The Father Figure

The central theme of the Iliad is the wrath of Achilles and his eventual release of that anger during the supplication of Priam for Hector's body. Achilles' anger is almost superhuman and cannot seem to be quelled, even after the death of Hector. It take Priam supplicating to Achilles, not as a ruler, but as a father to get Achilles to finally release his anger and accept his mortality. Achilles knows that he has one of two fates: dying in the war and being remembered in history or living to an old age but being forgotten to the world. Priam reminds Achilles of the prophecy when he reminds Achilles of his own father, Peleus, and how Achilles would never see him again. Achilles rejects the authority figures in his life because he does not agree with the hierarchy of government, even dismissing the pleas of his fellow Greeks to come back to the war.

Priam supplicating to Achilles as a father, not as an authority figure, which allowed Achilles to relate to Priam more than he relates to his own king, Agamemnon. After the death of Patroclus, Achilles anger was reawakened in the form of revenge towards Hector. Achilles believed his rage would be extinguished at the death of Hector, but he continued to violate the order of things when he refused to give Hector's body back for proper funeral rites. Priam risked his life in supplicating to Achilles behind enemy lines to ask Achilles to "remember [his] father" (24. 520). Priam does not know of Achilles' prophecy nor that Achilles will die before the war is over, but Priam asks Achilles to think of his father and how Peleus wants "to see his dear son come back from Troy" (24. 527). Achilles accepts that he will die before the war is over and realizes what he will be leaving behind, including his father. Achilles "cried for his father" (24. 550) and is finally able to release his anger and gives Hector's body back to Priam. Priam allows Achilles to accept his own mortality by supplicating to Achilles as a father figure.