It can be argued that Achilles's fatal flaw is that of hubrisHubris (/ˈhjuːbrɪs/; from Ancient Greek ὕβρις (húbris) 'pride, insolence, outrage'), or less frequently hybris (/ˈhaɪbrɪs/), describes a personality quality of extreme or excessive pride or dangerous overconfidence, often in combination with (or synonymous with) arrogance.https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Hubris
But even after Agamemnon offers to return Briseis, along with numerous other gifts, Achilles remains angry, indicating that one of Achilles' major character flaws is his excessive pride.
Had he not fallen upon the retreating Trojans, killing them wantonly, he might not have fallen afoul of Zeus's wrath. His own arrogance and desire for glory proved his downfall. Finally, if Achilles had joined the battle from the beginning, Patroclus might not have died.
Achilles is killed by an arrow, shot by the Trojan prince Paris. In most versions of the story, the god Apollo is said to have guided the arrow into his vulnerable spot, his heel.
In the story of the Trojan War, Achilles's “fatal flaw” changes drastically depending on the version and interpretation. Sometimes it's his heel, the single weakness on an otherwise indestructible body; sometimes it's his hubris, the crime of pride; sometimes it seems to be something more than either of those.
He is so consumed by rage over the death of his friend that he proceeds to drag Hector's body in the dirt, until Priam, the king of Troy and the father of Hector, visits Achilles and convinces him to return the body of his son.
The term Achilles heel references a vulnerability or weakness. It is rooted in the myth of Achilles' mother dipping him in the River Styx, making his entire body invulnerable except for the part of his foot where she held him—the proverbial Achilles heel.
The grief shown by Achilles is, in fact, similar to the grief experienced by modern soldiers when they lose one of their comrades-in-arms. Upon hearing the news of Patroclus, he sinks into a heavy depression, forgoing food and even contemplating suicide.
Even though she was a war prize, Achilles and Briseis fell in love with each other, and Achilles may have gone to Troy intending to spend much time in his tent with her, as was portrayed in the movie.
In it, Achilles and Patroclus do have a sexual relationship. Here is one short excerpt from their younger days, before the Trojan War began: "I was trembling, afraid to put him to flight.
Odysseus' fatal flaw is his hubris. Hubris is over-bearing pride that leads to the suffering of a hero, those around him, or both.
Patroclus's Last Words
''...had twenty such men as you attacked me, all of them would have fallen before my spear. Fate and the son of Leto have overpowered me, and among mortal men Euphorbus; you are yourself third only in the killing of me.
Heartbroken and jealous of Achilles's love for Patroclus, Deidameia summons Patroclus to have sex with her, which he does; he notes that she seemed to want something more from him, which he was unable to provide.
Disguised as a woman, Achilles lived on Scyros among the daughters of King Lycomedes until the Greeks discovered his whereabouts and sent Odysseus and Diomedes to the island to fetch him. The two presented themselves as pedlars and placed a collection of trinkets before the young women.
Thetis, the mother of Achilles, disguised him as a girl and planted him among the daughters of Lycomedes. This was to prevent him from fighting in the Trojan war because an oracle had prophesied that Achilles would die should he partake in the war.
One of the main traits of the temperamental hero Achilles is that he is invulnerable to harm except for his proverbial heel. But the ancient sources make clear that his weak point was actually his ankle.
This is because Achilles is younger than Patroclus, and is described (and depicted) as beautiful and beardless. This would automatically make him the eromenos, the bottom.
Achilles responds by saying that Patroclus is his husband.
Achilles fell in love with one of Lycomedes' daughters, Deidamia, and impregnated her. Later, Odysseus discovered Achilles hiding in the court of Lycomedes and tricked him into revealing his true identity. Achilles then left the court of Lycomedes with Odysseus to fight in the Trojan war which broke Deidamia's heart.
Like Homer's Iliad, The Houstiliad is driven by Achilles' rage. Book I opens with Achilles, accompanied by his white macaw Patroclus, killing Mestor, Hector's brother, and abducting, raping, and murdering Mestor's wife. Towards the end of Book I it appears that Achilles has gotten away with his crimes.
On Patroclus' death Achilles realised that he would never return to do so and cut his cared-for locks at his friend's funeral, thus acknowledging his own, soon-to-be-fulfilled, fate (Iliad 23.141-153).
It is true that, in ancient Greece, Achilles and Zeus were both consistently portrayed as what most people today would generally consider “white.” That being said, I think that most of the outrage over the fact that Troy: Fall of a City portrays Achilles and Zeus as black is motivated more by racial prejudice than by ...
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.
Unfortunately he was born mortal, unlike his immortal mother, and she couldn't bear the idea that she would eventually outlive her own son. Thetis took matters into her own hands, dipping Achilles in the magical River Styx, knowing this would give him immortality and invulnerability. So far so good, right?
Paris himself, soon after, received a fatal wound from an arrow shot by the rival archer Philoctetes.