Achilles and Agamemnon both were very prideful and selfish. The fact that they both had these traits made it difficult for them to have a relationship. They were at each other’s throats most of the time. They could not work together to help their people win the war. In the beginning of the story both men were each given a young girl as a war prize. Agamemnon’s maiden, Chryeis, was demanded back by her father. Agamemnon was very selfish and refused to give her back. Because of this the gods brought a plague upon the soldiers. Many died before Agamemnon agreed to give the girl back. In return for giving Chryseis back to her father Agamemnon took Achilles maiden, Briseis, for himself. Achilles was outraged and felt dishonored. He demanded that Agamemnon give …show more content…
Agamemnon said “This is the word the Achaeans have spoken often against me and found fault with me in it, yet I am not responsible but Zeus is, and Destiny, and Erinys the mist-walking who in assembly caught my heart in savage delusion on that day I myself stripped from him the prize of Achilleus Yet what could I do? It is the god who accomplishes all things.” Agamemnon agreed to give back Achilles’ maiden, Briseis. The two men made up. Achilles said “Still, we will let all this be a thing of the past, though it hurts us, and beat down by constraint the anger that rises inside us. Now I am making an end of my anger. It does not become me unrelentingly to rage on." Achilles reentered the war and killed Hector. The bible would not agree with Achilles behavior. See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. –Thessalonians 5:15 Achilles was very cruel and disgraced Hector’s body. Hector’s father begged for his son’s body back. Achilles finally showed sorrow and remorse when he spoke with Hector’s father. He was reminded of his father and started to understand human
hroughout the Iliad Achilles shows how the ego of a Kardashian is being portrayed and the emotional maturity of an eight-year-old because of the certain adult qualities he lacks, for example: he does not work well with others, he lacks the concept of forgiveness, he is selfish, thinks highly of his self without regard to others, being rude and unkind, aggressiveness when talking to others, and having too much pride and not thinking about the consequences of his actions and how it can affect not only him but others as well. Achilles does not like to work with others he prefers to be the one in charge of everybody and he likes for everyone to do as he says. In the Iliad Agamemnon says, "This man wants to be ahead of everyone else he wants to rule everyone and give orders to everyone" (1.302-303). Achilles and Agamemnon are having an argument amongst one another because no one wants to give Achilles the honor he feels that he deserves for being the best fighter in the war and for all the blood sweat and tears he shed while defeating the Trojans "he is a mighty bulwark in this evil war" as Nestor says.
At the tales open we see the brave warrior Achilles arguing with Agamemnon, the ruler of the Achaean army, over the capture of two maidens, Chryseis and Briseis. The
It is revealed that the goddess of wild animals, Artemis, is angry, and the sacrifice of Iphigenia and the massacre of Troy are mentioned. Agamemnon was well aware of what he was getting into and began his worried oscillation between the love of his daughter and the love of his power, prestige, and country. His weakness of character is becoming more apparent, his ethics appear arbitrary.
The Iliad begins with the clash between Achilles and Agamemnon. Agamemnon has little, if any, respect for the gods. This is displayed by his irreverent behavior towards the priest, Chryses. Agamemnon refuses to release the princess even when the Achaean soldiers suggested "`Respect the priest, accept the shining ransom!' But it brought no joy to the heart of Agamemnon" (104). Achilles is, unlike Agamemnon, respectful of and revered by the gods. In order to expose the cause of Apollo's wrath against the Argive army, Achilles uses the prophet, Calchas. Achilles already knows why Apollo is angry, but decides the fact should be stated by someone other than himself. He knows that Agamemnon will become angry once the truth is revealed. I believe that in this instance he is trying to keep his rage in check by avoiding a direct confrontation with Agamemnon. Calchas also fears for his life because he also knows Agamemnon's fury is unyielding at times. However, with a great deal of encouragement from Achilles, Calchas "spoke out, bravely: `Beware-The god's enraged because Agamemnon spurned his priest'" (106). When the truth is exposed, Agamemnon be...
Odysseus and Agamemnon are heroes who fought side by side to take down the city of Troy during the Trojan War. In Homer’s The Odyssey, why is Agamemnon slaughtered when he arrives home while Odysseus returns to find his loved ones still waiting for him? The reasons for the heroes’ differing fates are the nature of their homecoming and the loyalty of their wives.
When Agamemnon was put in command he dropped all the friends he didn’t need, and shut himself in. He got what he wanted, and didn’t care about those around him that may have helped him. In this way he wants to be thought superior, and wont associate with any lesser people. Menelaos tries to be the bigger person and tells Agamemnon not to kill his child for his sake, making it seem like he’s doing him a favor. Clytemnestra wants to be there for her daughter’s supposed wedding, She wants to be the one to raise the bridal torch, and plan the wedding, unaware that there is no marriage at all. Also, she gives Agamemnon a guilt trip about how he killed her last husband, and how she learned to love him and bore 3 children for him. She thinks it is cruel to take one of them away from her. Achilles finds out what is going on and says that since they have been treated very cruelly and to be proper he is going to make sure no harm comes to them. He does not want to be used in Agamemnon’s manipulations. Iphigeneia learns about the real reason she is sent for, and in the end says that she is ready to die for the people of Greece because they have turned to her for help.
Also, Achilles becomes emotional when Priam asks him to think about his father and knowing that Achilles loved his father he starts to cry: “Pity me in my own right, remember your own father! I deserve more pity. Those words stirred within Achilles a deep desire to grieve for his own father. Taking the old man's hand he gently moved him back. And overpowered by memory, both men gave way to grief.
“ My Hector. It is for him I have come to the Greek ships, to get him back from you. I’ve brought a fortune in ransom. Respect the gods, Achilles. Think of your own father, and pity me. I am more pitiable. I have born what no man who has walked this earth has ever yet borne. I have kissed the hand of the man who killed my son” ( Book 2...
Since Agamemnon refused to return the daughter of a priest of Apollo, Agamemnon agrees to release Helen only if Achilles gives him his prize of honor. This is when Achilles found it unfair and withdraws from the battle including all his soldiers. Achilles then asks the gods to grant him revenge. Agamemnon the had attacked because a dream had encouraged him to. Paris flees the battle with the help of a divinity and Menelaus rages on with his brother demanding the release of Helen.
Achilles took away multiple soldiers’ lives and never thought twice about it. To him, his life consisted of wanting his name to be remembered and glorified. The proper justice was not served with Achilles, but there was justice within Achilles to give Hector back so that they could perform the proper burial for him.
Achilles is introduced into The Iliad getting into a debacle with the leader of the Greek army, Agamemnon, during the last year of the Trojan War. Achilles starts a quarrel with Agamemnon because he has demanded possession of Achilles’ woman, Briseis, in consolation for having to give up his woman, Chryseis, so that the gods will end their plague upon the Greek soldiers. Achilles does all he can to get his loved one back, but he knows that nothing will waver Agamemnon’s decision. This is when Achil...
After that part, Achilles shows vengeance when he talks about how he wants to kill Hector. 'I will not live nor go about mankind unless Hector fall by my spear, and thus pay me for having slain Patroclus, son of Mencetius.';
The first reason Achilles is an epic hero is because he embodied the characteristics of the ideal Greek citizen at the time Homer wrote; he is in a position of power and regards honor highly. “O my mother! I was born to die young, it is true, but honour I was to have from Zeus, Olympian, thunderer on high! And now he has not given me one little bit! Yes, my lord king Agamemnon has insulted me! He has taken my prize and keeps it, he has robbed me myself” (page 17), Achilles cried to his mother. Agamemnon stole Achilles’ prize, Briseis, so Achilles is begging his mother, the sea nymph Thetis, to help him regain his honor. In Greece, honor was crucial and by taking Achilles’ prize, Agamemnon has stripped him not only of his hard-won prize but of his honor as well. Such a double loss would have been catastrophic for a Greek citizen. Classicist Ian Johnston highlights the significance of his loss, suggesting that “the greatest harm that can occur to a particular warrior is shame, the community’s public recognition that he has let the group down or failed to live up to its shared rules.”Being shamed, in this case, by Agamemnon, would cause the Achaeans to lose respect for Achilles, and as one of their leaders, this would be a tragedy for him. Achilles’ desire to regain his honor sho...
Throughout the Iliad, a conflict develops through the process of each chapter which rests on the surface over a Maiden. The disagreement is caused due to one person or the other feeling far more powerful or superior than the other and is left to sense as if they should receive what is rightfully theirs even if it is not a fair exchange. This conflict is seen between two leaders who view each other with different status: Agamemnon the Argive leader of the expedition to Troy, who had inherited the role of king through his father, and Achilles the leader of Myrmidons. As the dispute develops, it is apparent that the discord between Agamemnon and Achilles is more than something about women; it seems to be their mindset distracting them from having a dispute between their views on power, honour, glory and pride amongst themselves.
In Homer’s epic, the Iliad, the legendary, has no two characters that are so similar yet so different as Greek warrior, Achilles, and the Prince of Troy, Hector. Achilles is the strongest fighter in the Greek side, and Hector is the strongest Trojan. They are both put into the mold of a hero that their respective societies have put them into; however; it is evident that they are both extremely complex characters with different roles within their society and with their families, and with the gods.