Achilles embraces Priam in love and offers him a truce on his own account. At the end of the Iliad, we witness how an act of forgiveness heals the shattered world torn by hate, rage, and war.
Priam tearfully supplicates Achilles, begging for Hector's body. He asks Achilles to think of his own father, Peleus, and the love between them. Achilles weeps for his father and for Patroclus. He accepts the ransom and agrees to give the corpse back.
Achilles takes pity on Priam when he connects Priam to his own father, Peleus. Achilles considers his impending death and the recent death of his friend Patroclus. Achilles relates the two fathers because they will both outlive their sons. The final reason Achilles returns Hector's body to Priam is the ransom.
In the Iliad, substitution is acceptable because identity is stable: Achilles can embrace Priam as a father figure while remaining the legendary son of Peleus and Thetis, and Priam can embrace Achilles as a substitute for Hector while remaining Hector's loving father and king of the Trojans.
Achilles accepts the offer and gives him the corpse, being instructed by Thetis and Zeus. Because of the events, Priam and Achilles develop a relationship with respect towards each other. Achilles tells Priam that he could have all the time he wanted to conduct the funeral ,and the he would hold the army attack.
Priam adds that he has kissed the hands of the man who killed his children. By kissing Achilles' hands instead of avenging Hektor's death, Priam breaks a taboo, and by this act, Priam humbles himself before Achilles.
Why does Achilles take pity on King Priam? (Priam reminds him of his own father and he realises that Peleus, like Priam, will soon feel the terrible loss of a son.)
Achilles has accepted his own death, but in Priam's grief for Hector he can see how his own death will affect his father, and it moves him in a way he hadn't been since making his choice to act. Achilles fetches Hector's body for Priam and apologizes to Patroclus for letting the body go.
King Priam is the king of Troy and the father of Hector and Paris (in addition to 50 other children). He has many strengths, which include courage, a desire to protect his people, empathy, and love for his sons. Those strengths, in many cases, turn out to be some of King Priam's greatest weaknesses.
The others looked one to another and marveled also, but Priam besought Achilles saying, "Think of your father, O Achilles like unto the gods, who is such even as I am, on the sad threshold of old age. It may be that those who dwell near him harass him, and there is none to keep war and ruin from him.
For nine days Achilles continues to mistreat Hektor's corpse by dragging it around the Achaean camp. The gods are outraged by this and decide that Priam must be allowed to ransom the body of his son.
Eventually, Achilles' best friend, the soldier Patroclus, was able to wrangle a compromise: Achilles would not fight, but he would let Patroclus use his armor as a disguise.
Answer and Explanation: In the Iliad, Priam and Achilles both cry after the death of Hector, the Trojans' prince and greatest fighter, who dies in single combat with Achilles. Achilles then ties Hector's body to his chariot and drags it around the city of Troy to demonstrate his power.
The way in which he was made to forgive Achilles for the wrongful treatment and method of going about Hector's body. . Achilles doesn't display forgiveness but more so the act of sympathy and empathy. This is seen when Priam goes to Achilles and asks for his “forgiveness”.
By honoring Priam and sacrificing his deep emotions of hatred, Achilles carries out his dead friend's wishes despite him not favoring the idea.
Overcome with guilt and shame, Achilles agrees to a twelve-day truce in order to facilitate Hector's funeral rites. He acknowledges Hector's tactical brilliance on the battlefield and deems him as a worthy opponent.
When Troy fell, Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles, butchered the old king on an altar. Both Priam's death and his ransoming of Hector were favourite themes of ancient art.
Achilles weeps with Priam in a shared moment of love between the two bitter enemies. Moreover, the embrace of the two men leads to a brief truce between the Greeks and the Trojans. None of this was ever stipulated by Zeus.
Prim dies when she's only thirteen. She never got a chance to grow up and be a doctor. She was stuck between being a child and an adult, and had just started to find her wings. Prim's death reveals to Katniss an important truth.
The Iliad, the story of the Trojan War, offers several moral lessons to its readers, including the importance of leaders treating their soldiers with respect, the importance of accepting apologies, and the need for respecting family bonds.
Achilles' most distinctive characteristic is his invulnerability, coupled with the fact that he has one small spot on his body which is vulnerable. The lesson, it seems, is that everyone has their weakness, capable of bringing them down.
The principal antagonist is King Agamemnon, who abuses his power and betrays Achilles by stealing the warrior's favorite war prize, the young maiden Briseis. Achilles sees Agamemnon's act as both a personal betrayal and a sign of the king's failure as a leader.
We can see this in the Iliad where Achilles is depicted as a tragic hero whose overwhelming stubbornness and pride ultimately bring about his own downfall. It can be argued that Achilles's fatal flaw is that of hubris, excessive pride and overconfidence.
Summary: Book 19
At the meeting, Agamemnon and Achilles reconcile with each other, and Agamemnon gives Achilles the gifts that he promised him should Achilles ever return to battle. He also returns Briseis.
Significance of Patroclus' Death
Achilles and Priam feast and decide Priam will sleep in the Greek camp, and then return to Troy with Hector's body. Achilles asks Priam how long the Trojans need to honor Hector. Priam says they need eleven days.