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Raven Van Raes

Cal Hagarty

ENG4UV

1 February 2023

Achilles - The Greatest “Tragic” Hero of Greece.

Achilles is one of the most well known heroes in Greek Mythology, known for his speed,

surefootedness, fierce combat skills, and of course his crux - his tendon, Achilles tendon. In The

Song of Achilles this tendon isn’t ever referred to directly, rather in passing or a cutting off of a

sentence. In this novel, his tendon is a metaphor for the true cause of his death; his pride and

honor, not just marking him a hero in Greek Mythology, but the greatest tragic hero, whose

demise could have been avoided if Achilles hadn’t been so haughty.

Achilles downfall begins the moment he is introduced to us in the novel, "My eye catches

on a light head among dozens of dark, tousled crowns. I lean forward to see. Hair lit like honey

in the sun, and within it, glints of gold - the circlet of a prince" (Miller 2). Immediately, Patroclus

- whose point of view we follow in this novel, is enamored with how striking Achilles is. It’s

revealed shortly after that many of the boys fight for the attention of Achilles, he embodies

importance and godliness to mere mortals, for he is the son of Thetis, a sea-nymph goddess.

Achilles grew up being told he was important for one reason or another, he grew up with

prophecies being told of his greatness, fed the arrogance of royals by his father and peers, and

self importance of potentially becoming a god by his mother. Pride was quick to come to

Achilles, he was pumped full of big stories of himself from a young age, this was both his

Hamartia and Hubris.

Patroclus’ blindness to Achilles' flaws grows worse throughout the novel as he tells the

reader only of the great things that Achilles achieved - of the bad deeds he was quick to forgive,

simply because it was Achilles and he loved him. This is a sentiment that many of the Greek

people have seemed to adopt towards Achilles, swarms of people greeting Achilles after

returning to Phthia from Skyros; “But it grew louder with each stroke of our oars, until we

understood that it was voices, then words. Over and over, it came. Prince Achilles! Aristos

Achaion!” (Miller 184). We too as the reader are blind to the path that Achilles is running down.

This mindless self importance that Achilles gained became far more prevalent in the last

few arcs of the book. Achilles was hyper focused on being a hero, on being important, loved,

remembered, famous. The prophecy had told him so, and even when death was involved, much

to Patroclus’ dismay.

In order to attempt to keep Achilles out of the impending war, his mother Thetis sends

him away to Skyros to live secluded and hidden, disguised as a girl. This ruse isn’t entirely

effective - Achilles is found by a handful of the kings of Greece who bring him to Troy to fight,

getting the ball moving again towards Achilles death and is the Peripeteia, or turning point of the

novel. Going to war, the prophecy is changed to include Achilles death after he kills the Trojan

prince Hector, who he avoids killing for over ten years in an attempt to keep himself alive but

also keeping the war going. This results in growing tension among the soldiers that Achilles

fights alongside, despite his numerous wins in battle, there’s little progress.

War prizes are taken by the kings and soldiers at war, Achilles being one. Patroclus urges

him to take the girls and grant them freedom under the guise of being Achilles women. To

Achilles, these women represent his honor and pride - badges won at war. This sentiment is

shared with other prices and kings, such as Agamemnon. He is one of the kings that went out to
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find Achilles in Skyros, he is also the king taking the most control over the men and other kings

at their camp. He takes the women as war prizes as he pleases - one of these women happened to

be the daughter of a priest who served the god Apollo. Apollo, disgruntled by the treatment of

his vassel’s daughter, imposes a plague across the men. Achilles tells Agamemnon this in an

attempt to reason with him into returning the girl back to her father, this backfires.

Agamemnon takes Briseis - one of Achilles war prizes, and the closest women to

Patroclus. This is seen as a direct attack on Achilles' honor as a man, especially his honor as a

warrior. In retaliation, he refuses to fight in any more battles. This leads to the Trojans gaining on

them, more of their men dying, Achilles just sits, acting like a petulant child that was firmly told

no by their parents. He allows his fellow soldiers to die, and allows the Trojans to gain. Patroclus

grows desperate.

This leads to the Anagnorisis of Achilles - his shift to self awareness. Patroclus ends up

taking Achilles' armor and stands in his place in battle, giving the impression of Aristos Achaion

going back into battle. He goes all the way to Troy, where he is eventually killed by Hector

spear; “My hands flurry in the air like startled birds, trying to halt the spear’s relentless

movement towards my belly. But I am weak as a baby against Hector's strength, and my palms

give way, unspooling in ribbons of red” (Miller 335).

Word travels fast back to Achilles, who finally feels the full effect of his own actions.

The aftermath of his arrogance, his pride, his honor that he so desperately fought for, all to have

his lover die in his place because he was too busy being upset to fight. He now has to face his

Nemesis - the prophecy, the killer of Patroclus - Hector.

Achilles, in a rage, goes after Hector. He wounds the god Schamander, before killing

Hector and brutalizing his corpse by dragging him behind his chariot. The deed is done, Achilles

fate is sealed, the prophecy will complete.

Achilles is killed by Paris, with the assistance of the god Apollo by an arrow through the

back. Achilles smiles as he dies, seemingly okay with losing his chance for immortality and

fame. He is later reunited in death with Patroclus with the assistance of his mother, who up until

that point had seemed to hate Patroclus and Achilles being together. This is Achilles Catharsis -

completing the characteristics of a tragic hero. Achilles is written in a way that it makes it

incredibly obvious that this role was meant for him in this novel. The prince everyone loved, too

blind to see his own faults, too blind to see his mistakes, until it's too late.

Achilles is a strong, well-loved character who is painted in a bright light through this

entire novel - some have mentioned that the behvaiour of Achilles in this novel is far too

lighthearted and doesn’t even focus on the fact that Achilles was a war criminal. He was

“portrayed as vengeful, proud, and petty” (Selva 1) in the Iliad, so why was he painted as a

loving hero with some issues with self reflection in The Song of Achilles? The answer is simple -

this book wasn’t meant for that. This is the retelling of Patroclus’ memories of Achilles as he

saw him, shrouded in golden light, touched by the gods, could never do no harm even while he

was committing atrocities. Patroclus is the one who has written Achilles as the Tragic Hero of

this story. He sees him as such - he is just as blind as Achilles is to the truth of what Achilles is

and what he is doing to the others around him.

In conclusion, Achilles did make an excellent Tragic Hero in The Song of Achilles, he

was made to be just that. Patroclus made sure we only saw the good of Achilles, only heard of

the love that Achilles got, of his trials and triumphs, and then especially heard of his complete
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breakdown after hearing of Patroclus’ death, seeming to strike Achilles back into action and on

the bath to fulfilling his destiny to die on the battlefield. Everything could have been avoided if

Achilles had just thought to enjoy the idea of being mortal - not being famous, being average.

His pride was far too great to ever let that thought cross his mind until he took his final breath.
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Works Cited

“Literary Devices and Literary Terms - the Complete List.” Literary Devices, 8 Aug. 2020,

https://literarydevices.net/.

Miller, Madeline. “Chapter One.” The Song of Achilles, Bloomsbury, London, 2021, p. 2.

Miller, Madeline. “Chapter Sixteen.” The Song of Achilles, Bloomsbury, London, 2021, p. 184.

Miller, Madeline. “Chapter Thirty.” The Song of Achilles, Bloomsbury, London, 2021, p. 335.

Ray, Rebecca. “Tragic Hero Definition: Tragic Hero Examples & Activities.” Storyboard That,

https://www.storyboardthat.com/articles/e/tragic-hero.

Selva, Russell. “The Growth of Achilles.” Southeastern Louisiana University, 2000,

https://www.southeastern.edu/acad_research/programs/writing_center/pick/backissue/vol

ume27/assets/selva.pdf.