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How Did Pride Cause The Downfall Of Achilles

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Pride, the root of all of Achilles’ faults, caused by the sin of unforgiveness dominated his actions, and from his pride stemmed other flaws such as anger and stubbornness. These flaws destroyed his honor, controlling every decision Achilles made. Countless unnecessary deaths were caused by his pride, and ultimately his own demise as an honorable person. Achilles’s pride caused him to act only out of anger. Once his pride was injured by Agamemnon taking Briseis, he refused to forgive Agamemnon or fight along side the Greeks. He neither lent his supplies or his men to the Greeks. All the men that arrived on his ship under his command were ordered to stay out of the war. Angry, Achilles shouted at Agamemnon “Give your commands to someone else, not me!… I will not wrangle arms with you or anyone”(Book I, Line 347). Not only did he …show more content…

Turning to Zeus, he asked him to allow the Trojans to triumph over the Greeks: “…if he will take the Trojan side and roll the Greeks back to the water’s edge back on the ships with slaughter” (Book I, Line 470). Zeus agreed and caused the war to extend for a much greater time at the cost of many mens lives. Pride not only led to anger but to stubbornness as well. Stubbornness kept Achilles from joining the battle. Agamemnon saw how the Greeks were losing, and sent his best communicators to apologize, offering Achilles rewards for fighting. Achilles directly refused the offer, stubbornly refusing to fight or forgive. If Achilles had accepted their apology many lives would have been saved but instead he replied to their requests by saying: “Give in to Agamemnon? I think not. Neither to him nor the rest” (Book IX, Line 385). His stubbornness, rooted in pride,

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