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Motivations In The Iliad

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Feeling and showing pity is a quintessential part of being a human being. Seeing someone in distress triggers an innate feeling of protectiveness - that is, unless someone has gone through trauma that causes them to lose all ability to feeling pity. Both Homer and Thucydides explore pity and its causes in Iliad and History of the Peloponnesian War. Between Achilles and the citizens and leaders of Athens, there is a wide range of motivations that inspire them to be pitiless. In Homer’s Iliad and Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War, pitilessness is shown as coming from many different motivations; in Iliad, these motivations are intrinsic, and in History of the Peloponnesian War, they are extrinsic. In Homer’s Iliad, Achilles shows no …show more content…

He has been a warrior his whole life - many characters remember him as the man who tore their life apart. Andromache, the wife of Hector, recalls that “Achilles killed [her] father when he destroyed [the] city…[and she] had seven brothers once...all seven went down to Hades on a single day, cut down by Achilles” (Il. 6.436-445). Achilles' reputation and history drive him to continue his warrior lifestyle and kill or enslave everyone who opposes him. When Hector, prince of Troy and general of the army, kills Patroclus, it triggers an irreversible change in Achilles. He becomes driven by vengeance rather than glory and prizes. During his aristeia, his finest hour in battle, he comes across a boy named Lycaon, who he has fought before and shown pity to. The boy is terrified and drops to his knees, saying “I am at your knees, Achilles. Pity me” (Il. 21.79-80). Achilles has a son of Priam, a half-brother of Hector, begging for mercy. He listens to the young man speak, letting him ramble, trying to buy himself time before an inevitable fate. Once Lycaon finishes supplicating him, Achilles replies, “Before Patroclus met his destiny it was more to my taste to spare Trojan lives, capture them, and sell them overseas. But now

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739 Words | 3 Pages

Patroclus, Achilles’s friend and servant, came to him and begged him to fight and, if he would not, he asked if he could wear Achilles’s armor into battle. Patroclus hoped that by wearing the armor, he could fool both the Greeks and the Trojans into believing that Achilles had returned to the battle-mass, turning the tide of the war. Achilles agreed on one condition: Patroclus must come back as soon as he successfully forced the Trojans away from the black ships. Patroclus didn’t listen, so he died at the hand of Hector.

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541 Words | 3 Pages

Sometimes Achilles does not hold his tongue like he

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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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1390 Words | 6 Pages

Achilles is a man filled with rage after hearing of his best friend Patroclus’ death and Hector is a true man to the end asking for both sides to agree to return the body and armor to the respective loser’s side after their duel. Achilles gives into his rage and refuses the offer and tells Hector he’d rather have his body fed to dogs and crows. Hector is the Trojan force in every sense as he lives and eventually dies for the cause even in acknowledgment of his family that will be left behind when he dies and the inevitable fate he has when he’s tricked by Athena. Hector’s story is a downward spiral of a tragedy while Achilles’ tale only goes up. However, in Hector’s last moments, he solidifies himself as the premiere hero of the Iliad by not falling into barbaric urges and vowing not to disrespect the opponent’s body after he dies.

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1050 Words | 5 Pages

Do you know the Enlightenment Philosophers and what their main idea was on and their purpose? Well I do and they have worked on so many things in their future. In the late 17th and 18th century there was a period of many changes and they discovered the sciences and has disagreements over religions, people questioning traditional ways of living and knowing (Background essay). The thinkers are called Philosophes which, in French they call it the philosophers and they particularly hopeful they might discover new ways to understand and improve the society (Background essay).

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129 Words | 1 Pages

Essentially, Achilles’ prayer demonstrates how his greed for honor and respect is valued above the lives of his comrades, leading to the loss of many Achaean

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1661 Words | 7 Pages

One of the major consequences of war is the horrific tragedies that occur. In the Iliad, in book eighteen, when Achilles hears that Hector killed Patroclus he is filled with rage and enters the war seeking vengeance. His rage causes him to kill hundreds of trojans and seek

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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

Achilles only wishes to get revenge on Agamemnon, no matter the consequences for his

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1381 Words | 6 Pages

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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394 Words | 2 Pages

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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786 Words | 4 Pages

Patroclus was killed by Hector while he was under the impression Patroclus was Achilles, “But I’ll tell you something else— bear this in mind—you’ll not live long yourself. Your death is already standing close at hand, a fatal power. For you’ll be destroyed at brave Achilles’ hands, descendant of Aeacus” (Homer, Iliad 16. 989-993), this foresight shared by dying Patroclus shows Achilles will kill Hector in search of retribution. Since Hector killed Achilles best friend Achilles doesn't care about pride anymore, just revenge.

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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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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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