Achilles In The Iliad Character Analysis

Achilles in The Iliad by homer, translated by Stanley Lombardo, an epic, possesses many qualities. He is even referred to as godlike many times throughout the epic. Qualities such as strength, persistence, ambition, and compassion are all characterized within Achilles. All these attributes that make him a hero are all trumped throughout the Iliad because of one downfall. His pride. Achilles pride is what caused the unnecessary death of many Achaeans and even Trojans. It also prolonged the war and even almost destroyed the Greeks. From book 9-24 of the Iliad, Homer shows that Achilles pride and rage prevents him from growing as a person and becoming wiser. An example of this hindrance is shown when Achilles first does not accept Agamemnon’s gifts that he offered for his …show more content…
Patroclus treated Achilles with great respect because he recognized how great of a warrior and how godlike Achilles is. With this still in mind, Patroclus knew that Achilles was being full of himself and something had to be done. In turn, he volunteered to pose as Achilles and fight to push the Trojans back. Achilles let Patroclus join the fight not out of love for his fellow Achaean, but for his own self gain. An example of this occurs in book 16 where Achilles says “Win me my honor, my glory and my honor from all the greeks, and, as their restitution, the girl Briseis, and many other gifts”. This represents the pride and greed that is shown by Achilles even to his best friend. His actions out of revenge and personal gain led to his closest friend’s death. Many people assume that Patroclus’s death made Achilles a better man, but all it did was switch Achilles target from Agamemnon to Hector, who killed Patroclus. This revenge for Patroclus’s death made Achilles do many rash and harsh deeds. Some of these deeds were sacrificing twelve Trojan men, not eating until Patroclus’s body was buried, but most of all, trying to fight a river