Achilles's Heroic Journey: The Departure

Instructions: Find quotes from the textbook that illustrate each stage of Achilles adventure. There can be more than one answer for each stage; these situational archetypes are flexible.

Description of Achilles at Departure

1. Call to Adventure: Agamemnon requests Achilles presence in the Trojan war; Odysseus convinces him to fight OR the prophecy that predicted Achilles role in the war

Supporting Quote from Story

1. Not mentioned in selections (background knowledge)

2. Back I go to Phthia / Better that way by far /to 2. Refusal of the Call: journey home in the beaked ships of war . . . . (line 198 Achilles leave battlefield after fighting with Agamemnon over Briseis; refuses Odysseus attempts to 202). recruit him back to battle 3. Supernatural Assistance: The goddess Athena stops Achilles from fighting with Agamemnon over the prize (Briseis). 4. Crossing the Threshold: Achilles returns to battle after Patroclus is killed by Hector 5. Belly of the Whale: The long period in which Achilles grieves for Patroclus 3. Down from the skies I come to check your rage / if only you will yield . . . . (lines 241 251). 4. Patroclus manages to drive the Trojans back to the city walls, but Apollo intervenes, allowing Hector to slay Patroclus and strip the body of its armor. Almost mad with grief, Achilles re-enters the battle wearing new armor made for him by the god Hephaestus. 5. (see above) - excerpt from summary on pg. 383

The Quest
Description of Achilles Quest
1. Road of Trials: Killing Trojan soldiers in an attempt to reach Hector, chasing Hector around the city of Troy, fighting Hector 2. Meeting with the Goddess: Athena assists Achilles by distracting Hector and retrieving spears (also Achilles new armor is the product of supernatural assistance at this point in the story). 3. Encounter with Temptation: Achilles continues to give into his weakness (anger) when he refuses Hectors pact and continues to drag his his body around the camp. 4. Atonement with Father: Achilles conversation with Priam; he faces Hectors father, thinks of his own father, and learns to control anger and grief 5. Apotheosis: Agrees to return Hectors body to King Priam.

Supporting Quote from Story

1. Hector looked up, saw him, started to tremble / nerve gone, he could hold his ground no longer, / he left the gates behind and away he fled in fear / and Achilles went for him (lines 50 100) 2. And Athen left him there, caught up with Hector at once / and taking the build and vibrant voice of Deiphobus . . . Athena snatched the spear up / and passed it back to Achilles (lines 160 240) 3. Then hed yoke his racing team to the chariot-harness / lash the corpse of Hector behind the car for draggin / and haul him three times round the dead Patroclus tomb (lines 15-21) 4. Those words stirred within Achilles a deep desire / to grieve for his own father. Taking the old mans hand / he gently moved him back. And overpowered by memory both men gave way to grief. (lines 140-150) 5. Your son is now set free, old man, as you requested / Hector lies in state / With the first light of day you will see for yourself as you covey him home. (lines 250-55)

6. The Ultimate Boon: The ransom that Achilles receives in exchange for the body or the fact that he helps to win the war. Description of Achilles Return 1. Refusal of Return According to myth, Achilles dies at gates of Troy on the day that the city falls to the Greeks. Paris prevents his return home by shooting an arrow through his heel. 2. Magic Flight NOT APPLICABLE TO THIS STORY 3. Rescues from Without NOT APPLICABLE TO THIS STORY 4. Crossing the Return Threshold NOT APPLICABLE TO THIS STORY 5. Master of Two Worlds Achilles is both famed Greek soldier and conquerer of Troy. 6. Freedom to Live He earns immortality through his feats in the war, which are still told in myths thousands of years later.

6. He gave me worthy ransom / and you shall have your share from me, as always, / your fitting, lordly share . . . (lines 245-247) Supporting Quote from Story 1. Not described in epic.

2. N/A

3. N/A

4. N/A

5. Not described in epic. 6. Not described in epic.

He also freed himself of the constraints of anger and grief that held him back at beginning of war.