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Achilles as a heroic character
Achilles as a heroic character
Different Perspectives on Ethics in Sports
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Imagine this, two football teams are playing in the high school championship. The Greeks, and the Trojans. (very original) These two teams have a very strong rivalry, because the Trojans took the Greeks mascot. The game begins, and after 10 minutes nobody has scored. The Greeks best player on defense, Achilles, has decided to not play because of his personal issues with the head coach. Now the Greeks defense sucks and the Trojan offense, lead by the famous quarterback Hector, is about to score on them. So Patroclus, who is Achilles best friend asks him if he can put on Achilles pads to scare the Trojans and defend them from the touchdown. Achilles says “But you're injured.” And then Patroclus says “I’ll be fine I won’t play long just enough to get us the lead in the game. So Patroclus goes in the game, and the Trojans are terrified at seeing this sight. The Trojans get sacked twice in a row, and now it is 3rd down and 22. Patroclus has done what he needed to do to get the team back in the lead. He can go, but he decides to stay and keep playing. The Trojans are sacked again, but they decided to go for it on 4th down because they realize that it isn’t Achilles is in the pads, but Patroclus. Then on 4th down Hector decides to run with the ball, Patroclus goes for the tackle, but gets destroyed by Hector and a few of his blockers. Patroclus tears his ACL and breaks his neck which causes him to stay on a wheel chair for the rest of his life. Achilles gets ticked and throws on his football pads and goes on the field even though the game has taken a break, and tackles Hector which knocks Hector out since he isn’t wearing his helmet. Everyone one is shocked, and they get even more shocked when Achilles drags Hector around the football fi...
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...ook on some of the Greeks peer pressure to stay and fight. If he did, then once again he is unwise to stick to his gut and even think about what he was doing. If Achilles returned home, he could’ve raised his sons, ruled as the king of the Myrmidons, and lived a very love fulfilled life. But he chose heart over head, and ultimately gave up his future unwisely. This is my last reason of why Achilles was unhonorable, and unwise to stay and fight in Troy after Patroclus’s death.
Because of these three reasons, 1. He was very unhonorable with the way he dealt with Hector 2. He unwisely did not stop and think about the situation. 3. He unwisely never thought about how his decision to stay would affect his future. These are the reasons why I think Achilles was unhonorable, and unwise to stay and fight in Troy after Patroclus’s death.
Works Cited
The Bible
The Iiliad
When Patroclus asked Achilles for his armor, Achilles finally sided with Patroclus after a great deal of pondering because he wanted revenge over Agamemnon. In the armor of Achilles, Patroclus was killed by Hector. When he learned of the death of Patroclus, he would kill Hector knowing that it would lead to his own death. Achilles went back into war knowing he would go against his mother’s wishes. When the news of Hector’s death reached King Priam, he asked for the body of his Son of Achilles. The body was returned out of understanding the pain of losing a son. But in the end, that was the plan that finally destroyed the City of
In[a] the novel, Trouble, Henry respects Chay nearing the end of their adventure, because he learned about his tragic life in Cambodia. Henry had been an ordinary boy with the “Great Franklin Smith”, living his own ordinary life, until a tragic car accident ruins all of the Smiths plans for the future. Now Henry and Sanborn travel to Mt. Katahdin for Franklin, but Henry loathes Chay for killing Franklin. To avenge Franklin’s death, their epic adventure to Katahdin brings, troubles, hardships, origins, and anger between all members, making a unique journey for all.
Phoenix’s paradigm narrative fails to persuade Achilles to rejoin the war because the specifics of that narrative fail to align with Achilles’ specific concerns. In particular, Phoenix neglects the pernicious effects of Agamemnon’s actions on Achilles’ notions of honor and pride. The old man discounts Achilles’ ability to act solely on the account of his dangerously inflated pride, which proves to be detrimental not only to the Greeks but also those whom Achilles cares about, most notably Patroclus. Additionally, Phoenix’s anecdote draws incorrectly upon the role and relationship of Achilles’ parental figures, lessening the efficacy of the speech as a whole. Phoenix’s terminal mistake was confusing the desires of Achilles with that of Meleager, assuming that the warrior values his fellow Greeks over himself (Homer’s Iliad 9.607-611).
Achilles fought in the end because he blamed himself for the death of his friend. Hector
At first Achilles had a set of clearly defined goals, he was to fight side by side with the Achaeans, sack Troy, and, by doing these things, gain honor and wealth. As the war progressed a series of events took place that forced Achilles to step out of the fight. While he was inactive and had time to contemplate, he came to the realization that he had been fighting for nine years for the sake of a man whose woman has been stolen; now that his woman had been stolen no one fights for his sake. He also realizes that there are other, less risky ways of obtaining wealth and honor, including sending Patroklus out in his armor. Another thing he ponders on, but doesn't seem to take seriously, is whether or not honor is really worth the struggle.
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 Ancient Greeks admired their heroes and tried to learn from both their achievements and their mistakes. They believed that most great leaders and warriors followed a predictable behavior cycle, which often ended tragically. In Homer’s epic poem, The Iliad, Achilles is a great warrior who traces the stages of the behavior cycle twice, from arete to hubris to ate and then to nemesis. Achilles is a highly skilled warrior and a great leader who becomes a narcissist and an arrogant person, which leads to selfish and childish behavior resulting in the death of his best friend. Following Patroclus’ death, Achilles repeats the behavior cycle by regaining his courage and motivation, and goes back to battle against Hector. The pride he feels in killing Hector and his overpowering hatred for him, leads Achilles to another bad decision: disrespecting the body of his enemy. This foolish choice leads directly to Achilles death. Although The Iliad is mainly known as a story about the Trojan War, it is understood as a story about Achilles and his struggle to be a hero.
If I hold out here and lay siege to Troy, my journey home is gone, but my glory never dies. If I voyage back to the fatherland I love, my pride, my glory dies... true, but the life that's left me will be long... (9.497-504)" Achilles chooses glory over life
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.
First off, Achilles has a few heroic characteristics. I don’t want to compare him to any other heroes I’ve studied because I don’t like him, but I’d say Odysseus, because they fought for the same goal in the Trojan War. But personally, I think he is a sissy for not fighting throughout the entire Trojan War until things got personal because Hector killed his friend. But hey, killing Hector in his blind rage helped the cause, and thusly his people. So he isn’t all that bad. Then, as N.S. Gill will write, Achilles does this. “An enraged Achilles kills Hector and then dishonors the body by dragging it around tied to the back of a chariot for 9 days.” So, yeah, Achilles is kind of a prick. But then again, Achilles reflects the moral codes of the culture that bore him, so in a strange way, he is the embodiment of a hero. To them at least. To me, he seems to have good ...
Achilles shows his moral inferiority in book one of The Iliad when Agamemnon supposedly deprives Achilles of his honor by taking his “prize.” Achilles responds to Agamemnon’s action by deciding to not fight in the war and he also prays against the Greeks by asking his mother, Thetis, to go to Zeus. When Thetis goes to Zeus she says “Zeus, out father, if ever I have helped you among the immortals either in word or in something I did, fulfill me this desire. Give honor to my son who, more than others, is born to a quick death. But as it is, now the king of men Agamemnon has not given him honor. He has taken away his prize. He holds it! But give him honor, O Olympian, counselor Zeus. Give power to the Trojans until the Achaeans honor my son and increase his honor” (I. Lines 491-99). When Achilles does this he is showing that he is selfish and only caring about himself. He is showing he does not care for his troops by praying having his mother ask Zeus to give the Trojans power until Achilles gets the honor he believes he deserves. Another reason in which demonstrates that Achilles is a selfish man is later in book seven-teen. Throughout most of the epic poem Achilles chooses not to fight just because Agamemnon didn’t give him the honor he thought he deserved. But finally, in book seven-teen, Achilles decides to join the battle again. But he doesn’t choose to fight because he knows it is the best things to do for his people or country. He fights because he wants his name to be remembered. But that isn’t the main reason. The real reason that Achilles made his decision to fight is because Hector killed his friend, Patroklos. This is proven to be the main reason Achilles decides to fight in book twenty-two when Achilles is telling Hector what he is going to do to him because Hector killed Patroklos. Achilles says “Don’t beg me, you dog, by my knees
The first requirement of Aristotle's tragic hero is that they are more admirable than the average character. Achilles meets this requirement because of his ability on the battlefield. In The Iliad, the background to the story is the war between the Greeks and the Trojans. This background is not only the basis for the story overall, but is also the basis for Achilles' own story. This begins when Achilles refuses to join the battle because he is insulted by Agamemnon. This decision results in the action that drives the remainder of the story. Later in the story when Achilles becomes angered and goes to the other extreme, launching into battle and killing ferociously. The significance of this is that it places battle as central to both Achilles' story and to what is important in the setting of the story. Importantly, the aspect that makes Achilles greater than most is his ability o...
... was when the Greek armies were trying to seize the city of Troy without the help of Achilles , the fight was relentless. With the unfortunate death of Achilles beloved companion and friend Patrolcus, Achilles entered the war with the city of Troy only to wind up killing his enemy, Hector. In all of the fates predicted, Achilles knew ahead of time what the outcome could possibly be, with this in mind, Achilles has the freewill of whether to engage in the war and lose his life. However, fate had been reveal prior to the killing of Hector, Achilles engaged in war with revenge on his mind and fulfilled the prophecies.
...h Agamemnon and wishes that ‘strife could die from the lives of gods and men’… Not to avenge Patroclus by killing Hector would be a renunciation of all that he stands for and has lived by”. Even though “sorrow fell on Achilles like a cloud” (216), he went back out to the battlefield and killed Hector. It took a great deal of bravery for Achilles to face the man who killed his best friend but Achilles, being the hero that he was, got back into battle and killed him because he couldn’t let Patroclus’ death go unavenged.
Homer makes it clear that Achilles is a man mainly driven by his hunger for glory. Achilles has all the traits of a superhuman from his strength to his incredible ability to fight on the battlefield. Even with these great abilities, it is hard for many readers to perceive him as a hero because of the way he acts. Homer takes this brief time period out of this whole ten-year war just to demonstrate how Achilles cannot control himself when he goes into a rage. In todays world Achilles would not last long as a soldier in any army because he would be court marshaled for insubordination. Achilles ye...