Iliad Essay Topic #1
Fate and actions of the gods all too much affect the characters of the Iliad. Surprisingly enough too there is an actual level of control the stories heroes have concerning their fates. These fates allude to being random happenings in the story. Instead it all begins with a choice that sets fate on its way to certainty. Even though the gods intervene in every way it seems throughout the story, they are only there to guide fate along its path making sure nothing happens too soon or too late. Homer’s Iliad illustrates the gods to having ultimate control in the end over any mortals existence, but not until the final requirements of that particular fate have been fulfilled.
To begin with is perhaps the biggest character of the Iliad, being Achilles. This characters fate is to basically win the Trojan War for the Achaeans and make immortal glory for his name dying honorably in battle. Before any of this came about Achilles though, he was built up to acquire this everlasting glory. By fate determining him to be this great warrior, Achilles mother Thetis, takes action to avoid her sons predetermined death. Thetis dips her son Achilles in the river of Styx holding him by the heels. (Achilleid 1.1340). This decision affects Achilles by setting the stage for him to become the greatest of Greek warriors by making him invulnerable. Even though Thetis is just trying to protect her son from the inevitable doom, instead she subconsciously prepares him herself. Despite Thetis’s efforts to keep her son from harm and making him look like a girl to avoid the Greek military, she fails. On one end his mother fails at keeping him out of harm’s way, in the other hand, fate predicts him to be a famous warrior and the actions of his mother ensures him to become the mighty Trojan War winning Achilles.
Now to the surprising amount of real control that various heroes