In Homer’s book of the Iliad, it is without a doubt that Achilles is one of the main characters throughout the stories alongside his noble and loyal brother Patroclus. The Iliad is an epic in which we explore the Greek and Roman history/mythology. Achilles throughout the book is able to communicate with the gods, was a heroic man looked up upon and also had “super powers” that in this day we would say did not exist. As for Patroclus, he is a man of his own greatness that was a memorable warrior and terrific spearsmen however, his loyalty to Achilles resulted in his harsh death. Achilles and Patroclus loved one another and were very loyal to each other however, the loyalty and comradery of Patroclus did not match with the arrogance and blindness of Achilles which ultimately ends in a rough ending because of the inability to understand and communicate with one another and the lack of seeing eye to eye.
Achilles throughout the Iliad shows himself as arrogant, impatient and bad-tempered. However, on the other side, Achilles shows himself to be extremely loyal, crazy strong and persistent in his beliefs in which he would fight for anything that he stood by. He is best known throughout the Iliad when he defeats the trojan warrior Hector, but the only reason he needed to do so was because of the blindness from his rage. Achilles, in the result of an argument with Agamemnon chooses not to go to war and fight but instead lets his best mate Patroclus go for him. Patroclus suits up in Achilles armour and fights in his name but then gets slayed by the Trojan warrior Hector and gets stripped of his armour while his dead body laid there. When the news came out about Patroclus death Achilles began to blame himself for what had happened and falls into deep grief and even greater rage. Achilles shows us his arrogance from the beginning in which he chose not to go to fight against the Trojans and even runs to his mother begging her to ask Zeus for his help in letting the Trojans beat his own army so in the end he could look heroic. Achilles states in the iliad after the argument with Agamemnon ”Now I am returning to Phthia, since it is much better to go home again with my curved ships, and I am minded no longer to stay here dishonoured and pile up your wealth and your luxury” (citation). Achilles shows his arrogance and selfishness because he did not take the dishonouring by Agamemnon well, in which he decides that because he had been disrespected and in his conscious knows that he is not the best warrior among the Achaean army, he must flee and let them feel the hurt of his absence. Since Achilles was blinded by his rage and sulkiness at the time he made a decision that would get one of his most favorable people killed.
Patroclus in the Iliad shows us what a good, loyal and awesome friend is and also teaches us the correct way to be brave but humble at the same time. Patroclus from the beginning shows us that he is loyal to Achilles and would do almost everything and anything for him. Patroclus is the only person that Achilles shares his deepest and darkest thoughts with and he gives Achilles the support he needs to keep moving forward. Patroclus brings out the other side of Achilles in which he shows that he fights for what he loves and is able to be extremely loyal. In the Iliad, Patroclus takes the place of Achilles for the battle against the Trojans because he believed he was doing the right thing. In part of the iliad, Patroclus states before dying among Hector ”…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. I say further, and lay my saying to your heart, you too shall live but for a little season; death and the day of your doom are close upon you, and they will lay you low by the hand of Achilles son of Aeacus” (16.844.850). In this part of the Iliad, Patroclus shows us that Hector did not beat him, it was the disadvantages that did so. This shows me that Patroclus was loyal in the first place to have gone and fought in place of Achilles but also the fact that he tells Hector he will soon die as well, he trusts that Achilles will come and do so. He also, is in fact brave because even with being stripped of armour by Leto’s son, he chose to continue fighting. He also shows what it is like to be brave and remain humble because he put Hector in his place of letting him know that he did not kill him, so do not boast about it because it is not his place to do so.
It is without a doubt that Achilles and Patroclus show us what best friends and brothers should look like. There loyalty to one another, and the love they show throughout the iliad is like no other. What had made this bromance work so well is the balance between their differences as people. Achilles is much stronger, bigger headed and easily tempered but has a side in which he is loyal to only one person who is Patroclus. While Patroclus is a bit weaker than his brother, loyal to him and is very easy going when being compared to Achilles. There is without a doubt that these two men are near complete opposites. They are the same in which they are great warriors, Achilles is a strong warrior that is able to kill most men that stand in front of him, and for Patroclus, once he was able to show his ability to fight, he proved that he is also a great fighter and warrior. However, when it came to their morals and personality traits they were on opposite ends of the spectrum, Achilles was easily raged while Patroclus was usually the one that could calm him down. The biggest similarity between these two men were their love for one another. They always had each others backs, would be there through anything that took place and showed true loyalty for each other. In the iliad, Achilles tells Patroclus before fighting with the Trojans “You must not fight without me against these warlike trojans, you would only make me cheaper, how happy I would be if we two survived the massacre to pull down Troy’s holy towers single-handedly!” (citation). Achilles is showing his care for Patroclus by saying that he would be his happiest if they were both able to fight, conquer and survive the war against the trojans. This shows the loyalty they both have for one another but the overpowering savagery of Achilles shows the many differences.
