and lets his selfish …show more content…

The men regather and to sit down and eat. This infuriates Achilleus because now he feels like they need to get out there while they are killing their men. He is starting to have leadership skills again, but he has them for the wrong purpose. He waits for everyone to eat and then when they all get ready for battle he goes to his horses and blames them for the death of Patroklos. He is mad at everyone else for something that was his fault. If he would have just gotten over himself for a little, he might have been out there to protect his best friend. They moved forward into battle where Achilleus is killing and abundance of Trojans. He sees Lykaon on the river side and he begs for Achilleus not to kill him, but he killed him and threw him in the river. He then mocks him because he knows his body will not be able to get buried. He shows no character for the way war is truly fought, he does what he wants because he’s pissed off and is fighting with his emotions. Apollo takes the shape of Agenor and makes him chase her all over the battlefield until finally coming clean. Now really angry, he starts running to Troy. When he gets there he meets Hektor at the gate, and he starts running around troy to get away. Finally the gods agree it’s time for Hektor’s fate and Athene takes the form of his brother Deiphobos and says they’ll fight the battle together. Hektor asks Achilleus if they can just give the bodies back properly, but Achilleus says no. They begin the battle and Hektor realizes it was a trap when he doesn't see his brother anymore, he knows this is the end. Achilleus spears his neck and kills him. He then proceeds to tie his body behind his chariot and run around with his body to mangle it. This is not how war is supposed to be fought. He let his anger get to him so much that he decided to break the code of war and destroy his body as much as possible for