Despite the grand scope of Homer's epics--which present warfare, heroism, adventure and divinity as forces that shape human destiny-The Iliad may be seen as an account of the circumstances that irrevocably alter the life of one man: Achilles, greatest of warriors. Through the course of the poem, Achilles goes through many ordeals, which changes his character immensely.
One example of such a character change is when he is quarreling with Agamemnon. Achilles and Agamemnon have an extreme amount of tension building between the both of them. Apollo has been wiping out the Achaean army for nine days (years) because of a priest's daughter who has been kidnapped. Through some questioning, it is derived that the only way Apollo will stop kill
ing the Achaean army is if Agamemnon returns Chryseis. In addition, the only way Agamemnon will return Chryseis is if he can have Achilles' own mistress, Briseis. When they finally came face to face, there was a large battle of words and threats. Achilles and Agamemnon are on the threshold of killing each other. As Achilles begins to become completely enraged, Athena was sent down by Hera to calm the raging Achilles and urge him not to fight Agamemnon. Not able to act against the will of the gods, Achilles sheathed his sword and only verbally badgered Agamemnon. After the verbal abuse continued for a while, Agamemnon finally got fed up and ordered Briseis to be taken from Achilles. Achilles lets the two messengers take Briseis away; alt
All papers and essays are for research and reference purposes only!
Copyright 2002-2009
Direct Essays , LLC. All Rights Reserved. DMCA Webmasters make $$$$