The Three Stages of Achilles' Wrath in "The Iliad"

The epic poem, The Iliad, begins with: "Rage-Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles" (Knox and Thalman 120). This statement being the first line of the poem is enough to lead one to the conclusion that Achilles' wrath will be one of the main aspects of the epic. According to Roland Champagne, anger is an essential element to a warrior's success. "The wrath of a warrior is more than mere violence because the wrath of Achilles measures the time of the entire narrative and his force as a hero" (Champagne 69). The wrath of Achilles progresses through three stages over the course of The Iliad. The first stage of Achilles' wrath begins with his grudge against Agamemnon. The second stage of his wrath occurs during the seclusion he experienced after his discrepancies with Agamemnon. The third phase in Achilles' wrath transpires when he mauls Hector's body after killing him, to even the score for Hector murdering Patroclus. The severity of Achilles' wrath changed greatly throughout the course of The Iliad.

Achilles' wrath is first sparked by the dishonor he feels when Agamemnon first denies his request to return Chryseis to stop the plague. Agamemnon eventually cracks and returns Chryseis to her father in exchange for Apollo to stop plaguing the Achaeans. Agamemnon further crosses the line by taking the woman that Achilles later reveals himself to be in love with, Briseis, as a replacement for Chryseis. To add to the dishonor of taking Briseis from Achilles, upon doing so, Agamemnon states: "So you At this point in the epic, the most intermediate stage of his wrath, Achilles "imprisons his energy and pens it up for release at some unknown future moment" (Champagne 70). Achilles' fury drives him to isolate himself to the beach, where he prays to Zeus for the fall of the Achaean army, so that "all can reap the benefits of their king and that even mighty Agamemnon can see how mad he was to disgrace Achilles, the best of the Achaeans" (Sokolon 60). Achilles' anger almost causes him to return home, but he is convinced otherwise by Ajax's "appeal to love for his comrades-in-arms" (Sale 1). Achilles decides to stay, but secludes himself to the beach, attempting to cheer himself up amongst the spoils of war he has stored amongst the "Myrmidon shelters and their ships" (Knox and Thalman 152). Achilles also refuses to return to battle despite the offering of numerous gifts, one of which was his beloved Briseis, from Agamemnon, via a group of Achilles' best friends. George DeForest Lord claims it can be argued that the "traumatic violation of honour" felt by Achilles is one that could not simply be redeemed by a coward leader's attempt to buy back his services because of an inevitable loss (Lord 154). Achilles' rage has calmed down to the point where even though he is willing to at least interact with Agamemnon through his companions, but he is still completely against fighting for him. Achilles shows this by even after Agamemnon's numerous offerings, stating: "I say no wealth is worth my life" (Knox and Thalman 157). Patroclus begins begging and pleading with Achilles to let him fight in his armor. Achilles finally agrees, reluctantly, but warns his friend not to pursue the Trojans. After disregarding Achilles' warning, Patroclus is killed and stripped of Achilles' armor by Hector.

This is the point where the wrath of Achilles goes through its final phase. The final stage is the most severe, and is now a rage fueled by vengeance for his fallen comrade as opposed to something as petty as disrespect from his superior. Achilles retracts his vow not to fight and goes on a Trojan slaughtering rampage during his conquest for Hector. After finally encountering Hector, Achilles dominates him in battle. In his final moments, Hector tries to bribe Achilles into giving his body to his friends. Achilles replies: "Would to god my rage, my fury would drive me now to hack your flesh away and eat you raw, such agonies you have caused me" (Knox and Thalman 201). He then kills Hector, ties him to his chariot, and drags him behind it for a period of twelve days. In the words of Merriam Sale, it was an attempt to "nullify Patroclus' death" (Sale 1).

Achilles' wrath went through three major stages throughout the epic poem, The Iliad. The first stage was brought on by the utter disrespect of Agamemnon, and caused Achilles to withdraw from the war. The second stage of his wrath was an intermediate phase during his seclusion from the battle. It allowed his anger to start building up for release at a later point. Lastly, the final stage, fueled by the desire to avenge his murdered best friend, caused Achilles to release his pent up anger and takes the lives of numerous Trojan soldiers during the course of avenging Patroclus' death. The wrath of Achilles is an element of The Iliad that has unparalleled effects on the impact of the story. Without the three stages of Achilles' wrath, the outcome of the epic would be completely different.