"Achilles, a remorseful myrmidon"

Achilles’ heel maybe everyone’s connotation of Achilles. It is the weakness of the latter but also he is a ruthless and revengeful warrior, who will do anything for glory and power.

As Achilles chases Apollo, he said, 


“…I’d make you pay,

If only I were powerful enough”

(22.28.29.220)

Achilles showed how competitive he is while talking with Phoebus Apollo.  He really boasted and showed off to the god. With his words, he expressed a lot of courage and fierceness.

            Also, Achilles ended up a lot of lives. It is evident to King Priam’s words to Hector how Achilles slays his victims. King Priam expressed his fears as a father to Hector through his words to the latter.

           

“… And then my heart might shed

               its dreadful sorrow, for he’s taken from me

               many valiant sons. Some he’s butchered.

               Others he’s sold in islands far away.”
               (22.57-60.221)

This makes Achilles prove that he has a blood of a myrmidon running through his veins. It does not just end there, the victims of the former make the dogs eat the one he kills. He said, 

“…-the same dogs I raised

at home beside my table to guard the doors.

They’ll drink my blood, then lie there at the gates, 
(22.90-92.221)

 It is felt in the King’s dissuasions to Hector. He knows that the ruthless warrior will let the corpse of his victim be eaten by the ravenous dogs and let it in the gates.

            What a terrific ending of life! Achilles made more nerve-wracking deeds when he finally killed Hector. 

           

            “Achilles finished. Then on noble Hector’s corpse            

              he carried out a monstrous act. He cut through

              the tendons behind both feet, from heel to ankle,

              threaded them with ox-hide thongs and then tied these

              onto his chariot leaving the head drag behind.

              He climbed up in his chariot, brought on the splendid armour,

              then lashed his horses. They speed off eagerly,

              dragging Hector,”
               (22.512-519.231)

Not only because he is a myrmidon that is why he did that to Hector, but because of what Apollo did, he let Hector kill Patroclus who is a cousin to Achilles.

Thus, Achilles is truly a myrmidon that is ruthless and revengeful. His mindset is on the war and he has a heart of stone.

Reference:

            Ramirez, Veronica E. English Across Continents.

Makati City, Phils. :Diwa Learning System Inc. 2010 Print