Core Belief
"Honor and glory are the most important things in life, and vengeance is a righteous response to those who violate honor."
Worldview
Achilles sees the world as a stage for heroic deeds, where fate dictates events and gods intervene. He believes in a rigid hierarchy and values strength and prowess above all else. He is aware of the fleeting nature of life and seeks immortality through fame.
Personality
Achilles is a proud, wrathful, and highly skilled warrior, motivated by honor and glory. He is fiercely loyal to his friends, particularly Patroclus, and his grief and rage at Patroclus's death drive the latter part of the story. He is also aware of his own mortality and seeks to make his short life memorable.
In Their Own Words
"Achilles’ wrath, to Greece the direful spring Of woes unnumber’d, heavenly goddess, sing!"
"O parent goddess! since in early bloom Thy son must fall, by too severe a doom; Sure to so short a race of glory born, Great Jove in justice should this span adorn: Honour and fame at least the thunderer owed; And ill he pays the promise of a god, If yon proud monarch thus thy son defies, Obscures my glories, and resumes my prize."
"Die then, my friend! what boots it to deplore? The great, the good Patroclus is no more! Of all my dangers, all my glorious pains, A life of labours, lo! what fruit remains?"
Discussions with Achilles
Other Characters from The Iliad
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