Achilles, one of the characters of the epic poem, the Iiad, is known to most .
He is of bloodlust, pride and wrath. He was the essence of .
the Spartan warrior. He was merciless. This kind of man is not easy to change. But, that .
doesn't mean he can't change. He doesn't force himself to change, nobody can .
change him. It is only the significant events in his life that change him. Therefore, in the.
Iliad, the character Achilles, a warrior, changes. There are times in my own life in .
which I realize that a goal that I have been pursuing rigorously is really not worth .
my time and effort, or that the way I have been pursuing that particular goal is not .
the most effective way. After I come to these realizations, I find it helpful, if not .
necessary, to step back and analyize the situation. This is what happens to Achilles .
through the first sixteen books of the epic poem.
At first Achilles had a set of clearly defined goals, he was to fight side by side with the Achaeans, sack the city of Troy, and by doing these things, gain honor and wealth. As the war progressed a series of events took place that forced Achilles to step out of the fight. While he was inactive and had time to contemplate, he came to the realization that he had been fighting for nine years for the sake of a man whose woman has been stolen; now that his woman had been stolen no one fights for his sake. He also realizes that there are other, less risky ways of obtaining wealth and honor, including sending Patroklus, his dear friend(lover?) out of his armor. Another thing he ponders on, but doesn't seem to take seriously, is whether or not honor is really worth the struggle. All these changes of mind take place throughout book nine in which the embasssy composed of Aias, Odysseus, and Phoenix visits Achilles. .
By the time the embassy arrived at his hut Achilles had been toying with the idea of returning to his homeland and abandoning the struggle for wealth and honor.