The quoted passage from Book Twenty-one of The Iliad is an excerpt of Achilles’ speech in rejection to Trojan prince Lykaon’s plea for life when he has finally resumed in the war. In this passage, Achilles contrasts the former and present way in which he treats the Trojans and states the reason of his change. By doing a close-reading of this passage, I hope to address the major shift in Achilles’ outlook on fate and death that is reflected in his change of attitude towards the Trojans. The first six lines really stand out in illustrating the significance of Patroklos’ death for it marks both Achilles’ return to battle and the change in his treatment of the enemies from “it was the way of my heart’s choice to be sparing of the Trojans”
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The fact that Achilles had once before captured Lykaon and sold him as a slave instead of killing him really signifies that Achilles’ now has a completely different understanding of fate and death as he did before. His logic behind the line “so friend, you die also. Why all the clamor about it?” (21.106) is that “Patroklos also is dead, who is by far better than you are” (21.107) and “do you not see what a man I am…even I also have my death and my strong destiny” (21.108-110). In this speech, Achilles compares Patroklos’ bravely undertaking his fate and death (and that he himself is about to do the same) to Lykaon’s cowardliness, suggesting that Lykaon, too, should follow their example and accept death as it comes by stressing the contrast of their greatness and their inescapable fate. If we look at the arch of Achilles’ changes throughout the Iliad from Book One when he refrains from battle to Book Eighteen when he resumes in battle, we could see the revelation Patroklos’ death brings to Achilles: mortals should not try to escape in the face of unpredictable and ruthless fate, instead, they should fight as well as they can and die a heroic death. After all, probably the only way for humans to act actively against fate and death and achieve immortality is to be bound by heroic values, win great glory in war and have their names passed
The fact that Achilles had once before captured Lykaon and sold him as a slave instead of killing him really signifies that Achilles’ now has a completely different understanding of fate and death as he did before. His logic behind the line “so friend, you die also. Why all the clamor about it?” (21.106) is that “Patroklos also is dead, who is by far better than you are” (21.107) and “do you not see what a man I am…even I also have my death and my strong destiny” (21.108-110). In this speech, Achilles compares Patroklos’ bravely undertaking his fate and death (and that he himself is about to do the same) to Lykaon’s cowardliness, suggesting that Lykaon, too, should follow their example and accept death as it comes by stressing the contrast of their greatness and their inescapable fate. If we look at the arch of Achilles’ changes throughout the Iliad from Book One when he refrains from battle to Book Eighteen when he resumes in battle, we could see the revelation Patroklos’ death brings to Achilles: mortals should not try to escape in the face of unpredictable and ruthless fate, instead, they should fight as well as they can and die a heroic death. After all, probably the only way for humans to act actively against fate and death and achieve immortality is to be bound by heroic values, win great glory in war and have their names passed