Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Song of Achilles, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Honor, Pride, and Legacy
Fate, Belief, and Control
Gender, Power, and Agency
Love, Violence, and Redemption
Selfhood and Responsibility
Summary
Analysis
That night, Phoinix tells them about a duel that happened earlier: Paris offered to fight for Helen in a duel with one person, settling the whole affair at once. Menelaus stepped up to the plate, but just as he was about to kill Paris, Paris disappeared. An arrow hit Menelaus, and though it was just a surface wound, all hell broke loose. No one knows where Paris went. Hector then offered a second duel to set things right, and Ajax was selected from a random draw. The fight ended in a tie. Achilles is excited to hear about these events; he’s beginning to dream of killing Hector. Patroclus feels that something is starting to shatter.
The offered duel raises the question of why a duel wasn’t something the Greeks originally proposed, and again suggests that claiming Helen is not the whole reason the Greeks waged war on Troy. Meanwhile, the magical disappearance of Paris implies that the Gods truly have engaged in the war. As Hector fights to a standstill with the Greeks’ second best warrior—Ajax—the honor to be won by defeating him only grows. Achilles’s excitement about killing Hector now shows just how much more Achilles has come to value his honor over his life.
Themes
The next morning, a new army arrives: the Lycians, who are Troy’s allies and have one of Zeus’s sons among them. The Trojans, led by Hector, begin to make progress in throwing back the Greeks, and the Greeks grow desperate. Achilles knows it’s only a matter of time before Agamemnon caves, and Patroclus tries not to dwell on the smell of burned bodies. He knew every single man who died.
The arrival of the Lycians with Zeus’s son among them makes clear that Zeus is honoring his promise to Thetis.Patroclus is once again able find a way to look past the way that Achilles’s quest for honor leads to misdeeds, even though Achilles is now (indirectly) hurting people that Patroclus knows personally.
Themes
Phoinix, Odysseus, and Ajax come to Achilles’s tent, where Achilles is playing the lyre. They eat dinner, and afterwards, Odysseus begins to list objects they can offer Achilles: horses, armor, Briseis. Then he lists dead men. He reveals that the Trojans are close to the Greek wall and will soon charge, burning the ships. But Achilles says that his honor is worth more and only Agamemnon’s public apology will fix it. Odysseus tells him that, shockingly, Briseis is unharmed; her honor, and Achilles’s, will be easily retrieved if Achilles fights. Achilles retorts that he hasn’t left his honor behind at all, and that it’s up to Agamemnon.
Achilles is playing the lyre here, but it’s not Patroclus’s mother’s lyre, which makes sense: Achilles is no longer innocent. In fact, his adoption of his old childhood pastimes only reminds readers how altered he is. Odysseus’s pitch to Achilles is obviously unlikely to convince Achilles. Achilles doesn’t care about riches, Briseis isn’t his lover, and he’s shown he doesn’t care about any of the men who died. Further, the prophecy means that Achilles will never go home, so the burning ships wouldn’t matter to him, either. All in all, it’s a terrible attempt at swaying Achilles. Because Odysseus is a master manipulator, it’s safe to assume that his real goal is something different from convincing Achilles.
Themes
Suddenly, Odysseus asks why Hector isn’t dead yet. He says that he’s not looking for an answer, just repeating what everyone is already thinking. Patroclus realizes that Odysseus must know about the prophecy. Achilles has evaded fate, Odysseus says, but the gods won’t let him do that forever. Odysseus adds that it would be better to let fate happen on his terms rather than on the gods’. Achilles insists that that’s what he’s doing.
Odysseus’s pointed question confirms that he knows Achilles will die after Hector. His comment that Achilles should die on his own terms is interesting, because it suggests a different sort of control: not of evading fate, but of choosing your path to fate’s inevitable outcome.
Themes
Get the entire The Song of Achilles LitChart as a printable PDF.
Phoinix interjects: there’s a story he wants to tell Achilles. Many years ago, the hero Meleager was winning a war. (Patroclus realizes that he’s heard this story before, back in Phthia.) Phoinix continues: Meleager was insulted by his people and refused to fight. He went to his wife, Cleopatra, for comfort. (At these words, Phoinix looks at Patroclus.) Eventually, Cleopatra could no longer endure the deaths of all of her friends, and she begged Meleager to fight. He agreed, but by that point, everyone hated him. Patroclus knows that Phoinix wants him to beg Achilles just as Cleopatra did in the story, but he can’t; his fate is already sealed. Odysseus seems unsurprised that their meeting didn’t succeed, and Patroclus realizes that Achilles’s refusal makes him look insane. Everyone will despise him, just as they despised Meleager.
Odysseus must have known that his bad arguments wouldn’t convince Achilles. The real reason the three men came was to appeal to Patroclus to intervene. When Peleus first told this story, Patroclus never heard the ending because he was too besotted with Achilles to pay attention. Patroclus is still paralyzed by his love for Achilles, but now the parallels are obvious, and Phoinix is suggesting that Achilles’s legacy will be tainted if he refuses to fight. He's not telling Patroclus to save the Greeks’ lives, but rather to save Achilles’s legacy. That Patroclus doesn’t take the bait, blaming his own inaction on fate, once again shows a moment when Patroclus chooses passivity over agency. Meanwhile, Odysseus’s casual attitude seems to imply that he’s already accepted Achilles’s choice, which is worrisome. Odysseus must believe he can benefit from Achilles’s mistakes in some way, or else he'd be fighting harder to change his mind.
Themes
Patroclus goes to see Briseis, which is dangerous, because Agamemnon is so furious at Achilles. She hides him in her bed, and he tells her that the Trojans will enter the camp tomorrow, so they need to hide her. She disagrees; if the Trojans take the camp, she’ll surrender to them, since she’s Trojan herself. Agamemnon interrupts to see what’s going on, and she lies and tells him she’s praying. He replies that if Achilles keeps saying no to his offers, he’ll claim her himself. Afterwards, she insists to Patroclus that it’s an empty threat. Agamemnon likes her to be afraid, which horrifies Patroclus.
Patroclus apparently forgot that Briseis is still a Greek captive, even if she was “free” in the Phthian camp. Patroclus never fully understood Briseis’s lack of agency, even though he tried to help her as much as he could. His shock at Agamemnon’s threats is more proof of this, because Agamemnon clearly views Briseis as disposable. She understands Agamemnon’s cruelty and seems unconcerned by it, which suggests that she sees it as just an inescapable part of life.
Themes
Briseis tells Patroclus that the men now blame Achilles for Greek deaths in battle, which Agamemnon has encouraged. She adds that if the Greek camp falls, she’ll claim Patroclus as her husband. This might stop the Trojans from killing him, as long as he doesn’t reveal that Achilles was his lover. She also asks him not to leave Troy without her. He agrees, not mentioning that he’ll never leave Troy. For a moment, he imagines what their life together would have looked like if he’d never met Achilles. She tells him to be careful, calling him the “best of the Myrmidons.”
Briseis’s intel proves that Achilles really is like Meleager; his people have turned on him and might not forgive him even if he changes his mind and fights. Briseis seems to fundamentally misunderstand Patroclus’s love for Achilles, because she assumes that Patroclus would want to live after Achilles is dead. Patroclus proved he was his own person when he defied Achilles and saved Briseis, but that independence only goes so far. He can fantasize about a different possible life, but in this life he can’t even conceive of a world in which Achilles is not his main priority. Briseis’s parting comment refers back to Thetis’s statement that the “best of the Myrmidons” was prophesized to die soon. The “best” refers not to war skill but kindness and empathy. If that’s the case, the Fates seem to be mocking Achilles’s notion of honor by implying that even if Achilles is a gifted soldier, Patroclus is still better and more honorable than he is.
Themes
That night, Patroclus watches Achilles sleep. He looks innocent while sleeping, almost a child again—this is his “truest self,” Patroclus thinks. Patroclus believes that Achilles is in over his head with Agamemnon and Odysseus’s games and political machinations; they’ve “baited” him and confused him. Patroclus wants to free him from all of that, if only Achilles would let him.
Patroclus’s belief that Achilles’s true self is innocent and childlike is delusional at this point. Patroclus continues to separate the good parts of Achilles from the bad parts, and to insist that only the good parts are his true self, but that’s no longer logical. Achilles knows exactly what he’s doing. Odysseus isn’t manipulating him, and Agamemnon certainly isn’t playing games—he’s revealed himself as a terrible politician and wouldn’t know how to manipulate Achilles even if he wanted to. Patroclus loves Achilles, so he wants to believe that Achilles is fundamentally good, but that’s just a way to excuse Achilles’s actions.
Themes
