How Does Achilles Change In The Iliad

The opening lines of the film Troy present us with the overarching theme of Achilles transformation, and the hope it brings for peace in a world of war. “Men are haunted by the vastness of eternity. And so we ask ourselves…will our actions echo across the centuries? Will strangers hear our names long after we’re gone….and wonder who we were….how bravely we fought….how fiercely we loved?” (Peterson, 2004) Those words, in their entirety represent not only the theme of the film, but also Achilles desires and motivations. We immediately become aware that he wants to be remembered for eternity as a brave warrior, and by the end of the film we see that he also wants to love fiercely and be loved in return. In the film, Achilles goes to talk to

He is full of pride, and when his pride is at risk he doesn’t think twice to lash out in extreme anger and violence. In the Iliad, Homer portrays Achilles as an immortal, God-like figure who cannot be killed. He is a warrior who shows barely any human-like emotion. Achilles shows little remorse for his brutal killings. Achilles volatile anger first reveals itself in Book 1 of the Iliad when he is infuriated with Agamemnon for threatening to take away his war prize Briseis. Achilles views this act as similar to the love affair with Paris and Helen. He feels as though he is in a position like the one Menelaus is in. The quarrel with Agamemnon lasts even after he offers to return Briseis, and give him many other

As the film goes on we see this give way to a growing love for Briseis, compassion for King Priam, and then even for Hector, as he weeps over his body calling him “brother”. During the final few books of the epic, Achilles becomes more aware of his own impending death. This idea of coming to terms with mortality reaches its height when Priam comes to Achilles requesting back the body of his son. Priam does this by appealing to Achilles memory of his own father Peleus. Achilles kindness toward Priam, recognizing his own kinship with the dead and defeated, makes him not only a tragic hero but also an existential one. Priam gets down on his knees, kisses Achilles hands and pleads for Hectors body, he says, “Pity me in my own right, remember your own father! I deserve more pity / I have endured what no man on earth has ever done before / I put to my lips the hands of the man who killed my son” (Homer, 1990, p. 605). It is now when we see Achilles being overcome with emotion, grieving not only for his father but for his friend Patroclus. The two men are overwhelmed with memory and sorrow over the losses they have endured, and they weep together. This scene in the film is very powerful, and is one of the biggest examples of the evolution of