The Iliad Story after the Trojan War - Essay Example

Task: The Iliad Introduction The Iliad is a book containing a story, divided into sub s, each known as a book. The story handles a few occurrences after the Trojan War. It mainly centralizes on the disagreement and quarrels between the warrior, Achilles and King Agamemnon. This paper will handle some of the reconciliatory hindrances, as well as, the factors that make reconciliation between the two sides possible. What prevents the two sides from reconciling? Agamemnon’s arrogance and pride prevents him from reconciling with Chryses. Achaeans attack Trojan-allied town and manage to capture two beautiful women, Briseis and Chryseis. Agamemnon, Achaean’s army commander in chief takes with him Chriseys, the daughter of Chryses who is the priest of the Apollo god. The priest offers Agamemnon ransom for his daughter’s release. “Release my dear child to me. Take this ransom. Honour Apollo, far-shooting son of Zeus” (Book 1, Line 20). Despite the support and advice from all the Archaeans, Agamemnon refuses boldly to take the ransom to release Chryseis. Instead, he behaves arrogantly towards Chryses ordering him to leave his place before he catches up with him. He says he cannot release the girl since she has grown old with him and has been serving him as a wife. “She’s grown old with me in Argos, far from home, working the loom, sharing my bed. Go away if you want to get home safely, don’t anger me” (Book 1, Line 30). Chryses left Agamemnon after he realized his adamant nature. He went and prayed to Apollo god to protect his daughter and punish Agamemnon with plague. Apollo, the god did exactly that and plague attacked Archaeans. The ransom was meant to reconcile the two parties, but Agamemnon’s arrogance and pride does not allow him to accept the offer for reconciliation. His price and arrogance mars the reconciliation process. Agamemnon’s rudeness and jealousy prevents his reconciliation with Achilles. Agamemnon wants to take Briseis as his concubine. Achilles sees this as lack of respect on Agamemnon’s side since Briseis was given to him as a gift from Archaeans. Agamemnon, after accepting to release Chryseis thinks and believes that his next catch should is none but Briseis. He feels jealousy towards Achilles, Ajax and Odysseus. This prompts him to reveal his desires to Achilles who feels humiliated and infuriated with his covetousness, is disappointed and scowls grimly. He draws out a sword to kill Agamemnon. Later, Achilles turned to Agamemnon with abusive words. He called him drunken sot, dog-eyed and deer-timid coward (Book 1, Line 240-260). This act facilitates hatred and grudge between the two, and reconciliation is hindered. Zeal hinders reconciliation between Archaeans and Trojans. The Archaeans and the Trojans, after fighting for a long time had come up with truce aimed at terminating the war between them. “Achaeans and Trojans were elated, full of hope that wretched war would end” (Book 3, Line 130). This was after Paris, Helen’s kidnapper and warrior, leapt out and challenged one of the Archaeans to a duel. Menelaus, Helen’s husband is ready gets ready to face Paris in a battle. Other Archaeans and Trojans lay down their weapons and watch the two men fighting for Helen. Menelaus defeats Paris in the battle. However, the truce, which was expected to last for a long time after the fight, ended immediately after the defeat of Paris. An over-zealous man attacked Menelaus and seriously wounded him. This fuels another battle between the two sides. In the battle, Diomedes who is an Achaean dominates the whole action killing numerous Trojans. He also wounded goddess Aphrodite. The zeal of man, therefore, acted as a facilitator of war and killings on the two sides. It hindered and barred reconciliation, which would have been found after the truce. What Makes Reconciliation Possible? Chryses, makes reconciliation between him and Agamemnon possible After the capture of Chryseis, the daughter of Chryses, Apollo’s priest, Chryses offers ransom to Agamemnon so that he could release his daughter. Agamemnon refuses even after fellow Achaean’s advice to accept the ransom and release Chryseis. Agamemnon refuses boldly and chases the priest away. “Old man, don’t let me catch you by our hollow ships, sneaking back here today or later on” (Book 1, Line 30-33).  This is an implication that Chryses is willing to settle the dispute in a professional and peaceful manner using the ransom. He wants to reconcile with Agamemnon who is reluctant to give back her daughter. The intervention of Athena, Zeu’s daughter, makes reconciliation between Achaeans and Trojans possible. When the Achaeans begin to falter during the fight with the Trojans, Athena, who is a daughter to Zeu fears that the entire Achaean’s army will be slaughtered to death. In order to cool down the war, she and Apollo decide to have Hektor, their man, challenge any Achaeans warrior to a duel. Telemonian Aiax also called Ajax, declares and gets ready to fight Hektor. The two battles and none of them wins, the fight ends in a draw. A truce is then called and the dead of the two armies are buried with appropriate and required funeral rights. Athena’s intelligence enables her stop the war between the two sides for a while in order to reduce the killings. The time used well would have led to a long-term peace between the two antagonizing groups. The result of this also signifies that the two groups were reconcilable. Burying of the dead bodies together at the same time implies that there is peaceful communication among them. Achille’s humility and forgiveness makes it possible for reconciliation between him and Hekto’s parents. Achilles went and killed many Trojan’s, Hektor included after he learned of the killing of Patroklos, a member of his troop. He treats Hektor’s body in an inhuman manner, but when Hektor’s mother, Hecuba, approaches and begs him to give them their son’s body, he does not refuse and willingly hands her corpse (Book 22, Line 560-570). Conclusion In conclusion, the Iliad, as a book has a conflict as its major theme. It focuses on the post-war conflicts between the Archaeans and the Trojans. Efforts to end these conflicts are evident in the book. However, they are marred by several reasons that are discussed above. The Iliad, like any other type of epic and modern literature material, is allegorical in nature. It can act as an appropriate example or representation to what happens in today’s different societies across the entire world. Work Cited Fagles, Robert. The Iliad. New York, NY: Routledge, 1990. Print. Read More