Download Essay Exam Two

Klajdi Selimaj
ENG280
Essay Exam #2
(8) An Epic Hero Named Achilles
Achilles was an epic hero in Greek mythology. Mostly known from Homer's Iliad, he was a
half-immortal, great warrior who fought in the Trojan War. Achilles' parents were Thetis, a Greek
goddess, and Peleus who was the king of the Myrmidons. One interesting point which makes this
character an epic hero, is a situation which occurs after his birth. His mother (Thetis) wanted to make
him immortal by putting him into the river Styx, however she held him by his heel, and most Achilles'
body was immortal (besides his vulnerable heel).
In Homer's Iliad, Achilles takes part in the Trojan Wars along with his troops, and all the Greeks
against Troy. As the story goes, Agamemnon the king of Mycenae, and brother of Menelaus, decides to
go to war with Troy because one of the Trojan princes (Paris) dishonored Menelaus and took his wife
(Helen) back to Troy. As Agamemnon recruits his troops and all the kings from the states of Greece
which he had conquered, he asks for Achilles to go with him. Achilles went to Troy leading fifty ships
of Myrmidons. During the war he is dishonored by Agamemnon because of an incident with a girl he
loved (Briseis), and decided not to fight, nor let his troops fight for the Greeks forces anymore. Later
on in the story as the Greeks were being pushed back from the Trojan Forces, Patroclus ( Achilles'
friend) led the Myrmidon troops in the battle and succeeded to push the Trojans back again. During that
battle, Achilles was at his camp and Patroclus fought against the other Trojan prince (Hector) and died
on Hector's sword. One main characteristic emphasized about the hero's personality, is his anger that
caused so much destruction, from which we have today a phrase known as “wrath of Achilles”. After
hearing the news about his friend, Achilles fiercely decided to fight yet again for the Greeks and killed
many man in his rage looking for revenge from Hector. Eventually he finds Hector and kills him
outside the walls of Troy. After killing Hector, he tied his body to his chariot and dragged around the
walls of Troy for days and then back to the Greek camps.
Eventually Troy looses the war, yet right before the fall of Troy, Achilles was killed by one
arrow in his heel. Since most of his body was immortal, no place but his one heel could wound the
hero. Paris took a arrow, shot at the only mortal part of Achilles body, his heel. An alternative ending is
that Achilles was going to marry Polyxena (daughter of Priam; the king of Troy), yet if that would
happen then the war would end, and peace would set between Trojans and Greeks. Yet if that was the
case then Paris would be forced to give up Helen and let her go. For such reason Paris struck Achilles
with an arrow in his heel. Furthermore, from that part of the story we have another phrase commonly
used as the “Achilles heel” which basically means an individual's weakness. After Achilles' death, is
being said that his mother Thetis, raised an island (Leuce) for her son who dwells there. Even years
after his death, people would visit the island and honor him as a hero and a great warrior, with either
sacrificing animals in his name, or freeing them in the island, and many other gifts.
I see the story of this particular epic hero very symbolic to our human nature. From the
beginning of the story, when his mother is dipping him into a river of immortality, we see the side of
the mother nature. We see how mothers would do everything for their children to be healthy and safe.
We see that even heroes could be weakened from their emotions, as Achilles was influenced by his
anger very often. Even more the story and the end of it, shows us that no matter what, everyone has a
weakness and nothing lasts forever. I find that Homer might have put the circumstances in such a way
to show us that we are humans; heroes or non-heroes, everyone has an “Achilles heel” and sooner or
later that vulnerable part of us may be used against us.