Strong Wrath vs Strong Personality, Or Once Again About the Quarrel Between Achilles and Agamemnon

Abstract

Episodes from “The Iliad” concerning the conflict between Agamemnon and Achilles are analyzed. Their quarrel and its results can be metaphorically defined as a model of wrath, with its lessons being given and learned not only by the participants themselves, but also by the witnesses. With the word “wrath” the poem begins and it is repeatedly presented in it, followed by different epithets. “The Iliad” is a work that justifies or at least explains why strong personalities are subject to intense wrath, since the wrath of gods and people leading the Trojan campaign. In the first part of the article, this conflict is viewed as wrath quarrel with a transition to personalities, where Achilles chooses between the power of words and the power of arms in favor of the latter. On the one hand, everything obtained in the devastated cities is divided among the leaders in fairness, and on the other hand, Chryseis and Briseis taken as concubines upset the balance of justice between Achilles and Agamemnon. The second part of the article analyzes the consequences of the quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles, with suppression of wrath giving them opportunities for personal growth. The third part of the article discusses the origins of Achilles’ wrath behaviour, which are determined by excessive closeness with his mother and make it possible to contrast wrath in the family and wrath in the city.