Homer's Iliad: the wrath (menis) of Achilles as the organising theme of the poem, from the quarrel with Agamemnon in Book 1 to the return of Hector's body in Book 24, and what it reveals about heroism, honour and mortality.

What this dot point is asking

The Iliad announces its subject in its first word, menis (wrath): "Sing, goddess, the anger of Achilles." For The World of the Hero you must be able to trace that anger as the organising theme of the whole poem, from the quarrel in Book 1 to the return of Hector's body in Book 24, and explain what it reveals about heroism, honour (time), glory (kleos) and mortality. The paper tests precise knowledge of episodes (AO1), close analysis of the text as evidence (AO2 and AO3), and your own argument.

The answer

Book 1: the quarrel and the withdrawal

Book 9: the embassy and the hardening of anger

The embassy (Odysseus, Phoenix and Ajax) brings Agamemnon's offer of Briseis untouched, vast treasure, and a marriage alliance. Achilles' refusal is the moral hinge of the poem:

• He delivers a famous meditation on mortality: he can have a long, obscure life at home or a short, glorious one at Troy, and he questions whether honour won this way is worth dying for.
• His refusal turns a justified grievance into something excessive: the compensation answers the original insult, yet his pride will not let him accept it.
• His anger now begins to cost the lives of his own comrades, a consequence Homer makes us feel.

Book 16 onward: the death of Patroclus and the redirection of wrath

Books 22 and 24: the killing of Hector and the return of the body

In Book 22 Achilles kills Hector outside the walls of Troy and, in his rage, mutilates the corpse, dragging it behind his chariot, an act the gods themselves condemn. The wrath reaches its most savage point. In Book 24, guided by the gods, the aged king Priam comes alone to Achilles' tent to ransom his son's body. He clasps Achilles' knees and asks him to remember his own father, Peleus. Achilles weeps, pities Priam, and returns Hector's body for burial. The poem that began in anger ends in shared grief and the recognition of a common mortality.

Examples in context

A model 10-mark stimulus answer on the Book 1 quarrel would quote the printed lines closely, showing how Homer's language (the insults, the oath on the sceptre, Athene's intervention) dramatises anger turning into deliberate withdrawal.

Try this

Q1. Read a passage from Iliad Book 24 in which Priam supplicates Achilles. How does Homer create pathos in this passage? Refer to the passage. [10 marks]

• What the marker wants. AO1 plus AO3: name the situation (Priam ransoming Hector), then analyse specific features (Priam kissing the hands that killed his son, the appeal to Peleus, Achilles' tears) and explain how each creates pathos.

Q2. 'The Iliad is more concerned with mortality than with war.' To what extent do you agree? [marked out of 20; real H408/11 tariff is 30]

• Cue. Argue both sides: the poem is full of battle and the pursuit of kleos, but its deepest moments (Achilles' choice in Book 9, the death of Hector, the meeting with Priam) confront the certainty of death. Reach a judgement supported by named episodes.