While I do not think that Achilles should be stripped of his title as a hero, the uncontrolled rage he exhibited in book 22 is far from heroic behavior. His actions lessen the physical bravery he may have displayed in battle because of his total lack of moral standing. It becomes clear from his rage that fighting in battle and killing is no difficult feat for Achilles. Showing compassion for one's enemy and displaying moral bravery would have been significantly more difficult. In contrast dragging Hector's dead corpse around the city is in no way courageous or heroic. He simply disregards the importance of honor and lets his primitive rage take control. It would have shown more courage to have honored Hector's wishes than not to.
Achilles' actions show immoral and irrational behavior far from the Greek ideal. As we discussed in class, the Greek virtues are wisdom, courage, piety, and prudence. Achilles' behavior in Book 22 does not represent any of these virtues. Therefore even by the Greek standard I do not believe that Achilles' behavior would be considered heroic. This also brings me to question Achilles' motives throughout the book. While I have not read it in it's entirety, I can gather that Achilles is considered a very good and courageous soldier. However, his actions at the end put into question his so called heroism as a soldier. Is Achilles showing true heroism throughout the battle or is he simply driven by anger and rage the entire time?
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