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The Characteristics Of Achilles: The Hero Of Iliad

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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. These characteristics are traced in multiple contexts, and it creates an extensive picture of the character. Honor, pride, loyalty, courage, and vengefulness are the fundamental traits of Achilles’ character that determine his behavior and manifest themselves in his speech and actions.
Pride and honor are the fundamental characteristic of Achilles, and there are several key episodes that can prove it. From the very beginning of the poem, one can see that Achilles is very sensitive when it comes to honor and reputation. The conflict with Agamemnon related to Chryseis, who was taken as a slave, is the turning point. Achilles acts …show more content…

Homer underlines that this behavior is foul, for Achilles allows his soldiers to wound the body and then bounds Hector’s feet to his chariot in order to harm the body. Although Hector asked him to give his body to his family, Achilles ignores the last will of the dying Trojan hero because he is still obsessed with his revenge. One should remember that the Greeks believed it was the issue of primary importance to bury a person’s body in a decent way so that their spirit would find the sanctuary. In other words, Achilles takes revenge in the most horrible way

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Achilles’ actions on the battlefield or lack thereof portrays the hero’s absence of honor. Selfishly withdrawing himself from battle, Achilles allows his anger towards the king of the Argives to develop: “But Achilles abode at his ships nursed his anger. He went not to the honourable assembly, and sailed not forth to fight, but gnawed at his own heart”(10). Fighting the Trojans and leading the Myrmidons to sack Troy would have been the honorable thing to do, but instead Achilles lets his pride take over his actions and sulks in his ship in spite of Agamemnon. After Agamemnon offers Achilles many gifts as an apology when he sends an embassy to Achilles, Achilles responds,”[Y]ou have spoken much to my liking, but my blood boils when I think it

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It is so deeply rooted that it encompasses Achilles, becoming a characteristic of this great warrior, influencing his actions and chooses throughout the story, such as leaving the fighting and considering the idea to return to Pythia. The depth of Achilles rage and hatred is demonstrated through in his response to Agamemnon, concerning the gifts he offered as compensation for his wrongs, saying that “not if his gifts outnumbered all the grains of sand and dust in the earth, no not even then could Agamemnon bring my fighting spirit round” (9.470-472). The true rage of Achilles is extremely important to the entire story of The Iliad, as from Book One through Book Nine Achilles allows this rage to control his actions, causing him to Achilles remains absent from the fighting as well as causing him to pray to Zeus that Trojans may receive the upper hand in the fighting so that the Greeks may suffer for Agamemnon’s actions. Therefore, this profound rage is an extremely important aspect of The Iliad, as it ultimately effects not only Achilles actions but also course of the

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Achilles faced some obstacles along way mentally and physically when he hears the news that his bestest friend has been killed by hector and he returns to war ,Achilles faced some difficult time grieving for the death

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Throughout Book 22, Achilles tries again and again to chase down and kill Hector, and is finally able to do so. Before he actually kills Hector, he tells him “I wish my stomach would let me cut off you flesh in strips and eat it raw for what you’ve done to me” (Iliad, Book 22, 384-86). Shortly after Achilles allows the Greeks to stand around and continually stab the corpse of Hector. However, not even this brutality satisfied Achilles. Eventually, he ended up completely disgracing Hector’s dead body in front of all of Troy, tying him up to a chariot and dragging him around, being “defiled in his own native land” (Iliad, Book 22, 449).

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Homer’s The Iliad proves that Hector and Achilles have vast differences but, their few similarities are some of what we see a lot throughout the epic poem. Both Achilles and Hector have their certain strengths and weaknesses, which are noticeable countless times throughout the conflicts that come up in the Iliad. These two characters have distinct differences in their approaches to fitting the noble form to which they both attempt to achieve. Nevertheless, regardless of their differences and the fact that their armies are rivals and are brought to each other with execration in battle, they also have numerous identical traits which reasonably show the comparison between the two men, Hector and Achilles.

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Some people think that the only traits that a Hero has to have is that he is strong and looks good. But that is only part of the traits of a good hero or that a hero is supposed to have. Heroes have to be daring and willing to do things that other people may not want to do like in the Odyssey he choses to go to the cyclops house and know body else is willing to do it it. Also, they have to be smart and clever for example at the beginning Odysseus makes the Trojan horse to get into the city and also he puts bee’s wax into his crews ears so they won’t be lured to their death by the singing Sirens. Finally, he has to be strong in the heart because Calypso wanted him to stay with her and be immortal but he declined saying he wanted to go back to his homeland and back to his wife and son he has never seen.

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In the same way, Achilles constantly challenges the existing authorities and acts in discordance with the expectations of the society. The poem starts with the Achilles' rage caused by his conflict with Agamemnon. Achilles is the only one who enters into an argument with the authority, personified by Agamemnon and makes him a daring proposal - to give up Chryseis in response to the Apollo's request. His boldness and willingness to confront the superior is further expressed in his impulse to kill Agamemnon. Another unexpected action Agamemnon undertakes is his decision to not go to war, as he

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Achilles, on the other hand, killed for revenge. He states, “If Hector does not feel my battering spear/ tear the life out of him, making him pay/ in his own blood for the slaughter of Patroclus…(28-30).” As a Greek, he must take action against anyone who shows disrespect. He did not kill for glory, like Beowulf, but instead for selfish reasons.

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A lot of things happened in the Iliad in the books we had to read. Like how Achilles wants revenge Hector but let’s start with why. So one day Achilles was sad because of the disagreement that he had with Agamemnon. Meanwhile there was a war going on and the Greeks were suffering because Achilles wouldn’t fight and Achilles was the best warrior that the Greeks had. Since Achilles wouldn’t fight Patroclus went into Achilles armor and pretended to be him.

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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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The chapter focuses on his desillusionment that leads to allienation and the state of denial. The author claims that what makes Achilles a hero and what his "heroic" behaviour is based on is the devaluation of material values, which makes him different and alien to the society he lives in. As the author claims most of 20th century make Achilles' refusal of material values the center of their analysis of his behaviour and "assume a common problem - "Achilleus rejects material compensation" - and adopt subjective approaches to resolve it. As a result, an "essential" conception of Achilleus' heroic identity has been all but naturalized for modern readers"(4). TThe book presents the common for 20th century interpretation of Achilles bahaviour and nature of his heroic identity, which creates a starting point for my analysis of Achilles' psychology through

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Homer’s Iliad is a rewarding text that shows readers the horrors of war, the awful cost of human pride, and the incredible mercy and pity that is humanity at its finest. Still, no matter how heart wrenching one finds the scene where Achilles and Priam weep over what the war has cost them, a reader is often left wondering to what extent (if any) this tragedy was preventable. Most traditional scholars of Homer read the fate of Hector and Achilles as being set from the beginning and thus being unchangeable.

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Patroclus fought against Hector, but instead Hector injured Patroclus and killed him. Then since Hector and Patroclus had a one on one battle, then everyone watching thought that Achilles was dead. In So much rage against Hector for killing Patroclus, Achilles killed Hector, and he made sure that

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The Ancient Greeks value specific qualities in a person, however they did not value other. Ancient Greeks valued these qualities based on certain achievements or on a performances in war or even inside the city walls making substantial decisions. The Iliad is an epic novel by the Greek poet Homer. The Iliad is based off of the Trojan war between the Achaeans led by King Agamemnon and the Trojans led by King Priam of Troy. This novel focuses on the actions of several characters and how the disparate gods interfered with the war to help one or the other side have a chance to win.

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