Achilles as Hero in Homer's Iliad: Honor, Piety, and Rage
This essay argues that Achilles, despite his famously destructive rage, is genuinely heroic by ancient Greek standards. Drawing on key passages from Homer's Iliad, the paper examines three pillars of Achilles' heroism: his principled sense of honor, which leads him to refuse fighting for an unjust cause; his sincere devotion to the gods and resignation to fate; and his larger-than-life passion and depth of feeling. The essay acknowledges Achilles' serious flaws — including his role in Patroclus' death — while arguing that these qualities, taken together, make him recognizable as a hero not only to ancient Greek audiences but potentially to modern readers as well.
- Introduction: Rage and Heroism in the Iliad: Establishes Achilles' rage as central heroic paradox
- Achilles' Flaws and Their Consequences: Concedes destructive effects of Achilles' anger
- Honor as Heroic Virtue: Refusal to fight unjust cause as principled honor
- Devotion to the Gods and Acceptance of Fate: Achilles' piety and resignation to divine will
- Passion, Emotion, and the Romantic Warrior: Extreme emotion as defining heroic quality
- Conclusion: Achilles as a Timeless Hero: Ancient virtues mapped onto modern heroic ideals
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What makes this paper effective
- The essay directly engages with the central tension of the Iliad — that its "hero" is also its most destructive force — and uses that tension as the engine of its argument rather than avoiding it.
- Multiple direct quotations from the text are integrated smoothly and cited by book and line, giving the argument concrete textual grounding across several books of the epic.
- The paper acknowledges counterarguments (Achilles' rage, Patroclus' death, the anti-war reading) before reframing them, which adds intellectual honesty and nuance.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates contextual reframing: it takes behaviors that look like flaws from a modern perspective (stubbornness, emotional excess, religious obedience) and reinterprets them within their original cultural framework. By invoking Greek concepts of honor, divine piety, and the warrior code, the writer shows how the same actions that condemn Achilles to a modern reader are precisely what defined heroism in Homeric culture.
Structure breakdown
The essay opens with a thesis-driven introduction that establishes the central paradox. It then briefly concedes Achilles' destructive flaws before pivoting to a three-part affirmative argument: honor, piety, and passion. Each section draws on direct quotations from different books of the Iliad. The conclusion broadens the argument by connecting ancient Greek virtues to modern sensibilities, ending on a universalizing note. The structure is linear and tightly focused throughout.
Introduction: Rage and Heroism in the Iliad
Without doubt the most destructive force in Homer's Iliad is the power of the gods — their hands seem to be in every death. Of human activities, however, nothing in the tale proves more destructive than the great rage of Achilles, that mortal son of a sea goddess. Achilles' rage destroys everything in its path, enemy and friend alike, and the tale implies it will eventually bring about Achilles' own death. This is, after all, the premise of the work; the opening lines promise to speak "of the rage of Achilles, son of Peleus — that murderous anger which condemned Achaeans to countless agonies and hurled many warrior souls deep into Hades" (Book 1, ln. 1–4).
Yet despite the fact that Achilles' rage is the greatest threat to both sides, and that the aftershocks of his anger will destroy the greatest warriors on both sides of the battle, Achilles is presented as a hero in the Iliad. Though it might be legitimately argued that the text is a satire on war, a critique of what might be anachronistically called shell-shock, or otherwise an anti-war commentary, a more straightforward reading suggests that Achilles is genuinely regarded as a hero. Despite the ill effects of his temper, there are very good reasons why he may be considered heroic by Greek standards. He is heroic, according to those standards, because of his noble sense of honor, his faithful dedication to the gods, and the great stature of his passion and his skill in battle.
Achilles' Flaws and Their Consequences
Despite his heroism, Achilles' flaws cannot be ignored. His rage is incredibly destructive, and he allows it to claim the lives not only of his enemies — such as Hector — but also of his friends. Patroclus, his own beloved shield-mate, is killed because of Achilles' refusal to enter the battle, a refusal based not on pacifism but on stubborn anger at Agamemnon. Additionally, even when he realizes that his Greek companions are literally wounded outside his tent doors, Achilles remains unwilling to enter the fray to save them, though he counts Odysseus and many others among his close friends.
Yet there is a very large degree to which his persistence in clinging to the shreds of his wounded dignity may in itself be considered noble, for he is unwilling to fight any longer for a cause that does not directly concern him.
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