Discussion Topic
Achilles' Return to Battle Motivated by Patroclus' Death
Summary:
Achilles returns to battle in The Iliad primarily due to the death of his close friend Patroclus. Initially, Achilles withdraws from the Trojan War after a conflict with Agamemnon over the concubine Briseis. However, Patroclus' death, caused by Hector, spurs Achilles' rage and desire for vengeance, prompting him to rejoin the fight. His return is driven by personal grief and a quest for revenge, ultimately leading to Hector's death and fulfilling a prophecy of Achilles' own demise.
Why did Achilles return to battle in the Iliad?
At the beginning of the story, Achilles refuses to participate in the Trojan War because Agamemnon forcibly takes Achilles's slave and concubine Briseis after being forced to release his own slave, Chryseis. When Achilles finds out that his closest and most trustworthy friend, Patroclus, is dead, however, he becomes so enraged that he decides to return to battle and do whatever it takes to avenge Patroclus. He learns that Apollo, the Greek god of the sun and medicine, helped Hector kill Patroclus on the battlefield, which is why Achilles makes it his mission to kill Hector.
Thus, the pain, grief, and anger that Achilles feels after he loses Patroclus is what finally motivates Achilles to forget about his conflict with Agamemnon and return to battle, despite being told that he will certainly die if he fights. Achilles's love for Patroclus and his thirst for revenge, however, are much greater than...
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his fear of dying; he kills Hector and drags his body around the walls of Troy and around Patroclus's grave. Achilles is ultimately killed by Paris, Hector's brother, as Paris shoots an arrow in his heel—Achilles's only vulnerable spot. By dying, Achilles fulfills the prophecy which the oracle made at his birth: that he will die as a young hero in Troy.
How does Patroclus' death prompt Achilles to return to battle in the Iliad?
In some respects, Homer's Iliad is a long meditation on why one fights. The epic describes gods and men at war with each other, each one perhaps having a different motive for doing battle with the others.
Achilles entered the Trojan War not for any reason of personal grievance but to gain glory for himself. He was by far the Greek's greatest warrior, and it was believed that the Greeks could not win Troy without him on their side. However, Agamemnon insults Achilles by claiming his war prize, Briseis, a woman whom Patroclus promised Achilles would marry. This begins the dissent between Agamemnon and Achilles that causes Achilles to sit out part of the war, much to the disadvantage of the Greeks.
Patroclus is a disposable character, and he serves at first to soften Achilles, who tends to be arrogant. He also is Achilles's dearest friend and possible lover. In an emotional sense, he is something of an "Achilles's heel," since his pleading to enter battle causes Achilles to act against his better judgment. His death causes Achilles to enter the battle, despite his earlier determination to refrain from fighting for the Greeks.
Patroclus himself is eager to win glory, and he enters the battle in Achilles's armor, ignoring Achilles's warning to not pursue the Trojans to their gate but to only prevent them from advancing on the Greeks. When Apollo intervenes, Patroclus is vulnerable to Trojan attack and is eventually killed by Hector.
In his overwhelming grief, Achilles re-enters battle with a personal motive: to kill Hector in revenge for Patroclus's death. At this point, the battle becomes increasingly personal, as Achilles fights out of anger and grief and for honor and revenge, while Hector seeks to save his city and his family.
When Achilles returns to battle, he fights for honor, not glory; he fights for the love he bore Patroclus, not the admiration he hoped to gain from others.