Character Analysis of Achilles in The Iliad - Literature Essay Example

The Iliad is a book that indicates the life of people under oppression by the great king Agamemnon. The book depicts a people that feared the king and would always execute his commands despite how inhumane they were. However, the book brings out a sense of fighting for freedom as exemplified by Achilles, a Greek hero who is opposed to the chief's rule. At various instances, the two collide. The book, therefore, depicts Achille as an outstanding character. This essay entails an in-depth observation of Achilles, his character practices and whom he was a back-up of various instances drawn from the book. Achilles is a heartless man who hides his evil character behind the masks of spiritualism.

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Achilles is a spiritual man that has respect for the gods. It is his religious tendencies that give him a superhuman strength which makes the king have a high regard for him. The king refers to him as a great warrior (Edwards 15). He helps come up with strategies to help defeat the enemies of the Achaean army in all grounds. His affiliation with the gods is evident given the fact that he also confesses so.

However, Achilles is also a proud man. In many instances, he is not able to control his nobility as a mighty man. Rather, he continually seeks to inform his fellow soldiers that he is better and mightier than them. He always gets angry and reacts at the slightest chance when he feels that his ego is at risk (Edwards 43). The character of self-pride is evident when he approaches the gods praying that the army will be killed by the Trojans when he thinks that the King has taken him for granted.

Also, Achilles is a man who is famished for power. He is driven by a thirst for glory. In many instances, he always seeks to make his fellow soldiers, as well as the king, believe that they are nothing without him. Whereas power should have humbled him, he tries for the glory which is the reason that he and Agamemnon come to the point of disagreement.

Achilles is also a resenting man. He is a man who lacks the capacity to choose between what he wants. At some instances, he seeks to show that he is a good man. For example, he is opposed to the way that the chief treats a slave who is a woman. He tells of the king and indicates that it is not the right way to treat her in such a manner just because she is a slave. In contrast, he behaves more dangerously and brutally when he ignobly refers to the body of Hector as a failure not forgetting that he sacrificed twelve Trojan men during the burial of the great Patroclus. All these instances compounded together paint Achilles as a hypocrite who has no values to defend (Edwards 413). This behavior could finally be attributed as the reason that he is shot into his heel by a fellow soldier resulting in his death.

From careful observation of The Iliad, Achilles is a character who contributes so much to the development of the text. He is an individual who has some religious tendencies which he attributes to his mightiness at war. However, he depicts himself as a hypocrite who is very proud and always wants to be praised by his fellow soldiers. He is, therefore, a character of immoral behavior who hides under the mask of spiritualism.

Work Cited

Edwards, Mark W. Homer: poet of the Iliad. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990.