The Iliad Achilleus Analysis

In Homer’s epic poem, “The Iliad”, we read of the tales of Achilleus during the Trojan War. Achilleus shows several of the Sigmund Freud’s theories. One example is in Book I when Achilleus shows the use of the aggressive phase theory by rebelling against his leader, Agamemnon. Later on, the denial theory is occurring with Achilleus when he refuses to believe that Patroklos is dead and also when he refuses to admit that he isn’t the leader of the army. Achilleus’s id comes out when he refuses to return Hektor’s dead body, but his superego would later show when Priam approaches him to return his body. One may think the aggressive phase is the most prominent theory that Achilleus exhibits, but Achilleus is just a misunderstood human in “The Iliad”. …show more content…
Achilleus’s mindset completely changes, he goes from refusing to fight in the war to rejoining it in the search of revenge for his fallen friend. In fact, Achilleus even goes as far as to blame himself for the death of his friend, claiming that he could have prevented it himself was useless. This is supported when Achilleus states, “I was no light of safety to Patroklos, nor to my other companions, who in their numbers went down before glorious Hektor, but sit here beside my ships, a useless weight on the good land” (Lines 25-28, 356). In a nutshell, Achilleus goes from having a lot of anger at Agamemnon to forgetting it and instead having a lot of grief as well as a desire for revenge and anger at Hektor. He, however, is not his stereotypical self after Patroklos’s death. He also accepts his fate of death from the gods, he could easily fight his fate and not accept his death. Achilleus is reacting like a normal human in this instance as well, anyone would want revenge over their friend getting killed in a fight. Here is another example of how he’s acting how a normal human would in the situation, adding to the theory that Achilleus is just