The Song of Achilles

The son of a king (Peleus) and a nymph (Thetis), Achilles is self-assured and confident from childhood. He is polite but aware of his superiority. Thetis was the subject of a prophecy that stated her son would exceed his father, which prompted the gods to forcibly marry her to a mortal to ensure peace among the gods. Achilles grows up knowing that he is fated to be Aristos Achaion, the best of the Greeks, and acts accordingly.

When he meets Patroclus in Phthia, Achilles is drawn to him and seeks him out. He accounts for his interest in Patroclus by calling him “surprising” (35), without specifying what he means by this. The events in the text support Achilles’s characterization in that Patroclus does not fit the standard model of the ancient Greek warrior striving for greatness through physical and military achievement. In Patroclus, Achilles finds an equal, not because Patroclus matches him in skills and abilities but because he eventually recognizes the futility in competing with him on those grounds. Patroclus comes to understand, as Achilles does, that they do not have to be the same and do not need to compete against each other. Instead, they can appreciate and value each other’s different kinds of excellence.

Besides Patroclus, however, Achilles has two other potent influences in his life. These include Thetis, who wants her son to become immortal, and the prophecies that promise glory. Achilles feels pulled among competing interests—his mother’s wishes for him, his love for Patroclus, and the prophecy that defines him. He is content in his life with Patroclus and attempts to extend it as long as he can, though he believes that at some point he will have to fulfill the prophecy. When Peleus calls him back to Phthia in the hopes that Achilles will lead his father’s military contingent to Troy, Achilles is reticent, wanting to wait for the next war.

Eventually, the lure of glory becomes too strong to resist, even though a prophecy stipulates that it will lead to his death. Achilles decides to meet his fate in Troy. He will achieve greatness, but he will die. Achilles distinguishes himself at Troy, striking fear in the Trojans and elation in the Greeks, who see him as their path to victory. Events take an unexpected turn, however, after Agamemnon dishonors Achilles by not acknowledging his privileged position as the Aristos Achaion. After Achilles challenges his authority publicly, Agamemnon confiscates Achilles’s war prize, Briseis, and Achilles responds by withdrawing from battle.

Not fighting means not having an opportunity to actualize his fate, and Achilles becomes increasingly more wrapped up in his bitterness, resentment, and anger. The more he craves glory, the more anger he feels at Agamemnon denying it to him. This leads him to refuse to fight, preventing him from achieving the glory he desires. Achilles becomes trapped in a cycle from which he cannot escape, and the very thing he wants remains out of reach. He begins spending more time with Thetis, who as a goddess can relate to his concerns about glory and immortality.

Wrapped up as he is in himself and his concerns, Achilles loses touch with his humanity. He allows Briseis to become a pawn in his competition with Agamemnon and turns a blind eye to the deaths of his fellow Greeks. Not even Patroclus can penetrate Achilles’s rage, leading him to take matters into his own hands. Patroclus is subsequently killed in battle, and it is grief for him that finally frees Achilles from the cycle. Achilles no longer cares about achieving immortality but fights to avenge his lover and fulfill the part of the prophecy that dictates he will die after killing Hector. In love and through death, Achilles’s humanity is affirmed, and he and Patroclus are reunited in the afterlife.

As a nymph, Thetis is a minor goddess, meaning that she has immortality but is subject to being controlled by the more powerful Olympian gods. In an ancient Greek myth alluded to in The Song of Achilles, Thetis is the subject of a prophecy that her son will be more powerful than his father. This prompts Zeus and Poseidon, who were both courting her, to insist that she marry a mortal against her will. Peleus is encouraged to overwhelm and rape her, since sexual consummation will make them married. Thetis gives birth to Achilles, who is destined to become the best Greek warrior of his generation. She nurtures a longing to make him immortal.

Thetis does not approve of Patroclus as either a friend or lover for Achilles. Her expressed claim is that Patroclus is beneath Achilles. A mere mortal, and not a particularly martial one, is not suitable for her son and the aspirations she has for him. She repeatedly attempts to separate them, first by sending Achilles to Mount Pelion to train with Chiron, famed trainer of heroes, then by whisking him away to Scyros and uniting him with Deidameia. In both cases, Patroclus follows him, to Achilles’s relief and joy and Thetis’s anger and resentment.

Initially, Thetis does not want Achilles to fight in the Trojan war. She knows that it will mean his death. This is her premise for taking him to Scyros, to hide him from the Greek leaders who will attempt to recruit him. After they finally track him down, they convince Achilles by entrancing him with promises of honor and glory. After he commits to the cause, Thetis attempts to help him, and the two spend increasing amounts of time together fretting and scheming. If her son cannot become immortal, she will ensure that he is honored above all others and immortalized in legend.

Patroclus’s death penetrates Achilles’s obsession. His grief disgusts Thetis, who wants Achilles to focus on his next move toward glory and forget about Patroclus. Instead, Achilles clings to his grief, and it drives him to commit the acts that will simultaneously immortalize his legend and result in his death. Thetis abandons him to his choices, turning her attention to Pyrrhus, who she has been grooming as his father’s replacement.

Years later, after Pyrrhus too has died because of his arrogance and brutality, Thetis returns to Achilles’s tomb. Patroclus’s shade remains here, unable to join his lover because his name has not been etched on Achilles’s monument. Thetis asks Patroclus to share his memories of Achilles. Through these stories, her son can live again in her memory not as she idealized him but as he truly was. This act of sharing memories softens Thetis, and she etches Patroclus’s name on Achilles’s monument, enabling their shades to reunite joyfully.

Odysseus’s character is somewhat inscrutable. Odysseus can be diplomatic, crafty, and pragmatic. He is a solid warrior and leader who also excels at public speaking and strategic thinking. Despite his evident opportunism and self-interest, Odysseus falls somewhat outside the traditional heroic paradigm. He favors cunning and compromise over brutality and blunt authority, and he evidently adores his wife Penelope at a time when marrying for love was outside the norm.

His first appearance is at the court of Tyndareus where Menoitius brings young Patroclus as a suitor for Helen. Odysseus is present but not a suitor. Before proceedings began, he secured the hand of Penelope, Helen’s cousin. He offers Tyndareus a solution to prevent violent retaliation from rejected suitors: Each suitor will pledge a blood oath to protect Helen’s marriage, and then she will be permitted to choose who she wants to marry.

Odysseus is instrumental in tracking down Achilles and Patroclus in Scyros, devising a clever strategy to expose their disguise. He convinces Achilles to join the war effort with the promise of glory. Odysseus objects to the human sacrifice of Iphigenia but accepts that he cannot change it and helps pull off the ruse that enables it. He also understands that Achilles and Patroclus’s relationship will not make sense to or be respected by their fellow Greeks. He takes measures to protect them, first by warning Patroclus and then by placing their camp in the most private section of the beach. Diplomatic envoys, whether to Trojans or Achilles, always include Odysseus. In his final appearance in the book, he attempts to convince Pyrrhus to honor his father’s request by including Patroclus’s name on his moment, though he personally has nothing to gain by doing so.

Briseis is a woman who the Greeks capture during one of their raids of the Trojan countryside. Patroclus sees her bloody and battered and impulsively asks Achilles to claim her. Captured women are dispersed as war prizes and used as sex slaves by the same men who murdered their fathers, brothers, husbands, and sons, and Patroclus wants to save her from that fate. With Patroclus and Achilles, Briseis will be safe.

Briseis develops a close relationship with Patroclus and helps him tend to other captured women that he convinces Achilles to claim. His gentleness and kindness draw her in, and she falls in love with him. As it was not uncommon for men to have both wives and male lovers, Briseis does not assume that Patroclus’s relationship with Achilles precludes marriage to her, but he wants only Achilles. Her offer to give him a child provokes Patroclus to consider whether that is important to him, as his culture expects men to produce heirs to carry on their name. Ultimately, he rejects her offer, realizing that he does not need to fulfill other traditional expectations for men of his time.

Though Briseis is saved from sexual slavery, she is used as a pawn in the power struggle between Achilles and Agamemnon. After Achilles challenges Agamemnon’s authority and refuses to kneel before him, Agamemnon confiscates her. Achilles lets him take her, expecting that Agamemnon will not be able to resist raping her and thus further dishonoring Achilles, which will provide him with a pretext to kill Agamemnon. Horrified, Patroclus rushes to her aid. He reveals Achilles’s plot to Agamemnon to ensure that he does not fall into the trap, protecting Briseis from rape in the process.