In Homer's The Iliad, the reader is introduced to a very famous warrior. He did not achieve this status easily, though. He is known to be barbaric and cruel, especially when he is angry. This warrior's name is Achilles. This essay will demonstrate the depths that his character will sink to just to gain revenge and soothe his injured pride.
The Iliad centers around the Trojan War which was caused by Paris, the most handsome man in all the world, stealing Helen of Troy (initially from Sparta), the most beautiful woman in the world, from her husband Meneläus. Unfortunately for Agamemnon, Achilles refuses to fight because of an earlier scuffle amongst them selves. Achilles had been rewarded a slave-girl from an earlier sacking of a city, but then Agamemnon changed his mind and wanted the slave-girl for himself. This was devastating to Achilles' pride and so he refused to fight.
Achilles tending Patroclus wounded by an arrow, id...
English: Triumphant Achilles: Achilles dragging th...
Briseis and Achilles in a 17th-century book illust...Instead, he stayed in his tent and sulked. Luckily for Agamemnon, a great warrior named Hector, on the Trojan's side, killed Achilles' best friend, Patrocolus. Achilles is then enraged, vows revenge on Hector and charges out into the fray.
Leading up to the final scenes where Achilles' true colors really shine through, are certain situations that demonstrate how brutal and savage he is. As soon as Achilles hears that Patrocolus is dead, he vows revenge and repents his fight with Agamemnon. Agamemnon even agrees to return the girl, but Achilles snarls that he doesn't care now, and that he wishes that she had died before they sacked her village so that this conflict would never have arisen. Now, this girl was what he was sulking about in the first place, and now he wishes that she had died long ago? That's pretty harsh.
During the battle...