Blod Post 2/18/18
Can we just stop and talk about the dramatic flip that occurred in Book 9? Agamemnon, this king who is committed to winning the war actually gave up. With Achilleus rejecting Agamemnon’s offer and dropping out of the war, it totally destroyed Agamemnon’s spirit. It was during the beginning of the 9th Book where Homer shows his audience just how defeated Agamemnon is. It states “Agamemnon stood up before them, shedding tears, like a spring dark-running that down the face of a rock impassable drips its dim water.” I’m no poet, but that simile is very clever and well-put. I’m guessing that Homer was comparing Agamemnon as the rock and the spring as his tears, but what’s really interesting is that Agamemnon is no rock, he is like a small twig that can easily be crushed by the slightest amount of pressure. The simile is contradicting yet beautifully executed with the situation that is being played out.
It says something about how far Agamemnon is willing to overextend his reach. At the same time, I'm wondering if Agamemnon's actions towards Achilleus overall reflect something deeper in Agamemnon's thought: how can you claim to be a king over all the Greeks (and thereby make an implicit boast to be the best among them), when you have such a god-like man as Achilleus in your army? How far can you claim to be appropriate to your own power? And if you accommodate Achilleus in his entitlements and desires, do you show yourself as inferior? Here, he is pretty much admitting that Achilleus is necessary to the victory of his army, as the reality of the circumstances say as much. The choice stands thus: 1) he is defeated and sent back by the Trojans, in which his claims to power are severely threatened; 2) he relents to Achilleus and persuades him to return, showing only a moderate level of subordination to the warrior, and yet able to claim ultimate victory over the Trojans in the end. Not much of a choice for him, really, at this point.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love the way you put this. I completely agree with the fact that there was such a ginormous flip in book 9 regarding Agamemnon. I was so shocked to see how a man that constantly put himself out to be strong and courageous is now weeping in front of a crowd and giving up. So interesting to see how the tables turn.
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