Essay Example on Achilles: A Significant Contributor to World Literary History

Introduction

The world literature consists of the history of different countries around the globe. The literature is composed of individuals that played significant roles in their countries as well as the world. Various scholars have studied and written different books on world history and the roles played by notable individuals. Achilles is among the individuals that contributed to the world's historical literature due to his contributions to Greek history. 'The Iliad' is a manuscript that consists of multiple books that describe Achilles and his life and contribution to the world's literature. The book I and XXIV of the Iliad describe various characteristics that show proves that Achilles fitted the definition of a hero.

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In the world, heroes are recognized as important people in the history of a country or a kingdom. A hero is a fictional or a real person who is recognized for their courageous actions and noble roles and outstanding achievements (Riches 4). In the world's literature, a hero a fictional or real character who is celebrated and revered through the early times' legends of the individual for their contribution to military conquest and continually lives by the personal honor code. Achilles is considered a hero since he made outstanding achievements in the Trojan war and also respected the personal honor code. 'The Wrath of Achilles' and 'Achilles and Priam' books describe various characteristics and achievements of Achilles that make him be considered a hero.

Achilles' Heroic Characteristics

Courage or bravely is one characteristic of a hero that is shown by Achille. This character is defined as the ability of an individual to do or face something frightening. A hero displays courage in a war by confronting their enemies without fear. In the Iliad book, I describe the courageous acts of Achilles in the Trojan War. In real life, Achilles was considered the bravest warrior in the Agamemnon army in the Trojan War (Puchner et al. 17). 'The wrath of Achilles' poem Achilles is regarded as the greatest warrior, and the Agamemnon wanted him to participate in the war. Additionally, Achilles displays his courage by drawing his sword to kill the commander of the Achaean (Homer 143). A commander is regarded as the highest rank in a troop during a war. Therefore, threatening to kill them shows a great sense of courage in Achilles. Ideally, Achilles displays his bravery by fighting in the Trojan war and also by threatening to kill the commander of the Achaeans, an act everyone feared.

In book XXIV of the Iliad poem, Achilles also displays his courageous character. In the book, Homer narrates the relationship between Achilles and Priam. Achilles shows his bravery by courageously moving around with Hector's body tied to his chariot (Homer 178). Normally, people fear the dead thus do not get close to the bodies. However, Achilles would carry the dead Hektor, Priam's eldest son, for nine days after the funnel. Ideally, by getting close to a dead person indicates that Achilles was courageous, thus regarded as a hero.

Courage is also defined as the ability and strength of an individual to handle grief or pain. The pain of losing a loved one is unbearable to most people. However, in the case of Achilles, he was courageous enough to handle the death of Hektor, his fellow army in the Trojan War, despite the grief he had suffered for losing his father (Homer 185). Achilles' ability to handle the grief is depicted by his participation in the process of consoling Priam, Hektor's father, during and after the funnel. These noble actions promoted the Achilles' ability to fit in the definition of a hero. Primarily, the ability to handle the pain of Hektor's death is a factor that led to Achilles being considered a hero.

Apart from courage and bravery, compassion is also a characteristic that indicates that one is a hero. Compassionate actions such as kindness and support of the bereaved are considered noble, thus enhancing one's ability to fit in the definition of a hero (Keczer et al. 10). In the Iliad poem, book XXIV, Achilles shows various compassionate actions that make him fit in the definition of a hero. For instance, after the death of Priam's son, Achilles helped him to oversee the preparation for the preparation of Hektor's funnel (Homer 186). Therefore, he stood by Priam during the hard times and supported him to the end. Additionally, Achilles showed compassion by granting the Trojans a truce to prepare and conduct the funnel rites for Hektor (Homer 189). Through this action, Achilles showed respect to Hektor and Priam. Remarkably, the compassionate actions of Achilles were seen when he provided Priam with a meal and bed for the night after the funnel (Homer 190). All these actions and participation during Hektor's funeral shows that Achilles was kind and caring, thus fitting to be regarded as a hero.

Sacrifice is the unique of all other values that enable a hero to do noble actions as well as make great achievements. Sacrifice, in heroism, is defined as giving up valued people, behaviors, or things for the sake of others. Homer, in the Iliad poem, book 1 describes various sacrifices made by Achilles that make him fit to be considered a hero. Achilles sacrificed his former behaviors to become a humble and respectable warrior to fulfill the wishes of his friend Patroclus (Homer 141). Before the death of Patroclus, Achilles was a proud man, and at some point, he refused to join the Agamemnon for war. Additionally, Achilles displayed his pride by refusing to accept the gifts from Agamemnon as a plead to join them in the war. However, after the death of his friend, Achilles swallowed his pride and joined the army to revenge for the death of Patroclus. By sacrificing his ego, despite his position in the army, is an action that shows a heroic trait in Achilles.

Another factor that contributes to one being considered a hero is the virtuosity. A virtuous person exhibits high moral standards, such as respect and discipline. In the 'Iliad' poem, the writer shows various instances that Achilles showed his virtuous character. For instance, during Hektor's funnel preparation, he developed a good relationship with Priam and respected him as an older adult (Homer 186). Additionally, Achilles respected the rules within the army, thus resulting in his heroic actions.

Conclusion

In a nutshell, Achilles fits in the definition of hero in the world literature set up. 'The Iliad' poem shows various traits of Achilles that enhance his feasibility to be regarded as a hero. The book I and XXIV describes multiple instances that Achilles' noble actions and great achievements are seen. In the poem, Achilles shows traits such as courage, compassion, sacrifice, and virtuosity, which makes him fit in the definition of a hero.

Works Cited

Puchner, Martin, Akbari, Suzanne, Wiebke Denecke, Barbara Fuchs, Caroline Levine, Pericles Lewis, and Emily Wilson.4th edition. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. New York: WW Norton, 2018. Accessed from https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=The+Norton+Anthology+World+Literature+Volume+1&btnG=#d=gs_cit&u=%2Fscholar%3Fq%3Dinfo%3Al4XY16LFw2EJ%3Ascholar.google.com%2F%26output%3Dcite%26scirp%3D8%26hl%3Den.

Riches, Brian. What Makes a Hero? Exploring Characteristic Profiles of Heroes Using Q-Method. Journal of Humanistic Psychology. 2017 Accessed from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0022167817716305.

Keczer, Zsolt, File, Balint, Orosz, Gabor, and Zimbardo, Philip. Social Representations of Hero and Everyday Hero: A Network Study from Representative Sample Plos ONE. Vol. 11, no. 8, 2016, pp 1-17. Accessed from https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0159354&type=printable.

Homer, Knox. The Iliad. Alexandria: Penguin Classics. 1992. Accessed from https://www.planetebook.com/free-ebooks/the-iliad.pdf.