Everyone knows who Achilles is, as he is one of the most famous heroes in Greek mythology. His story has inspired countless retellings in the form of plays, books, and movies. However, though his name is renowned throughout literature, his true character is not. Though he performed many heroic acts, he was also one of the people who caused the most tragedy throughout The Iliad.
First of all, it’s important to note that though much of media portrays Achilles as a man in his early to mid-twenties, it’s important to note that in The Iliad, he is actually estimated by some historians to have been around 33 during the events of The Iliad. Why is this important? It’s important because though Achilles is an adult in The Iliad, he acts like a whiny teenager. In the first few chapters, the reader is introduced to one of the main conflicts of the story; the fight between Achilles and Agamemnon for Briseis. Agamemnon demands that Briseis be given to him as loot because he’s the king of Sparta who everyone is supposed to follow, but Achilles believes that Briseis be given to him because he was the one who did the most work in destroying her home (a “You’re trying to kidnap what I’ve rightfully stolen!” type of situation). When Agamemnon refuses to renounce his claim on Briseis and takes her from Achilles, Achilles proceeds to spend about three-quarters of The Iliad at his camp, refusing to help the Greeks even when Agamemnon sends Odysseus and others to try to bargain with him.
This is the biggest example of Achilles’ two major character flaws that ultimately lead to the deaths of many. He is proud and he is spoiled, believing that he is better than the rest, making him unable to bow to authority for a greater reward. If he doesn’t get what he wants, the gods will surely help him. After all, his mother is the goddess Thetis, who had helped gods like Zeus and Hephaestus many times and thus had quite a bit of sway on Olympus. She had always come to his aid in the past and still comes to his aid later, justifying it in Book 1 of The Iliad, lines 491-495, “O my son, my sorrow, why did I ever bear you?/All I bore was doom…/Would to god you could linger by your ships/without a grief in the world, without a torment!/Doomed to a short life, you have so little time.” Even if you take away his invincibility from being dipped in the Styx as a child (which many scholars debate since The Iliad does mention him sustaining a few wounds in places other than his heel, it’s his pride and his dependance on his mother and the rest of the gods that makes him act as he does; an angry brat who’s angry that he lost his shiny new toy.
Achilles is also extremely stubborn. As I mentioned before, when Agamemnon has reached the point of desperation and offers him a ton of loot, Achilles adamantly refuses it and angrily sends Odysseus, Nestor, and the other men away. While one could argue that Agamemnon was in the wrong and should’ve just personally apologized to Achilles (as he does in later chapters), Achilles was still in the wrong. He could’ve accepted the loot and entered the battle much earlier than he does otherwise, but instead chooses to nurse his wounded pride until Agamemnon comes to beg to him personally, and even then, it takes Patroclus’s death for Achilles to accept Agamemnon’s apology and go to war.
Though people often try to defend Achilles concerning Patroclus’ death, Achilles’ pride is also the culprit in that situation as well. True, Patroclus may have died at some other time in a battle had Achilles and his soldiers gone out earlier, but it was because of Achilles that Patroclus finally got tired of the temper tantrum he was stuck in the middle of, in part causing him to beg Achilles to go out to war because he saw that the Greeks were being slaughtered by the Trojans. Furthermore, when Patroclus finally is killed by Hector and Achilles receives the news, he is not repentant for sending him out or for any of his other actions. The only reason why he goes out is so he can avenge Patroclus, which is where we see Achilles fall the farthest as a character.
At this point, Achilles has fallen pretty far, but when he rushes out to completely destroy the Trojan army, becomes almost animalistic in his bloodlust. His wrath is constantly described as being “godlike”, which – if you know anything about the Greek gods, especially Ares, to whom Achilles is constantly described – you’ll know that this is an accurate description. He even confirms this in Book 19, lines 253-255 when he says to Agamemnon, “You talk of food?/ I have no taste for food – what I really crave/ is slaughter and blood and the choking groans of men!” This proves that Achilles has no mercy, not even on those who weren’t even remotely responsible for the death of Patroclus. While regular humans would’ve caved at least once to enjoy some food and drink, Achilles seems content to run solely on his thirst for blood until Hector is dead and Patroclus avenged while Athena sustains him with ambrosia and nectar (4). He is indeed godlike in this aspect, and that’s not a good character trait.
Another example of this inhuman anger can be shown in Book 22, where he finally kills Hector (who, in many ways is the antithesis to Achilles,). As Hector clutches Achilles’ knees, instead of showing some sort of pity, Achilles goes so far to say that he wished he could flay the meat from Hector’s bones and eat it. He says: “Beg no more, you fawning dog – begging me by my parent! / Would to god my rage, my fury would drive me now/ to hack you flesh away and eat you raw –/ such agonies you have caused me!” (3, Book 22, lines 407-410). This is almost a direct quote from Zeus to Hera from Book 4, “Only if you could breach/ their gates and their long walls and devour Priam/and Priam’s sons raw –/ then you might just cure your rage at last.” (3, Book 4, lines 39-42). His later lines during his taunting of Hector even reflect lines from his argument with Agamemnon at the beginning of the book, showing the same stubborn wrath that he can get away with because he’s supported by not just Thetis, but also Athena and Hera, the queen of Olympus herself.
Finally, after Achilles has killed Hector and thoroughly desecrated his corpse by dragging it around the walls of Troy in front of his mother, father, wife, and child (whose only crime is being part of the Trojan royal family) to make them feel his pain for Patroclus does Achilles take a minute to stop and calm down. It’s only at this time that we ever see any human emotion from him that’s warranted. While we’ve seen Achilles experience sadness and grief before at the beginning of the book, his grief was over losing a new member of his harem. His grief was like that of a toddler in Walmart whose parents refused to get them a toy. However, this time, his grief is relatable and you suddenly feel yourself feeling empathy for the man who caused so many problems throughout the tale. During his grieving period, when Priam comes to talk to Achilles so he can get Hector’s body back, Achilles is finally able to move past his selfishness for a minute and see the human suffering he had brought upon Priam’s family. He connects to that for the moment and has pity (however fleeting it might have been) and agrees to put his prejudices aside and show a bit of human decency, which is where the book ends.
In conclusion, Achilles, though considered a hero by many, was the cause of much of the suffering throughout The Iliad. He had somewhat of a character arc, however, it was short-lived in the later tales of the Trojan War. His godlike strengths and abilities made him an entitled brat, and though he was capable of feeling some human emotion and connection, he was ultimately just like one of the gods of Olympus and thus, he was completely unlikeable.
Until next time,
M.J.
The Tanuki Corner 
Merry Christmas!
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