From the initial callousness and stubborn temper of Achilles in the first books of the Iliad to the eventual ‘humanization' of Achilles in his interaction with the grieving father of Hector, whom Achilles himself slew, the Iliad can be seen to chronicle the maturation of the Greek hero during the terrible battles of the Trojan War. Achilles is a hero in the epic sense, complete with flaws and bad qualities that round out the character, but with passions and convictions that any reader can relate to. Throughout the course of the Iliad, Homer creates the character of Achilles to be that kind of hero in every sense of the word. As the novel begins, we first meet with Achilles in his interaction with the great king, Agamemnon. It may be said that Achilles shows himself to be a horribly hard-headed individual, and this is obviously true. But, in this encounter with the powerful king, Achilles also shows some of his more respectable qualities; such as courage, honor, and a sense of justice. Achilles does not feel that it is right that he or the rest of the soldiers should be punished for the brashness of their commander. So, as the epic starts to unwind, Achilles is described as a strong-willed, though a bit hot tempered, man. It is in the following books that Achilles shows some of his not to desirable qualities, yet in these qualities the character of Achilles is ultimately developed. Homer describes the plot of Achilles to avenge his disgrace at the hand of Agamemnon. He has his mother, the goddess Thetis, ask Zeus to punish the Achaeans on behalf of her and Achilles. Zeus reluctantly agrees to this, and Achilles success in having the whole of his people subjected to a brutal and costly war to get his ‘revenge' on Agamemnon. As the Trojan War presses foreword, taking countless lives of both Trojan and Achaean alike, Achilles stands by and watches, unwilling to participate in the battle even when an apology from Agamemnon and pleading from his comrades is presented to him. He replies in this fashion, "Love him so well, and you may lose the love I bear you. You ought to help me rather in troubling those that trouble me; be king as much as I am, and share like honor with myself; the others shall take my answer; stay here yourself and sleep comfortably in your bed; at daybreak we will consider whether to remain or go.
“The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” by Langston Hughes has many symbolic meanings about the name of African-Americans. Throughout the poem, Hughes uses the image of the African-Americans has been through as metaphorical statements to indicate to the reader. The poem is written entirely in first person, so there is an intensely derogatory feel, even though the speaker symbolizes the entire black race. The symbols of the old rivers, Euphrates, Congo and Nile, from which the African-Americans belief has risen, can be interpreted in many ways. They represent the birth and growth of the African culture, and some of the most remarkable moments of their past. These rivers are also can be interpreted as the rivers of living. These rivers were the cradle of civilization in Africa like the Euphrates, Congo and Nile. Here in North America, the Mississippi River could be interpreted as the dawn of civilization in North America. Plus, these full rivers can be c...
He feels that his honor was besmirched when Agamemnon demands that Achilles relinquish his war prize, Brises "Are you ordering to give this girl back? Either the great hearted Achaians shall give me a new prize chosen according to my desires to atone for the girl loss, or else if they will not hive me I myself shall take her, your own prize?(Homer 1.134).
The subject of Homer’s epic poem, the Iliad, is very clearly stated--it is “the rage of Peleus’ son Achilles.” The reader remains continually aware of the extent of Achilles’ rage, yet is never told the reason why Achilles remains angry and unreconciled. There is no definitive answer to this question. Achilles is not a static character. He is constantly changing; thus the question of why he remains angry solicits different answers at various stages throughout the poem. To find an answer, the reader must carefully examine Achilles’ ever-changing dilemma involving the concepts of mortality and honor. At its simplest, Achilles’ dilemma is that if he goes to war, he will die. But he will die with glory.
The poem ‘The Negro Speaks of Rivers’ by Langston Hughes is about a man with a vast knowledge and understanding of rivers. The first two sentences of the poem are similar, as in both Hughes states, ‘I’ve known rivers’. From this the reader gathers that this man has been around rivers and probably lived around rivers. He talks about different experiences he has had on four different rivers. For example he says, ‘I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young’ and this gives the impression that he was around long ago when the river was just starting to form. Another quote, ‘I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans’ shows a passage of time from the first quote as this historically places him in a much more modern time frame. On an unobjective level I think that this is a poem about different rivers that Hughes feels attached to for some unexplained reason. However, based on a close reading I would argue through the explication approach that this poem can be seen in a different light. While some may argue otherwise, I believe that on an explicative level Hughes is creating a comparison between his soul and the rivers. In taking a closer look at many different aspects such as genre, my close reading interpretation, and outside research I have reached a conclusion. I have discovered that Hughes did a wonderful job of describing the slave experience as seen through his soul and the souls of all others who have experienced slavery.
Society in the Incan Empire was made up of clans and families who lived and worked together. The social structure of the Incas had the Ruler and his wives at the top. Then came the High Priest and Army Commander in Chief. Next were the Regional Army Commanders, then the Temple Priests, architects, administrators and Army Generals. Next were the artisans, musicians, army captains and the...
While book one of the Iliad opens with a description of Achilles’ rage, book twenty-four ends with the result of his reconciliation. While much of the war is affected by Achilles’ rage, it is his resolutions that develop him into a true hero. Achilles ' rage is displayed in two surges. The first instance being his withdrawal from battle due to a conflict with Agamemnon. Achilles ' second surge of rage is caused by the death of Patroclus. Each of these displays of rage are ended with reconciliation that changes Achilles as a man.
The question "was Achilles' anger justified" brings up issues that seem to have little or no relevance to the war. In time of war I would expect the leaders to prioritize the groups interest for the sake of unity and cooperation rather than being entrenched in achieving their own personal goals. But my expectations are those of a modern day literature student, I'm inclined to think that the Greeks who first read this epic valued different things than myself. Another relevant question might be "were Achilles' actions justified". Anger can be easily justified, but the actions that anger might lead you to take are not as easily justified. Again I am not an ancient Greek and my opinions are irrelevant unless I open my mind to different viewpoints. Therefore I am striving to look into this issue through ancient Greek eyes where the principle of sacrificing ones own interests was apparently not valued, but maintaining ones honor, on the other hand, was greatly valued. In the following paragraphs I will attempt to answer these two aforementioned questions.
Achilles, the greatest of the Greek warriors, is portrayed as a hero in some ways but, on the other hand, performs some controversial acts in the Iliad. Throughout the entire Trojan war, Achilles spent most of his time pouting in his tent after Agamemnon kidnapped his prized maiden, Chryseis.
Achilles was given a gift, the gift of being the best warrior there was, and being the son of a goddess didn?t hurt his confidence either. Achilles had more than confidence he was cocky and thought that the world revolved around him. In his mind nobody, including the Achaean army could survive without him. When an argument occurs between him and Agamemnon, king of Mycenae and leader of the Achaean army, Achilles leaves the army and goes crying to his mother, ...
...orant assumption. Although they were unable to defend themselves from a more militarily advanced Spanish army; the Inca were a capable people that created an enormous empire with great success.
In the introduction of the Essential Illiad given by Sheila Murnaghan, Achilles is labeled as “the greatest of the Greek heroes”. In classic mythology a hero is a person of great strength and courage celebrated for bold exploits and is often the offspring of a mortal and a god. Achilles was the greatest fighter among the Greeks or Trojans and feared no man in battle. He was also the offspring of a mortal and a god so by classic mythology definition, Achilles was indeed a hero. A hero is defined by the present day Websters Dictionary as: “one who inspires through manners and actions; an individual who leads through personal example and accomplishments requiring bravery, skill, determination, and other admirable qualities.” Achilles, in no manner, fits this definition. By contemporary standards, he is instead a pathetic villain. Aside from being a kidnapper, rapist and murderer, Achilles proves to be emotionally weak, selfish, and malicious. Many times throughout the Illiad, Achilles is also referred to as “godlike”. The gods of Greek mythology were subject to the same emotions and character flaws as humans, and though privileged to some foresight, the gods had similar mental capacities as humans. What really set the gods apart were their powers (controlling the elements, changing their appearance, etc.), great strength, and immortality. Because of his great strength and apparent invincibility, it is easy to see why Achilles would...
In Homer’s The Iliad, Achilles is often referred to as a very courageous Greek hero but a further look into the epic will reveal a man that is more arrogant than courageous. It was truly his arrogance that made his name famous and not his courage. Achilles was a narcissistic, self-serving man who was not concerned with his fellow country man. His actions of courage can easily be revealed as selfishness instead of what most people believe.
"The Negro Speaks of Rivers", was Langston Hughes’s first major published poem which was highly praised. This poem became Langston Hughes's signature...
When the Achaean commander, Agamemnon, “graciously” returns his war prize Chryseis to her father in order to stop Apollo’s plague on the Achaean camp, he turns to Apollo’s war prize, Briseis, to compensate for his own loss. This angers Achilles, causing him to march off, declaring, “I [Achilles] would not relax my anger, not till the cries and carnage reached my own ships” (Iliad Book 16 Lines 70-71). Achilles is portrayed as a child who lost his toy, storming away in anger and begging his mother to fix the problem, not as a heroic commander of the Greek army. While it is understandable that Apollo would want his share of war prizes, it is extreme to abandon the crusade while knowing that he is the greatest fighter and a key member in the Achaean success. Without Achilles gone, so too are his men. Furthermore, to plead to his immortal mother, Thetis, to convince Zeus to allow the Trojans to gain ground, is erroneous and outrageous. Being upset with Agamemnon does not justify the loss of Ac...
In Homer’s The Iliad he tells of the battles and events during the time of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles. This was just a small portion of the Trojan War that had lasted ten years. The Iliad shares the ideas of the glory of war, military values over family life, and the impermanence of human life and its creation. One thing that Homer does is characterize the two different warriors Achilles and Hector. These two great warriors both show different kinds of traits that shape the character they become throughout the The Iliad. Achilles is the main hero in The Iliad, but Homer subliminally tries to persuade the reader that Hector is the true hero in this story.