Committing Hubris
The Iliad, is written by the famous Greek poet, Homer. The epic is the first piece of Greek literature written in 800 b.c. Homer writes the epic about the Trojan War. The Trojan War is a 10 year battle between the Greeks and the Trojans. The Trojan War starts when Paris kidnaps Helen, the most beautiful woman on Earth, and brings her to Troy. Stealing Helen, breaks the warrior code which all warriors seek to follow to gain glory and honor. The code breakers commits hubris. Webster Dictionary defines hubris as “exaggerated pride or self-confidence.” Achilles, Agamemnon, and Paris each break the warrior code, and knowingly commit hubris.
Achilles commits hubris, and truly suffers the consequences. When Agamemnon takes Achilles prize, Briseis, from him, Achilles is
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Achilles refuses the offer at once and states, “I say no wealth is worth my life!...A man's life breath cannot come back again-no raiders in force, no trading brings it back, once it slips through a man's clenched teeth”(265). Achilles denies his commander a suppliants request. This refusal is the knowing act of hubris. Because Achilles chooses not to fight for the Greeks, his best friend, Patroclus, takes up his armor and leads Achilles men into battle. Resulting in Patroclus taking Achilles armor, he dies at the hands of Hector, a price of Troy. Achilles is so furious after his friend dies, he then gives up his stubborn ways and fights to avenge the death of his best friend. The Greeks view war as a glorious matter, when one man kills another, glory in war is gained. But, a dead man belongs to none but the gods themselves. If a body does not receive a proper burial, a man's soul will never rest. Before fighting Achilles, Hector requests Achilles that the winner returns the
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
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.
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).
... his country; since the spirit within does not drive me to go on living and be among men, except on condition Hektor first be beaten down under my spear, lose his life and pay the price for striping Patroklos, the son of Menoitios? (Homer 18.88). "Here in lies the crux of Achilles' dilemma, honor is more important than the man"(Burgess 39).
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.
Achilles stand firm against Priam but Priam reminds Achilles of the love that he has for his own dead father. Achilles is moved to tears by the memories of home and of his parents. He accepts Priam 's ransom for Hector 's body, and the two men, each having his own sorrow, cry together. After the reconciliation, Achilles has a dinner prepared for Priam and they eat together as equals. Achilles even supervises the preparations of Hector 's body and grants the Trojans twelve days to conduct Hector 's funeral rites, during which the Greeks will not attack.
Achilles agreed that Patrokolos should wear his armor into battle, this decision along with the fact Achilles was no longer fighting, ultimately caused Patrokolos’ death. When Patrokolos died at the hands of Hektor, two things happened. First, being distraught over his friend’s death, Achilles feels responsible/ Guilt ensues but is channeled to more anger. Hektor, the slayer of Patrokolos now becomes the target of Achilles rage. Achilles is ready to fight, but more accurately ready for revenge. Achilles said, “I will not live nor go about among mankind unless Hektor fall by my spear, and thus pay me for having slain Patrokolos son of Menoetius,” (The Iliad, Chapter 18, Lines 89-91). When Achilles decided to fight, the fate of Hektor was already decided. Also, because he decided to fight, many more Trojans died. His fury with all of Troy was unleashed. Achilles killed and killed. The carnage was
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
offers gifts to Achilles if he will come back and help fight. Achilles, however, is
Achilles is conflicted because all of the other mortals risk their lives every day when they are fighting. The warriors portray courage in every fight of the war because they know they could die but yet, they still go out and fight. Achilles can’t have courage if he knows exactly how he is going to die it is impossible. Achilles is angry that he can’t portray or have the courage of every other human because of his strange relationship to death. The relationship between most humans and death is that we all know for a fact that we are going to die but we don’t know how and when that is going to happen.
...battle that Achilles’ ego needed. However, Hector tried to do the right thing by offering the deceased be returned to their respective camps after the battle was over. It is at this point that Achilles is beyond the common courtesies of war and flat out denied Hector’s request. This action by Achilles shows his arrogance and the bloodlust that was truly in his heart rather than the courage that so many people claim that he had.
In Book 21, Achilles kills a hostage at his mercy, whose life he has sparred in the past. By the end of Book 21, Achilles has killed so many Trojan’s that the river is clogged with the bodies of his victims. Achilles behaves without a care for human life, as well as his treatment toward Hector before and after he kills him. As stated in Blucher’s article, Achilles is found to go berserk, committing atrocities to both living and dead. This, for Shay, is the story of the Iliad and also as Shay goes on to demonstrate, the story of many Vietnam combat veterans”. (Blucher). Before their battle Hector begs Achilles to honor his corpse if he is killed in war, and Achilles refuse, saying, “Don’t try to cut any deals with me, Hector. Do lions make peace treaties with men? Do wolves and lambs agree to get along? No, they hate each other to the core, And that’s how it is between you and me, No talk of agreements until one of us Falls and gluts Ares with his blood” (Homer). His statement of intent to dishonor Hector’s corpse and to damage the body after his enemy’s death, shows that he had anger towards his superiors. The most disturbing portrayal from Achilles is his behavior, when Hector’s father Priam meets with him to ask for Hector’s body. This show Achilles’ anger is driven by rage towards other superior officers in the
Therefore, he should see that the curse was his fault and nobody else’s. Instead, he should put the people before himself. Achilles is the best warrior who was willing to help the king out with his problem. He gestures that “We Achaeans will pay you back, three, four times over” (line 150) illustrating how forgiving Achilles can be in spite of the problem that has approached them. This depicts that he has pride and does not want the people to suffer anymore.
First off, Achilles talks about how sad he is about the death of Patroclus. Achilles groaned and answered, 'Mother, Olympian Zeus has indeed vouchsafed me the fulfillment of my prayer, but what pleasure is it to me, seeing that my dear comrade Patroclus has fallen—he whom I valued more than all others, and loved as dearly as my own life?
...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.