Empathy Towards Achilles In The Iliad

Homer wrote The Iliad as a means to demonstrate what happened during the final year of the Trojan War. In the poem, Homer presents Achilles in several distinctive ways, causing the reader’s feelings to shift back and forth. How does Homer really want readers to feel about Achilles? There are several mixed feelings about Achilles and how readers should feel about the character. In the beginning of the poem readers may feel sympathetic toward Achilles after his argument with King Agamemnon, but those feelings may change when reading how Achilles unleashes his rage during battle against the Trojan soldiers and fights a river god. Some even dare to call Achilles an animal and an outrageous man after he drags Hector’s dead body around the city of Troy, while others tend to call him compassionate after his meeting with King Priam. Even with mixed views and opinions towards Achilles, by the end of the poem Homer make readers feel empathy towards the character because of the enormous sorrow that is placed on Achilles throughout the entire poem conveyed using his mother. In the beginning of the poem, Homer leads readers to feel empathic towards Achilles when Agamemnon takes Briseis away from Achilles. Homer sets a very gloomy and depressing tone when …show more content…
Achilles’ sorrows range from having a horrific fate to having to deal with the loss of his most beloved comrade – Patroclus. Homer constructs the poem in such a manner that readers can relate to Achilles through his mother and further understand his sadness and feel empathy towards him. Homer presented Achilles’ mother to be regretting her child’s existence, which is not normally for mothers who usually view children as special and irreplaceable gifts from the gods. Achilles’ mother shows readers exactly what Achilles was dealing with, making his sorrow very