Fall Of Achilles In The Iliad

The rise and fall of Achilles The main character in Homer’s book The Iliad is Achilles, who is a great warrior, vengeful, petty and proud. The problem he faces in the poem is that he’s very driven by the thirst of become glory to have his name known for many years. Achilles is a flawed character who cannot controlled his pride/ rage when his pride was injured; therefore causes him to leave his fellow comrades to die because of his actions. In the poem it shows us how his dear friend Patroclus dies which leaves Achilles to undergo a dramatic change throughout the book. At the end Achilles had put aside his childish ways and became a man to fulfill his duties as a fellow warrior. Achilles character be redeemable or fatal? In The Iliad, Hector’s …show more content…
Achilles was very hesitant to release Hector’s body to his father King Priam. “Don’t provoke me, old man. It’s my own decision to release Hector to you….” (Homer 172). Achilles didn’t want Hector’s father sleeping in the same hut so he told Priam to sleep outside because of the one of his people would see him. “You will have to sleep outside, dear Priam… One of the Achaean counselors may come in…In the dead of night, he would tell Agamemnon, to delay releasing the body” (Homer 174).While Priam comes to retrieve his sons body, Achilles had treated Hector’s body with the respect and delivery him properly. Achilles realize his actions show that he has finally seen the heart of his fury and that it’s pointless to be destructive. Achilles was never a hero to even begin with he was more the villain in the book. He killed and slaughtered people because of his rage; he even let his own comrades get killed because of his selfishness. But soon after Patroclus dies he felt the need to finally put his rage and anger to the side and focus on something that was more important and that was the respect from his fellow peers. He notice that after his cousin died he had become very distant with the people around