When they were done (soldiers stabbing hector) and had stepped away, he roused himself and approached the body. In rancour he mutilates Hectors body breaking every battle rule. Achilles chooses kleos, to forever be remembered, over life and so from the first chapter establishes the idea that we are all fated and inevitably going to die, even if you are great like Achilles.Īlthough Achilles wants to be written down for his glory, of defeating Hector (his arch enemy) in revenge he breaks the unwritten mores and tarnishes his glory by avenging his companion’s death but not stopping there. A passage of the Iliad translates “I carry two sorts of destiny toward the day of my death.Įither, if I stay here and fight beside the city of the Trojans, my return home gone, but my glory shall be everlasting: but if I return home to the beloved land of my fathers the excellence of my glory is gone, but there will be a long life left for me, and my end death will not come to me quickly”. Early on in the first chapter Achilles is aware of the choice he will have to make between Nostos(Homecoming) or Kleos( glory/ fame).

However Achilles knows of his looming death, by the way he says “With the pious resignation of the old man he will never become, he has accepted this” Pg9 and also when he Patroclus dies he says “Just a little longer Patroclus” Pg21, meaning he will be joining his companion soon enough. Even though Achilles is a great warrior, he is like all of us destined and fated to death, and will eventually turn to sand and be nothing but a memory. Throughout just the first chapter Achilles anonymity is revealed allowing the rest for the book to be understood. But silently, never permitting himself to betray others what he felt” Pg5. This quote refers to the crossing from the womb of his mum in the sea to the land with his father.Īlthough he has this stand out dual personality he is always incognito and stoical about his feelings.

Ransom malouf