Achilles is the greatest warrior in the Achaian army. In addition to his great fighting abilities, he is excessively prideful. These two qualities do not exactly complement each other. His hubris is sometimes dangerous to not only him, but his friends and allies. Troy illuminates another quality that is easily overlooked in such a man. He does have a softer side. He rode off with Hektor’s body in tow behind his chariot due to pride, but was persuaded to return the body to King Priam. Achilles is obviously not as brutal as he is remembered. Why do you think he is remembered for only being a great warrior and prideful? Why is he not remembered for the compassion he showed to the Trojans? Do you think it has something to do with the importance of honor and glory in Greek society?
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I believe Hollywood is guilty of adding almost any tenderness we see in Achilles, at least as far as it relates to Hector. In the original story, he is described as being quite brutal towards the corpse of his foe.
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ReplyDeleteAchilles has been fated to death, but death will earn glory to his name. Homers portrayal of Achilles is that if a defeated hero who will die; whether he follows the heroic code or does as he please because his death only will bring him glory not his actions. I don’t think Achilles cares about anyone; the Iliad presents him as brutal, stubborn and always doing as he pleases to make himself happy. The film Troy, in the other hand is simply a money making story that attracts viewers who are interested in characters with soft and tender qualities. The film illustrates different characters from those of Homer’s epic to entertain a crowd not to get an insight of who the real characters were or who Achilles was. Homer also explains that Achilles promised to send Patroclus back from war to his land unharmed to tell his story after his death. I don’t think Achilles wants to protect Patroclus because he loves him but because he knows he is going to die and needs someone to go back home and tell the story of the swift runner Achilles and his glory.
ReplyDeleteI don't think he is remembered for his compassion because, the compassion he showed towards King Priam in giving back Hector's body was because Zeus sent a messenger down to Achilles and told him to take a ransom and give the body back. Achilles was smart enough not to anger Zeus, but the gods played a very small role in the movie and that of course was not in it.
ReplyDeleteI do not think that that Achilles is remembered as a compassionate person because simply giving back Hector’s corpse does not make him compassionate in my opinion. Although a it was different in the film Troy, in the Iliad, he gave back the corpse after nine long days of dragging it on the ground. In addition to that, he also already had the negative stereotype of being overly narcissistic, which is attached to his name. Achilles refused to fight in the Trojan War because of his ego even though he was made well aware of the fact that the Greeks were losing terribly. A compassionate person would have been able to put personal issues aside for the benefit of the overall civilization.
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