Discuss the presentation of ‘pride’ within ‘The Song of Achilles’ and its consequences. Alaska Tuken Tegi College

‘The Song of Achilles’ is at once a scholar’s homage to the Iliad, and a startlingly original work of literature by American novelist Madeline Miller. Conjuring a world where capricious gods and unbreakable prophecies are simply part of life, Miller’s prose can be described as a perceptibly atmospheric retelling of the siege of Troy in all its heroic devastation. Miller’s powerful re-imagining of one of the most familiar narratives in Western history, carries itself with a chilling antiquity, as the novel contemplates the tangled amorality of war, honor and pride in its central protagonist, Achilles. There is an Aristotelian notion of a fatal flaw that causes a novel’s central hero to be imperfect, and in some way, responsible for their own death. This essay intends to explore the presentation of pride within ‘The Song of Achilles’, and by virtue, how this theme manifests as Achilles’ fatal flaw.

The uncountable noun ‘pride’ refers the “consciousness of one's own dignity”. This to Achilles, concerned the matter of his preserving his honor. Honor, to the Ancient Greeks, was perceived as a potential remedy for mortality. In the realms of external glory, one could prolong the extent of their existence after death, and thus,...