What Is Achilles Like In The Odyssey

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When Odysseus visits the kingdom of the dead, he meets Achilles. On page 265, he brings up that Achilles was basically a god in his time alive and that no one else will ever be like him. Odysseus does not understand why Achilles is unhappy because Achilles may have died young, but he died in fame and now has power in his afterlife. Achilles tells Odysseus that he would rather be alive struggling to get by than be ruling over the dead. What is so enticing to Odysseus about dying in glory? Is it that he fears he will not be remembered because he did not die attempting some spectacular feat? If so, this concept diminishes the value of life itself. The things one did in life should be more important than the circumstances in which he/she

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