Achilles as a Tragic Hero

Achilles as a Tragic hero:

As the poet of the great epic “Iliad”, Homer can be considered as the creator of Achilles. So, it is better to start the sketch of Achilles, the great runner, with a comment of Homer himself,

“Achilles was not kind or tender-hearted, but a man of fierce passions”

Homer has depicted all characteristics of the swift and excellent Achilles, who is the son of goddess, Thetis of the lovely locks and a mortal man the gallant Peleus. He was the greatest warrior of the Greeks and also was the handsomest and bravest of them. He loved deeply and hated violently. His wrath is the subject of the “Iliad”. Though unlike the other characters of the epic, he is one who undergoes a rapid transformation throughout the poem, excessive anger and pride can be considered his flaws as a tragic hero.

Achilles is the greatest of all the Greeks as a warrior in regard of strength and capability. He is given very much importance as a warrior both in his army and his enemy’s army as well as the army of the Trojans. It is to be noticed that the Greeks were in better position than the Trojans as long as Achilles was in the battle field but when he left the Greeks all on a sudden they fell from the high position. It indicates his greatness and importance as a warrior in the battle field. He is so strong and great that even his competitors do not hesitate to praise him as a great soldier. In this regard we can consider the opinion of the Hector of the flashing helmet, who was the greatest among the Trojans and was killed at the end on his hands –

“And I am going to meet him, though his hands are like fire, yes, though his hands are like fire and his heart like burnished steel.”

Hector also does not hesitate to confess the truth in front of Achilles that he is better than him (Hector) –

“I know that you are a good man, better by far than myself”

Another man, who was very important to the Trojans praises Achilles. The words of Aeneas can be considered in this regard –

“It is impossible for anyone to fight Achilles.”

Achilles was so mighty in the war that when the Greeks were in great trouble and all most all of them were wounded they requested him to rejoin in the war. The most important fact is that every Homeric hero needs the help of the divine machinery but Achilles is the person who does not need the divine help to become unstoppable on the field of battle. Zeus’s decree establishes that without divine help, Achilles is still the greatest warrior among the mortals –

“For if Achilles is allowed to fight the Trojans without interference, they will not for a moment hold that fiery spirit.”

The pursuit of glory is a consuming occupation for Homeric heroes. A Homeric hero wins glory by performing great deeds, the memory of which will outline him. Achilles also fights for glory. His mother begs to him to not fight because his death is fixed in the battle field, but he does not hesitate to fight. He is so brave that he does not have any fear about death. He is aware of his death but he does want to live a long life rather h is eager for a glorious death –

“A morning is coming, or may an evening or a noon, when somebody is going to kill me too in battle with a cast of his spear or an arrow from his bow.”

Pride is considered one of the tragic flaws of Achilles, the great runner. He is proud man because he is aware of the fact that no one is so great in the field of battle like him on the Greeks part. His sense of pride is so fierce that he does not even hesitate to leave his army, with whom he has been for so long to save his country from the Trojans. Due to the fierce sense of pride he left the battle-field when Agamemnon insulted him by taking away the prize which was given to him by Agamemnon himself.

“I see no point in staying here to be insulted while I pile up wealth and luxuries for you.”

Excessive and prolong wrath is the another flaw of the noble son of gallant Peleus. He was furious for his insult by King Agamemnon. The king snatched away his prize and insulted him by doing this. So, being a hot-headed and angry man Achilles left his army. He lost his senses due to his prolong wrath. So, he does not even hesitate to request his mother to go to Zeus, the cloud compeller, and ask him to help the Trojans.

“Sit by him now, clasp his knees, and remind him of that persuade him, if you can, to help the Trojans, to fling the Achaeans back on their ships, to pen them in against the sea and slaughter them.”

He hates fiercely and bitterly. Due to his wrath and bitterness towards Agamemnon he does not hesitate to pray for the destruction of his country. He is so hot-headed that even the hardship of his companions cannot move him. He just denies rejoining the battle when the Achaeans request him to do so. In this regard we can consider words of his intimate friend Patroclus later on that joined the battle on Achilles’ part –

“I will go back at once and report to Achilles. For you know well enough, my venerable lord, what a difficult man he is, quite capable of finding fault without reason.”

Hector also says to Achilles when he meets that he is a stone-hearted person.

“Your heart is as hard as iron.”

He did not join the battle until the death of Patroclus. He comes to his sense only after loosing his intimate friend. The death of Patroclus was the cause of his second wrath and this made him to join the battle again. This time the Trojans were the victim of his excessive wrath, to be more particular Hector was the centre of his wrath. He killed thousands of the Trojans. His wrath can be described by his own words –

“I was not disinclined to spare the Trojans. I took many alive and sold them abroad. But now not a single man whom god brings into my hands in front of Ilium is going to live.”

His wrath does not lessen until he kills the noble prince of Troy, Hector. His bitterness can be reflected by his own words when he meets Hector –

“Come quickly on and meet your fated end sooner.”

Finally he kills Hector and treats the body of the noble hero very brutally by dragging it with his horses around the city of joy. Probably his wrath ends with the death of Hector.

It is to be noticed that Achilles loves from the core of his heart. His love is just the opposite of his wrath. His love for his friend brought him back to the war. He feels so sorry that his wrath hastened the death of his friend. He mourned so long for the dath of Patroclus. Following words of Achilles can be used to present him as a good friend –

“But what satisfaction can I get from that, now that my dearest friend is dead, Patroclus, who was more to me than any other of my men, whom I loved as much as my own life?”

Throughout the Iliad we find a stone-hearted strong person in Achilles. We find him a bit emotional only after the death of Patroclus. At last, avenges his friend’s death by killing Hector.

Achilles always respects the words of the gods and goddesses. He might have killed Agamemnon, the king of men in the first book of Iliad when he was insulted by him, if he did not have respect for the gods. He says –

“The man, who listens to the gods is listened to by them.”

His respect towards the gods is reflected by the fact that he obeys the words of Zeus and treats Priam, the father of Hector, very generously and finally gives the corpse of Hector back to him.

The best thing about Achilles is that he learns from his mistakes and at the end a transformation is showed on him. He realizes that prolong wrath serves nothing but self-destruction –
 

“Anger that makes the wisest man flare up and spreads like smoke though his whole being, anger such as King Agamemnon roused in me that day.”

He realized that his wrath caused so many troubles to his men –

“It was Hector and the Trojans who profitted by our quarrel”

The most important thing is that throughout the poem we find him a self-centred person but at the end he starts to think about others’ pains sorrows. He was able to understand the pain of Priam because both of them had lost their most intimate ones.

Finally, we can consider Achilles as a great hero and tragic hero as well, who had all the qualities of a Homeric hero like, strength in battle field, pride, dedication for his country and so on. His dedication will be reflected by his own words –

“Whatever a swift foot and strong arm can do shall be done.”

Though pride and excessive wrath are his flaws we find him undergoing a rapid change throughout the epic. His movement from rage to grief and wrath and finally recognition is the heart of the Iliad.