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Achilles, the Greek warrior in the Trojan War, was almost invincible due to his mother dipping him in the river Styx, but his heel was his weak point. He initially retired from warfare but was spurred into action after the Trojans killed his best friend. His fate was to die in battle, fulfilling a prophecy. Some argue that his true weakness was pride, friendship, or anger, while others see it as a lesson in fate.
In Greek myth, Achilles is the legendary but reluctant warrior who fought in the Trojan War. His mother, Thetis, who dipped him in the river Styx after his birth, made him almost insensible to the damage of this action. However, he had to hold on to his heel to retrieve it from the water, thus losing a point. The only way Achilles could be killed was with a heel wound. This leads to the now famous expression, “Achilles heel,” meaning a person’s greatest weak point.
The story of Achilles figures largely in Homer’s Iliad. He is first introduced as having retired from warfare in a fight with Agamemnon over the capture of several Trojan women. It is important to understand his reluctance to engage in battle. He is prophesied before Achilles leaves for Troy that he will die there. So he’s necessarily reluctant to take part in the battle anyway.
However, the quarrel is forgotten after the Trojans kill Achilles’ best friend Patroclus. Death spurs him to action and he rushes into battle, with great strength and determination. He kills Hector, but is then killed by Paris, thus fulfilling the prophecy of his fate.
Achilles also meets Ulysses in Homer’s Odyssey and in a long speech he declaims war and gives value to how much life is more important than value. It’s a fittingly tragic statement, and it may have been inspired by Homer’s observation that, while warfare somehow existed constantly, some men simply didn’t want to participate.
Some analysts of mythology have argued that the true “heel” of Achilles is pride, friendship or anger. If his anger had not been provoked by the death of Patroclus, he would not have rushed into battle. However, others point to the story of Achilles as another lesson of fate as understood by the Greeks. Like Oedipus, he rushes towards a destiny that is not in his control. He can’t escape his fate, any more than Oedipus could escape the horrible act of killing his father and marrying his mother.
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