Achilles: Static Rage - Paper
Paper Topic #4
11/14/2010
Achilles: Static Rage Homer’s Iliad is one of the greatest epics known to man. It is an epic of love, war, morals, tragedy, and friendship. While some say it is the story of Achilles’ metamorphosis into a strong man, one could also argue that Achilles stays under the influence of rage and pride. The Iliad’s central character changes very little over the entire course of the entire epic. At the beginning of the story and for the majority of the text, Achilles is seen as a selfish and arrogant young man. It is not until the end of the play that he seems to have changed into a new psychologically and emotionally mature adult, if at all. Throughout the Iliad, Achilles’ pride, and arrogance keep him from developing into a new more mature man, because his blind and unrelenting rage constantly consumes him. From the start you know that Achilles is one of the greatest Greek warriors ever known, if not the best. But being undefeatable doesn’t make you a good person. In fact, at the start of the story, Achilles general attitude towards the war and his own involvement was less than desirable. Agamemnon had recently threatened to return Briseis, Achilles’ war prize, because he was forced to do so with his own. As a result, Achilles becomes infuriated and selfishly withdraws his men and himself from the battle. After these events, Achilles is seen as very arrogant and ignorantly proud. Lines 172-178 in Book one give an example of Achilles arrogance, “I never get a prize equal to yours when the army captures one of the Trojan strongholds. No, I do all the dirty work with my own hands, and when the battle’s over and we divide the loot you get the lion’s share and I go back to the ships with some pitiful little thing, so worn out from fighting I don’t have the strength left even to complain”(172-178). He is so full of himself and caught up in materialistic things, that Achilles forgets the fact that Agamemnon is a higher rank than him. He shows the
11/14/2010
Achilles: Static Rage Homer’s Iliad is one of the greatest epics known to man. It is an epic of love, war, morals, tragedy, and friendship. While some say it is the story of Achilles’ metamorphosis into a strong man, one could also argue that Achilles stays under the influence of rage and pride. The Iliad’s central character changes very little over the entire course of the entire epic. At the beginning of the story and for the majority of the text, Achilles is seen as a selfish and arrogant young man. It is not until the end of the play that he seems to have changed into a new psychologically and emotionally mature adult, if at all. Throughout the Iliad, Achilles’ pride, and arrogance keep him from developing into a new more mature man, because his blind and unrelenting rage constantly consumes him. From the start you know that Achilles is one of the greatest Greek warriors ever known, if not the best. But being undefeatable doesn’t make you a good person. In fact, at the start of the story, Achilles general attitude towards the war and his own involvement was less than desirable. Agamemnon had recently threatened to return Briseis, Achilles’ war prize, because he was forced to do so with his own. As a result, Achilles becomes infuriated and selfishly withdraws his men and himself from the battle. After these events, Achilles is seen as very arrogant and ignorantly proud. Lines 172-178 in Book one give an example of Achilles arrogance, “I never get a prize equal to yours when the army captures one of the Trojan strongholds. No, I do all the dirty work with my own hands, and when the battle’s over and we divide the loot you get the lion’s share and I go back to the ships with some pitiful little thing, so worn out from fighting I don’t have the strength left even to complain”(172-178). He is so full of himself and caught up in materialistic things, that Achilles forgets the fact that Agamemnon is a higher rank than him. He shows the