Iliad Essays (1365 words) - Trojans, Achilles, Epic Cycle, Iliad

Iliad Achilles Anger and Unreconciliation: Reassessing the Concepts of Mortality and Honor The subject of Homers 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. Achilles true nature is that of a warrior. The son of Peleus must fight. When he denounces Agamemnon and the Achaeans, he does not go home. His ship is last in line, near Troy. Subconsciously, he has already made the choice of accepting a short life filled with glory. Subconsciously, he wants to go back to war. He needs to. However, he also needs to insure his possession of glory and honor. But what kind of glory, what kind of honor? He already possesses the honor of the gods. He says, my honor lies in the great decree of Zeus (IX.741.p.272). By book IX, material wealth is no longer what Achilles wants. He spurns Agamemnons offers. The typical mortal concepts of heroism no longer concern him; his ideals differ from those of his peers. Phoenixs Meleager is no example to him. However, at this point Achilles still does not know what he wants. Pride and stubbornness still supplement his rage, but now his anger appears to be a manifestation of his fear and confusionStop confusing my fixed resolve with this (IX.745-746.p.272). Achilles knows that he wants honor and glory, but in what form? What Achilles does know, and what he must deal with, is the fact that his life will be short if he chooses to have honor and glory. Thus, the choices he makes concerning his honor are crucial. At this point his life is riding on the decision he makes. It is inevitable that Achilles will choose door #2--to go to war, live a short life, and have much glory. For it would go against every fiber of his being, his true nature, were he to choose to live a long life devoid of glory and honor. Achilles is waiting to go to war, but he must have the right reasons and inspiration. At the end of book IX, after the embassy has conveyed Agamemnons offers, Achilles still remains angry and unreconciled. Agamemnons offers of wealth and material possessions are not the incentives to inspire Achilles to fight. First of all, these prizes offered are already rightfully his; secondly, taking these gifts would be accepting that Agamemnon is greater than he; and finally, Achilles is struggling over his mortality--material gifts, although honorable and highly glorifying in the Homeric world, are not important to Achilles anymore, for he is attempting to determine whether to live or die. The spoils of war offered to Achilles by Agamemnon rightfully belong to him. They have always belonged to him. It is Achilles toil and exhaustion, his relentless dedication as a warrior, that has gone into fighting for this cause, not his own, to earn these prizes that are now offered to him, these prizes that he never before was allowed to keep, Twelve cities of men Ive stormed and sacked form shipboard, eleven I claim by land, on the fertile earth of troy. And from all I dragged off piles of splendid plunder, hauled it away and always gave the lot to Agamemnon (IX.398-401.p.262). These spoils of war serve to rekindle the fire of Achilles rage, for they are a reminder of his humiliation, of the honor Agamemnon so publicly stripped from him, when he took away Briseis. These offerings constitute such a blatant insult, that they can solicit only one possible reaction from Achilles, that of anger. These reminders of a fight for a cause not his own cannot possibly inspire Achilles to rejoin the war. Furthermore, what