The Song of Achilles

by Madeline Miller

war was what the world would say Achilles was born for.

I am bound to this war.

She would take him to the caves of the sea and teach him contempt for mortals. She would feed him with the food of the gods and burn his human blood from his veins. She would shape him into a figure meant to be painted on vases, to be sung of in songs, to fight against Troy. I imagined him in black armor, a dark helmet that left him nothing but eyes, bronze greaves that covered his feet. He stands with a spear in each hand and does not know me.

Fear of changing him

Thetis acted for her own purposes only.

The greatest warrior of his generation.

“That if you do not come to Troy, your godhead will wither in you, unused. Your strength will diminish.

Honor and legacy are the means to persuasion

you go to Troy, your fame will be so great that a man will be written into eternal legend just for having passed a cup to you. You will be—”

“If you go to Troy, you will never return. You will die a young man there.”

Who was he if not miraculous and radiant? Who was he if not destined for fame?

“Society” —those that raised him—instilled in him what he is “supposed” to be, but who does Achilles want to be? That’s the question and conundrum at play here.

“I would not care,” I said. The words scrabbled from my mouth. “Whatever you became. It would not matter to me. We would be together.”

For Patroclus, he doesn’t expect him to be someone he’s not, only who he want to be, for he loves Achilles for Achilles, whatever that may become, not because Achilles fulfills a role he has destined him to be.

He had chosen to become a legend, and this was the beginning.

Did he though?

Thetis, I thought. It could be no one else. She was pulling his divinity forth, mantling it like cream on every inch of his skin. Helping her son make the most of his dearly bought fame.

Or is she making the fate/ensuring it

Our world was one of blood, and the honor it won; only cowards did not fight.

In other words, it’s normalized. The option to not do this would be out of the ordinary.

For a prince there was no choice. You warred and won, or warred and died. Even Chiron had sent him a spear.

I do not know this man,

He, Achilles, is someone he doesn’t recognize because he is following his mother‘s fate, not his, or at least Patroclus’s understanding of who he wishes to be.

He begins to understand, at last, the size of the gift I have brought him. He has not come so far by being a fool. “You betray him by warning me.” It is true. Achilles has given Agamemnon a sword to fall upon, and I have stayed his hand. The words are thick and bitter. “I do.”

Because Achilles has now shown that he values the fate or the battle over justice at the micro level in Brieses

“Because he is wrong,” I

For Patroclus right and wrong is simply right and wrong, there is no context which changes this for him. He has a luxury of not being fated

“My life is my reputation,” he says. His breath sounds ragged. “It is all I have. I will not live much longer. Memory is all I can hope for.”

This is the fulcrum of the issue. Achilles wants to be remembered and believes that is his purpose rather than honoring and living up to integrity. and clearly he has exceptions when it comes to justice in order to attain what he considers his purpose

You left yourself today. And now you are returned.”

Patroclus sees as someone without the fame; he sees him for who he is without the fate. Patroclus has made it clear that he values being moral and ethical over Achilles attaining this notoriety

“It will be your mighty name that saves them, not your spear arm.

Illustrates that the fate of his name is a power alone. If you strip him of his name, who is he really? That is what seems to be at odds during the latter part of the story, as Patronus notices when Achilles is not being “himself”.

I had found a way through the endless corridors of his pride and fury. I would save the men; I would save him from himself.

Petroleus becomes this representative figure of who Achilles was. But that part of Achilles is dead, as he is stubborn due to his pride and still wants to fulfill his legacy. As such, he’s also going to lose who he fell in love with before he desired the fame over, what once was.

“He did it to himself,”

No better evidence to the parallel

“You care more for him in death than in life.” Her voice is bitter with grief. “How could you have let him go? You knew he could not fight!” Achilles screams, and shatters a serving bowl. “Get out!”

In a similar fashion, he puts Petroleus at risk rather than swallow his pride just as he did to Briseis

“He fought to save you, and your darling reputation.

“You have never deserved him. I do not know why he ever loved you. You care only for yourself!”

This illustrates how his fate has dominated his life to where he’s made decisions despite better judgment

He is not, after all, a god.

I left you too long on Pelion. It has ruined you.” She gestures, a flick, at his torn clothing, his tear-stained face. “This is not my son.”

Because he is expressing desires, that were not “ on “ fated to him. He is always at odds with who he supposed to be because Petroleus sees him one way, whereas his mother sees him another way

“Then who is it, Mother? Am I not famous enough?

“I am not dead yet.” “You may as well be.”

“Do you know what I have borne to make you great? And now you would destroy it for this?” She points at my festering body, her face tight with disgust. “I am done. There is no more I can do to save you.”

Patroclus, being the representation of what Achilles was not fated, is why Thetis is upset about him submitting to these passions that would be untouched, or untainted by the gods will

“When I am dead, I charge you to mingle our ashes and bury us together.”

Parallel

“I know what he wished. Do as you please. It is not my concern.”

As if it taints him—burial is sacred after all

I will not allow my father’s fame to be

diminished.

is buried with your father?” His face goes flat. “Of course I have not heard of him. He is no one.”

“He is a blot on my father’s honor, and a blot on mine.

You said that Chiron ruined him. You are a goddess, and cold, and know nothing. You are the one who ruined him. Look at how he will be remembered now. Killing Hector, killing Troilus. For things he did cruelly in his grief.

This is the parallel as Patroclus also feels the same way as Thetis and his Son. He sees her as “ruining” Achilles. He thinks they’ll remember him differently.

We are all there, goddess and mortal and the boy who was both.

Achilles is both metaphorically here too with the struggle of both sides of the question here