Did Achilles have a choice?

Achilles is faced with a choice between two destinies: he can die young but with great glory, or he can live long but be forgotten when he is gone. Achilles chooses glory.


Did Achilles choose his fate?

His deific mother clues him into his own future, giving him two paths: Achilles can either participate in the war and live a short, glorious life, or he can return home and live a long, inglorious one. Achilles ultimately chooses the former.

Why did Achilles suddenly refuse to fight?

Achilles stops fighting for the Greeks because Agamemnon took away his prize, Briseis. Fearing of defeat to the Trojans, Agamemnon summons Ajax , Odysseus, and Phoenix to persuade Achilles into rejoining the battle by means of offering gifts and the return of Briseis.


What is Achilles greatest character flaw?

But even after Agamemnon offers to return Briseis, along with numerous other gifts, Achilles remains angry, indicating that one of Achilles' major character flaws is his excessive pride.

Why is Achilles still angry after killing Hector?

Achilles, stunned and enraged, refuses, stating that Hector's death is apt retribution for the murder of Patroclus. To this, Priam refutes that Patroclus' death was a case of mistaken identity while reminding Achilles of his own war-fueled cruelty: “How many cousins have you killed?


Achilles and His Mother Discuss Fate



How many kills did Achilles have?

The total number of men killed by Achilles in the Iliad is problematic, but the most obvious count is twenty-four within the main narrative (excluding the Catalog of Ships and Pre-Iliadic exploits).

What is the moral of Achilles story?

Achilles' most distinctive characteristic is his invulnerability, coupled with the fact that he has one small spot on his body which is vulnerable. The lesson, it seems, is that everyone has their weakness, capable of bringing them down.

Why did Achilles pretend to be a girl?

Based on ancient legend, Achilles' mother, knowing that her son would die if he fought in the Trojan War, disguised him as a woman and entrusted him to King Lycomedes' household, where he lived among the king's daughters.


Did Achilles disguised as a girl?

Thetis had taken her son Achilles to the island of Scyros to prevent him from accompanying the Greek army to Troy. Disguised as a woman, Achilles lived on Scyros among the daughters of King Lycomedes until the Greeks discovered his whereabouts and sent Odysseus and Diomedes to the island to fetch him.

Who is to blame for the rage of Achilles?

Even before Homer describes the quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon, he explains that Apollo was responsible for the conflict. In general, the gods in the poem participate in mortal affairs in two ways.

What was Achilles fatal flaw?

It can be argued that Achilles's fatal flaw is that of hubris, excessive pride and overconfidence. This is what prevents Achilles from making amends with Agamemnon when he steals Briseis from him, refusing to accept his offer of recompense for the humiliations he inflicted upon him.


Who didnt want Achilles to go to war?

One named Odysseus persuaded several to go with him to the war, among them Achilles. The mother of this young man, Thetis, was unwilling to have him fight against Troy, so she dressed him like a girl and placed him among the daughters of a friendly king.

What is the weakest point of Achilles that led to his death?

Achilles' only weakness was his heel. According to legend, his mother had taken him to the River Styx, which was supposed to offer powers of invincibility, and dipped his body into the water. Because she held him by the heel, it was not washed over by the water of the magical river (see Figure 1).

Who ended up killing Achilles?

How does Achilles die? Achilles is killed by an arrow, shot by the Trojan prince Paris. In most versions of the story, the god Apollo is said to have guided the arrow into his vulnerable spot, his heel. In one version of the myth Achilles is scaling the walls of Troy and about to sack the city when he is shot.


Who is Achilles soulmate?

Origin. Patroclus was the son of Menoetius, and the cousin of Achilles, his friend and his "first soulmate".

Who did Achilles sleep with?

In it, Achilles and Patroclus do have a sexual relationship. Here is one short excerpt from their younger days, before the Trojan War began: "I was trembling, afraid to put him to flight.

Why did Patroclus sleep with the princess?

Heartbroken and jealous of Achilles's love for Patroclus, Deidameia summons Patroclus to have sex with her, which he does; he notes that she seemed to want something more from him, which he was unable to provide.


Did Achilles marry anyone?

We know Achilles wasn't much of a family man. He spent much of his life out in the battlefields, and he never married or settled in any one place. Some stories even suggest he might have been gay. However, we do know that Achilles had one son, a boy named Pyrrhus Neoptolemus.

Who was in love with Achilles?

Even though she was a war prize, Achilles and Briseis fell in love with each other, and Achilles may have gone to Troy intending to spend much time in his tent with her, as was portrayed in the movie.

Was Achilles in love with a man?

Achilles' heel was not his heel, but his love for another man. Or so Madeline Miller tells it in “The Song of Achilles,” a novel that skillfully retells and embellishes Homer's tale of the Trojan War, “The Iliad.”


Were patroclus and achilles lovers?

Instead, any romantic attachments are implied rather than stated as fact. Centuries later, various Greek texts presented Achilles and Patroclus as pederastic lovers (a common practice in Greek society where an older male and younger male form a sexual relationship).

What woman does Achilles fall in love with?

When Odysseus, Ajax, and Phoenix visit Achilles to negotiate her return in book 9, Achilles refers to Briseis as his wife or his bride. He professes to have loved her as much as any man loves his wife, at one point using Menelaus and Helen to complain about the injustice of his "wife" being taken from him.

Was Achilles a nice person?

Achilles does not fit modern sensibilities. He is a killer, arguably a rapist, certainly a pillager. He is sulky, high-strung and oh boy, is he temperamental. He can be pitiless – actively enjoying the iron in his heart – and he can be murderously cruel.


Was Achilles a good guy?

The warrior Achilles is one of the great heroes of Greek mythology. According to legend, Achilles was extraordinarily strong, courageous and loyal, but he had one vulnerability–his “Achilles heel.” Homer's epic poem The Iliad tells the story of his adventures during the last year of the Trojan War.

Why did Achilles sacrifice his daughter?

When the Greek fleet is becalmed at Aulis, thus preventing movement of the expeditionary force against Troy, Agamemnon is told that he must sacrifice Iphigenia to appease the goddess Artemis, who has caused the unfavourable weather. Agamemnon lures his daughter to Aulis by pretending that she will marry Achilles.